First I claim: : :Everything else is a communiqué issued from the halls of the privilege.
SDF: Then MDG says:
: I dispute that premise in my case but are you then saying that if Bill Gates spoke out against a case of animal cruelty in the poorest ghetto, or against unfair treatment of employees in a two-bit factory, then he wouldn't be speaking out from principle, but only from privilege? You confirm the worst fears of capitalists who accuse leftists of class envy.
Here, I footnote: Bill Gates doesn't just "speak out against" stuff. (Microsoft commercials on TV say something about this.) Thus my comments about Westernizing the Hopi -- that WOULD be the easiest way to end the torture of eagles, wouldn't it? They COULD build nests in the casinos, couldn't they? And this IS the era of casino capitalism, ISN'T it? And saving the eagles IS what you want to do, ISN'T it?
: :Can you imagine what the Hopi Tribal Council must think about the likes of MDG?
: My concern lies with saving the eagles from torture. If the Hopi Council doesn't like that, too bad.
My concern: Too bad for WHOM? Those who would protect Hopi self-determination? This is what I'm trying to say. Get THEIR reaction. Maybe they have something to say about themselves. Go be their teacher, see if they accept you.
: : The point is that those who aspire to being more than "liberals" should be working with the working class, not criticizing their practices from afar under some false pretense that they "know what's happening".
: You love to assume things, don't you? Better wake up. I happen to be a member of the working class. I may make more than a factory worker, but I haul myself to work everyday, take crap from the boss, and ASK PERMISSION for sick leave and vacation leave.
My opinion: Wasn't this thread about the Hopi? Look, if you felt I was trying to unjustify your lifestyle, it was unclear to me that that was what you were trying to defend. As for a thread on lifestyles, no, I won't contribute to it. Sorry if you thought that's what I was doing. Future words are not (not intentionally, that is) to be interpreted as a claim about your lifestyle. My comments have been really about the White man's relation to the Hopi, and do we know what it is?
: Have YOU even entered the working world yet, or are you making lofty utterances from the privileged world of academia?
And finally: I substitute teach in a district with no equipment. I've worked at Burger King and at Taco Bell. You know, Frenchy pulls this on me, too. Pol Pot was a working class guy. Did it justify what he did? Let's stick with the Hopi, unless you want me to repeat my disclaimer (above).
