We, Haghstull?
Let me ask some rhetorical questions: why would anyone listen to Alinsky? Which elements of his political project have been realized fifty years on? What 'class struggle' has he contributed to other than the ones that come around each semester around midterms/finals? How about instead of emulating losers, we start to use the same tactics that have got us beaten blue, bloody and raw?
We, Haghstull?
We, sir. Our values are identical. They're just not translating the identically at the moment.
Let's look at Alinsky's vision for the future, as he describes it:
"The Radical believes that all peoples should have a high standard of food, housing, and health … The Radical places human rights far above property rights. He is for universal, free public education and recognizes this as fundamental to the democratic way of life … He insists on full employment for economic security but is just as insistent that man's work should not only provide economic security but also be such as to satisfy the creative desires within all men."
... yeah, I think it's pretty fair to say he got his ass kicked.
You seem to think Alinsky is outdated. but here are a few of his rules and I think it's safe to say that they are effective and in use today.
5. “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.
4. “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules.
13. “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.
Rip, been reading about BTK recently, from the UK so not too familiar with story. Any memories? Assuming it wasn’t too far from you
13. “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. [/QUOTE]
Exactly--that's why the institutions are so much stronger than the people. Cuomo will be forced to resign by the end of the month, and all of the twitter/parler "Ridicule conservatives" you have put all your faith in will leap about slapping palms and yipping with joy.
Who will it help? Which small business owners/private contractors will get to quit their new $15/hr jobs at Amazon? Which of the children that could have been given life-altering cosmetic surgery out of the estate tax he cut is glad of your 'ridicule'? Which of the communities who had their constitutionally guaranteed legislative autonomy deprived of them by his caps on local property tax increases, obviously designed to keep every block of NY a safe haven for this heinous new breed of rootless cosmopolitan elite that makes it a point of pride to exhibit zero noblesse oblige in the direction of the people they vampirize?
None.
'Ridicule' is the hobby of the chattering classes. 'Ridicule' is a way for elitist brats to pretend they're activists struggling alongside MLK and Eugene Debs when they're really just doing 2,000 words a week for Slate. Anybody who tells you that Pelosi and McConnell are in power because they didn't get ridiculed enough doesn't give a damn about actually winning.
It's going to be difficult, but I believe you are right.
This is about tactics, not professed ideology. Of course the power-driven left doesn't actually believe in these utopian platitudes, but they used his tactics effectively nonetheless.