Re: The self-suppression of dissent...

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: : Spoke with Bill at the Black Oak reading on Shattuck : : in Berkeley. My question was about the Luddism of the : : Berkeley intellectual community: the seemingly thoughtles : : way they presume that everyone else in America has access : : to the same rich intellectual field that they do. I have : : recently returned to Berkeley from far fields, in which I have : : toiled pretty much solitarily for thirty years, and I'm here : : to tell you that there is a lot more that the average person : : here could do with their rich store of technical and social : : expertise. : RESPONSE BY MANDEL: I am dumb enough to look at this Bulletin Board with : extreme rarity. Sorry. I don't want to put the whole book up on the web, : because I'l like some financial return for the ten years full-time equiva- : lent I put into writing it. Moreover, half the population is not yet on the : Web, and a lot of people who are prefer to curl up with a book or carry it : with them, rather than reading off a fixed screen (lap-toppers are another : category). : The book can be bought from Amazon, from Barnes&Noble, and any bookstore : will order it, charging no more than list price. : : Although Berkeley is a model for communalism and citizen : : involvement, it is largely unknown to the wider world, both : : in the United States and further. Why did it take the WTO to : : make the media sit up and take stock of the roilings of the : : undercurrents? Where were the retired radicals, and gourmet : : organizers? It sure is comfy here, I must admit, and seductive : : in the way that citizenship in Rome must have been during the : : decline. My feelings in this subject are just forming, but they : : tend toward the critical. BMW's and Bronco's aren't thrilling : : me, and neither are fume-spouting '67 Chevies masquerading as : : recycling. : : What's going on? I would have expected a book as good as : : "Saying No to Power" to be available full-text, or at least : : the significant excerpts, on the Web, so it could be discussed, : : but it is not. I am sure I will hear good reasons for that, but : : I'll weigh them against the purpotrted worldwide social value : : of Bill's massive and educational lifestory being widely known, : : with no other admission fee than public access to the Internet. : : I'd cite John Taylor Gatto, or David Horowitz. I'd cite John Horowitz : : and his steady, day by day axe job on the liberal tradition on : : <la href="http://www.tabletalk.salon.com/">Salon's Tabletalk</a> : : If people are really moving onto the Web for their sources of : : deep opinion, the one they keep private, then there needs to : : be source material. A person could make up their mind about the : : present situation from just reading "Saying No to Power!" but : : they can't buy it from Amazon.com, because it is listed as coming : : out in November of last year. : : Que pasa? Enlighten me.

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