I had a very different reaction to Lerner's essay. There are people on
the left who support some kind of military response to the September 11
attacks, as there were, for example, anti-imperialists who supported the
US response to the Axis in 1941. That line seems the least exceptional
in the piece. On the other hand, as a historian, I don't find his story
particularly interesting, or revealing, at all. I'm surprised that Mr.
Jacobs, who has tried to recover some of the Weatherman history --
unlike the history profession generally -- would have found Lerner's
confession as particularly insightful about the emergence of this
tendency from RYM, in turn from trends in the national office of SDS, in
turn from the 1967-69 shift from resistance to revolution, etc.
Jama Lazerow
Wheelock College
Uriah768@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 03/07/2002 6:25:02 PM Central Standard Time,
> rjacobs@zoo.uvm.edu writes:
>
>
>
>> Nice story with interesting points--but the question remains, how
>> can one
>> have supposedly understood that the US government is an imperialist
>> government and now support its wars. The only conclusion I can draw
>> is
>> that Mr. Lerner never truly understood the nature of imperialism and
>> how
>> the US is an imperialist country. Too bad. -ron jacobs
>>
>>
>
> I think it's called "changing your mind." Mr. Lerner no longer
> accepts the same view of the "nature of imperialism" as do you. If
> so, it follows that he may not view the USA as an imperialist
> country. I am not sure how that is "too bad", seeing as how we all
> change our ideas from time to time as we grow, age and encounter a
> wider view of the world. I should clarify that. SOME people do
> this. Others prefer to remain where they were thirty to forty years
> ago, using outdated vocabulary and outmoded ideas. It keeps things
> lively though...and hey, to each his/her/its own. :-)
>
> Brad L. Duren
> Instructor of History
> Oklahoma Panhandle State University
> 213 Hamilton Hall
> Goodwell, Oklahoma 73939
> work phone: 580-349-1498
> email: Uriah768@aol.com
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