Since the Hedges article there are furious debates everywhere - what does the word liberal "really" mean, with the usual protests that attacks on liberalism are "broad brushed" and are smearing good people, and are "alienating potential friends and allies" and "unfairly making generalizations about people."

The arguments about the word are a smokescreen for political disagreements.

A person sees the political divide in the country as between the haves and have-nots, rather than liberal-conservative, or they don't.

A person identifies with the have-nots, or they don't.

A person sees politics as being about power and economics, rather than personal beliefs, or they don't.

A person rejects and resists the social arrangements - power and status and success - or they don't.

A person believes in Capitalism, believes that the "free market" and "free enterprise" leads to the good life when properly managed, or they don't.

A person thinks that the "somebodies" are important and must be followed and listened to, or they don't.

A person thinks that it is the "nobodies" who matter, and rejects all of the trappings of prestige, credentials, positions, degrees, offices, and success as a fraud and a lie, or they don't.

A person thinks that under the current social arrangements that mostly "the cream rises to the top" or they think it is more a matter of "shit floats."

A person thinks that we are in a desperate struggle or they don't.

A person thinks that we are facing a massive crisis, that the human race faces an unprecedented and deadly and immediate threat, and that desperate times call for desperate measures, or they don't.

A person thinks that all of our assumptions, everything we thought we knew about politics and about society needs to be ruthlessly examined and challenged, or they don't.

It's pretty interesting how this is shaking out, wanna-be lefties showing their true elitists colors while some who for years have been the voices of 'reason' getting all left bent.

you're likely to get labeled Radical Chic. That seems to be the favorite tactic of the comfortable/complacent. I just console myself by figuring they don't get out much.

I love how every shitbag who reads nothing, studies nothing, KNOWS nothing, is so quick to smugly write off any true critism or hardline agitators. I am so fucking tired of feeling obligated to take these fools seriously or act like their dumbass "opinions" have any validity. I want to punch them in the fucking face.

I also love how you can raise any issue and they can expound on it at great length with much aplonb. They know shit-all about anything, but it doesn't stop 'em from giving you a solid lecture on how things are/should be

I can't deal with many more fucking idiots

Being accused of radical chic is tame compared to what is coming. According to an article by a young guy in Washington, their demonstration was met with "shoot the traitors!"

I would be interested in your comments on the article:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/12/13-0

[div class="excerpt"]Last week, hundreds of students again gathered to march noisily. Unlike November of 2008, however, their signs now are angry and there is no dancing. Speakers railed against the latest Bush-like troop surge, and the crowd noisily and angrily rallied against the Obama administration's failure to capitalize on any political victory. Tired of waiting for the promised change, the young, it appears, are turning to that last-resort, dirty-word: Socialism.

And why not Socialism? Young people today cannot even remember a time without war, crushing student-loans, environmental catastrophe, torture and terror. All of these, according to Marxism, are necessarily end results of unbridled Capitalism at work. It seems obvious to any kid having grown up under the Bush regime-siblings in Iraq, parents in debt, education in ruins-that the two percent of "haves" are destroying the lives of the ninety-eight percent of the "have-nots." Socialism makes sense to us, if only because Capitalism does not. [/quote]

[div class="excerpt"]The reason Islamic extremists hate American culture is the same reason we voted for change: the world is tired of war, globalization, exploitation, and the other trappings of the for-profit American culture. There is a common denominator in our politics that Obama would rather not let himself see: the failure of our way of life. The youth of today see this from the bottom of the heap looking up, whether they are soldiers interrogating Afghani villagers, or students working the night shift to get through college. Why can't Obama see it?[/quote]

That is how it looks to me. There is a shaking out going on.

The capitalist system is HIS system, the one he would kill for, the one he would send you to die for. I am tired of people trying to talk strong, but nice, to/about the Murder-in-Chief, Barrack Obama...

They have never even pretended to read or study anything remotely related to what they "believe" - it is belief on their part, because they have no thought behind anything they spout. And TA is right, it is going to get pretty ugly, pretty fast...

I would consider that a trend -- in the sense that slowly over time, more radical action starts to look more viable and more legitimate (for the most part anyone talking about anything "radical" is mainly inviting people to make fun of them or chastise them)

I don't think that very many young people have a firm grasp of what socialism actually means right now. What brings them over to the "dark side" is shit jobs, no prospects, and a general feeling of being let down and discarded. Sounds bleak, because it is. Its also very prevalent and intractable.

Everywhere you go and in every moment and in every seemingly insignificant situation it's for all of us to beat the crap out of these "managers of opinion."

Being nice does not work.

Being reasonable has proven a dismal failure.

Taking the time to discuss things over and over and over rarely sheds a dividend.

Personally I am so fucking beyond disgusted with the very folks you describe having the power in our everyday lives stealing every possibility from every person on the planet but themselves. What's more these gentrified seekers walk around patting each other on the back in glib supremacy over the excellent job they've done.

Enough of this. Getting in their face everyday in public, no matter the circumstances, is our duty.