Reductionism redux

Greetings ichtosphere, at this site I will host musings on the political/flyfishing interface from a proletarian point of view. Decidedly socialist but willing to listen, Im hoping for an elevated dialoque without the posing,perhaps a sprikling of radical polemics acknowledged unashamedly as such and discourse on current events. So lets have a go, as we say in Butte,Mt.

Whats got me riled is a little piece by The Norm (for those un-initiated, Norm Geras at normblog) published in Dissent magazine in which he takes"the left" to task for it's anti-war stance, in essence claiming "everything changed" after 9/11 . Hardly an original position, see Hitchens or any one of a number of liberal hawks, but the gist of it is "the left" needs to recognize evil wherever (and whatever) it is and that the business of removing tyrants must be supported, pure and simple. My problem with this analysis, and it is this analysis more than Norm that I want to discuss, is that we never really get a definition of who this "left" is to whom the admonishment is directed and that charges of "reductionism,"aimed at those for whom imperialism remains a valued critique of advanced capitalism are never substantiated.

I sent some criticism his way but I fear my tone was a tad abrupt and I was informed he would not engage me. My bad, I could have been more civil, but these attacks from the left on the left leave me irate, the self flaggelation and pathological need to tear down at a time when just the opposite is needed drives me to distraction, I feel like just watching T.V. but resist.

So I proceed to investigate others linked to his site, socialists, neo-cons, soldiers and others.I want to understand. Does anti-tyrant necessarily mean pro-war? Do they really support the Bush administation prosecution of the war? Ends justifies the Means ontological conundrums or just realpolitic strategery? Who is doing the reducing here if "the left", from fringe pro-Baathists to graying suburban peacenicks are lumped into the same gooey glob, if support for Iraqi human rights is in no way seperated from"shock and awe" ,plutonium tipped cluster bombs, a looted national museum or tortured prisoners. Those of us marching through the DC mall in February 03 had many concerns and a plethora of ideological positions yet we shared a unanimous distaste for tyrannical dictators and a vision for a better world. We also shared, if for a brief time and space, something called solidarity.