When I was in undergrad, I took an economics class titled, ‘Radical and Orthodox Economic Thought.’ It was offered by this economics prof who also taught some of the intro courses like micro or macro economics. As a campus anti-war activist, I saw the economics department as part of the marketing wing of American culture that helped students learn to ‘fit’ into the system, play the game and ask no questions - i.e., support the business of war. But the title of this course caught my eye, and I knew I was weak in understanding economics, so I thought, go and find out.
On the first day of class, the prof, in explaining the class, took me completely by surprise when he said that we would need to buy a subscription of the most radical newspaper in the US. Huh? In economics class, the most radical newspaper in the US???
I sat there thinking, must be the Berkely Barb or the Quicksilver Times, or Spectator?? Why would we have such things in an economics class?? Wow, cool professor!
Then he explained…”Many of you think you know what ‘radical’ means. Anyone care to hazard a guess?”
I don’t remember if anyone did, including myself. But he went on…
”Know any other words with the same root?” Someone offered, “Radish?”
“Very good…radish. From Latin, radix, for "root". Radical’s etymology (a word’s roots, history) points to the word meaning "going to the origin, essential". We are going to be reading from the newspaper that is at the root of the American economic system, is essential to its operation. We are going to be reading the Wall Street Journal, the most radical newspaper in the US today.”
I was a bit flabbergasted! How in the hell is the WSJ a radical anything? It was the journal of big business, big investors, wasn’t it? They were the nemesis of ‘radicals’ in the US.
“I see by your faces, some of you are confused or mortified. The WSJ is where business leadership, business decision makers, talk to one another. It’s where they go to find out what the other guy is doing. It’s where they go to see what the other guy is planning. They can’t afford to lie to one another in these stories because the trust of the information flow is fundamental to the well-being of the business environment. Lies bring capitalism down. WSJ is basically the truth about business efforts – not the editorials, but the news stories.”
“The WSJ, makes visible the root structures of the US economy…giving information to people needed to make informed and smart decisions. Thereby, we will read this radical document to see whether it gives us glimpses and evidence in support of what we will be learning from the texts.”
Radical. That was the Wall Street Journal.
If you watch political ads, you will note how often ‘radical’ is used to describe a political position different than the candidate running the ad. The object of the use of the word is not to share with the voting public how this other candidate is connected to the ‘root’ or ‘essential elements’ of problems. Rather, it is an effort to scare people, similar to our childhood days when our parents would try to keep us in bed by scaring us with boogiemen in closets or under beds. Politicians use the word ‘radical’ to mean extreme in some form, a distortion from the roots of the word towards almost its opposite.
‘He’s radical!!! Be afraid! Be afraid! Follow me! Over the cliff! C’mon!!”
If we make such activist candidates like Obama a radical…then what language do we use to describe the Bin Ladens of the world?? Are people who call Obama a ‘radical’ saying he is equivalent to Bin Laden? North Korea’s leader? Khaddafy? Is that the kind of fright they are trying to make fellow voters feel???
In a similar vein, why is it so hard for us as a nation to address inequality without people doing everything they can to make the organizations and people who do so…the enemy...always labeling them, 'radical'? Is it simply a convenient cover for our racism? All sorts of business groups supported the finance sector’s deregulation, predatory lending, and the insanity of financial market’s gyrations to generate huge sums of money off bad-risk loans. Yet, the people who ‘fear-this-radical’ types want to vilify most is the American Community Organizations for Reform Now, ACORN, who have worked to give the poor a bigger voice, a sector who under normal circumstances, have no voice.
All such labels are simply obfuscations of real people thinking real things about the real world. The labels we use are an attempt to have us take our eyes off reality, and look instead at the label. It is the #1 logical fallacy (ad hominem) common to so many conversations, as people feel it necessary to sway an argument by introducing social judgments rather than dealing with the issue itself. “You aren’t afraid yet of Obama’s tax plan? BUT HE IS A RADICAL!” “You don’t fear Palin’s lack of knowledge enough yet? BUT SHE IS A RADICAL!” i.e., not anything like you, the voter.
In the world of the ‘fear-this-radical’ people, Christ would have been a radical, and obviously, so was Gandhi and King, Jr., not to mention Nelson Mendela, Sojourner Truth, Julia Ward Howe or Susan B. Anthony, and similar social activists who recognizing the internal decay and enstructured inequalities of their societies, stepped forward to challenge their societies and neighbors rather than acquiesce to more of the same.
The biggest financial collapse in several generations, and we think the poor are to blame, the 'radical' poor? Lehman’s CEO makes $106M in 2006, in the heat-up towards the collapse, and we think it’s the poor taking the economy down?
Sheesh…I want some of that Kool Aid. It must be radical! 
Copy & paste to friend: (Click inside box; Ctrl + C to copy; Ctrl + V to paste)
|
|
read more blogs!
Blogs by observed50:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| The Wall Street Journal as 'Radical' |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
KnittinKitten
|
Oct 7 @ 5:00PM
|
|
What can I say, my friend......I like what you have to say......I enjoy reading it.....I understand....(even the BIG words).....and, most importantly, I LEARN.... 
Your name should really be "OBSERVING"....Your eyes and your ears are always open....I doubt if you miss a thing...... 
Just my thoughts...
Judy 
|
|
unionman154
|
Oct 7 @ 5:15PM
|
|
|
I agree with Kitten. Keep on Observing and Educating.
|
|
Borty
|
Oct 7 @ 11:48PM
|
|
|
I was called a radical in the sixties when I supported women's rights, integration, cessation of the Vietnam War. It was a derrogetory term in those days and I'm sure it is today, however I don't see many radicals these days. Most seem content with the status quo or are they simply keeping quiet for fear of retalialion.
|
|
redtigr
|
Oct 8 @ 12:42AM
|
|
Interesting...
...compared to my friends and acquaintances views on most things, I'm a radical. Compared to suicide bombers and such, I'm quite the conservative.
Everything is relative.
I am rad...
|
|
|