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Old 01-15-2010, 12:58 PM
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JollyRoger JollyRoger is offline
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Well, unfortunately for you Bogey-man screamers, I found an interview Alinsky did where he was directly asked if he was a Communist:

Quote:
PLAYBOY: Did you consider becoming a party member prior to the Nazi-Soviet Pact?

ALINSKY: Not at any time. I've never joined any organization -- not even the ones I've organized myself. I prize my own independence too much. And philosophically, I could never accept any rigid dogma or ideology, whether it's Christianity or Marxism. One of the most important things in life is what judge Learned Hand described as "that ever-gnawing inner doubt as to whether you're right." If you don't have that, if you think you've got an inside track to absolute truth, you become doctrinaire, humorless and intellectually constipated. The greatest crimes in history have been perpetrated by such religious and political and racial fanatics, from the persecutions of the Inquisition on down to Communist purges and Nazi genocide. The great atomic physicist Niels Bohr summed it up pretty well when he said, "Every sentence I utter must be understood not as an affirmation, but as a question." Nobody owns the truth, and dogma, whatever form it takes, is the ultimate enemy of human freedom.

Now, this doesn't mean that I'm rudderless; I think I have a much keener sense of direction and purpose than the true believer with his rigid ideology, because I'm free to be loose, resilient and independent, able to respond to any situation as it arises without getting trapped by articles of faith. My only fixed truth is a belief in people, a conviction that if people have the opportunity to act freely and the power to control their own destinies, they'll generally reach the right decisions. The only alternative to that belief is rule by an elite, whether it's a Communist bureaucracy or our own present-day corporate establishment. You should never have an ideology more specific than that of the founding fathers: "For the general welfare." That's where I parted company with the Communists in the Thirties, and that's where I stay parted from them today.
Of course, you Glenn Beck fans think everyone is a Communist.

http://www.forestcouncil.org/tims_picks/view.php?id=1075

Ok, I still waiting to hear from one of you exactly what this man has done "wrong". Why the big foaming-at-the-mouth craziness over this guy? He was an important intellectual who wrote an influential book. Can you guys actually describe in real words exactly what makes him "bad", or is this more anti-intellectual Tea Bagger crap? Is his real sin the fact he has effective ideas? When are the book burnings to begin, and when do The Thought Police show up? Come on, one of you guys please point to one thing this man has done "wrong" or "evil". Otherwise, you guys sound like Hate Week in Orwell's 1984. Mindless, stupid hate based on nothing except that you were told to hate him by Boss Limbaugh and Boss Beck - you people look ridiculous because not one of you can give one solid reason why this man is supposed to be some sort of bogey man. So far, you've given me one lie. "he was a Communist", just typical right wing slander-speak.

Last edited by JollyRoger; 01-15-2010 at 01:05 PM.
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