{"id":721,"date":"2013-01-21T22:29:03","date_gmt":"2013-01-22T03:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/?p=721"},"modified":"2013-01-21T22:29:03","modified_gmt":"2013-01-22T03:29:03","slug":"another-point-of-view-an-interview-with-leftist-extraordinaire-dr-leon-marlensky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2013\/01\/another-point-of-view-an-interview-with-leftist-extraordinaire-dr-leon-marlensky.html","title":{"rendered":"Another Point of View: An Interview with Leftist Extraordinaire, Dr. Leon Marlensky"},"content":{"rendered":"

Below is an excerpt of the first part of my interview with Dr. Leon Marlensky, the most rigorous-minded leftist of whom I have ever heard.\u00a0 In the interest of promoting a genuinely free market place of ideas, I have decided provide Dr. Marlensky\u2014or Leon, as he insists upon being called\u2014with an opportunity to express himself to audiences\u2014my readers\u2014who he would otherwise never reach.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

JK: Dr. Leon Marlensky, I thank you for being with me here today. \u00a0<\/p>\n

LM: The pleasure is mine, Jack.\u00a0 However, I implore you: please, please<\/em> call me Leon.\u00a0 And I hope that you will not take offense at my insistence upon referring to you by your first name.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Titles like \u201cdoctor,\u201d signifying as they do distinctions of power and authority, belong to hierarchical modes of thought.\u00a0 They serve to further the class oppression in which the Western world has been saturated since its inception.\u00a0 This is why I don\u2019t even call my parents \u201cmom\u201d and \u201cdad.\u201d Nor do I call my grandparents \u201cgrandmother\u201d and \u201cgrandfather.\u201d\u00a0 I am equally determined to make sure that my children and grandchildren don\u2019t call me \u201cdad.\u201d\u00a0 There are only first names in my universe. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

JK: Please forgive me, sir, I only meant\u2026.<\/p>\n

LM: Please, sir <\/em>is even worse <\/em>than doctor. <\/em>Sir, like \u201cmister,\u201d not only allies itself with \u201cdoctor\u201d and the like by furthering classism.\u00a0 Titles like \u201csir\u201d and \u201cmister\u201d perpetuate sexism <\/em>as well.\u00a0 And I know that you meant <\/em>no ill will in addressing me as \u201cdoctor;\u201d most people mean <\/em>no ill will when they speak.\u00a0 But this is the<\/em> problem: <\/em>it is not our individual<\/em> intentions, but the social structures<\/em> to which they collectively give rise, that matter.<\/p>\n

JK: But \u201csir\u201d is just a manner of speaking.<\/p>\n

LM: I don\u2019t mean to single you out here, Jack. You are no different from most people in thinking that speech is one thing, action another.\u00a0 But speaking and acting are one and the same. Every phrase, every sentence, is a \u201cspeech-act\u201d that takes its place in some discourse<\/em> or another.\u00a0 These discourses, in turn, structure the asymmetries of power that characterize the West.<\/p>\n

JK: So our civilization is\u2026.<\/p>\n

LM: With all due respect, there you go again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

JK: What did I say now?<\/p>\n

LM: You said not one, but two things that have done incalculable damage to humanity.\u00a0 First, you said \u201cour<\/em> civilization.\u201d\u00a0 Second, you said \u201cour civilization.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur\u201d implies \u201cnot them.\u201d\u00a0 Next to \u201cmine,\u201d there is probably no other term that is more exclusive <\/em>than \u201cour.\u201d Yet in the case of the West, things are even worse, because \u201cour\u201d has always referred to white Europeans.\u00a0 That is, \u201cour\u201d has been an indispensable instrument in the promotion of White Supremacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cCivilization,\u201d in turn, serves this same function.\u00a0 If there are civilized people, then there are also uncivilized <\/em>or primitive <\/em>peoples.\u00a0 The concept of civilization not only introduces a sharp divide between \u201cthe civilized\u201d and everyone else, but it justifies the oppression of the latter by the former.<\/p>\n

JK: So, the use of the term \u201ccivilization,\u201d at least when it is used by white men and women, justifies racial <\/em>oppression?<\/p>\n

LM: Exactly right.\u00a0<\/p>\n

JK:But Dr.Marlensky\u2014<\/p>\n

LM:Leon, please.<\/p>\n

JK: Sorry.Leon, while no one would deny that blacks and other nonwhites, like American Indians—-<\/p>\n

LM:\u00a0 Excuse me, there is no <\/em>such thing as an American Indian—-<\/p>\n

JK: Once more, I apologize. Allow me to rephrase. While no one would deny that blacks and other nonwhites, like Native Americans<\/em>—<\/p>\n

LM: Sorry Jack, but neither is there such a thing as a \u201cNative American.\u201d\u00a0 The concept of a \u201cNative American<\/em>\u201d <\/em>presupposes the concept of America<\/em>.\u00a0 <\/em>Yet the latter is a Eurocentric invention, the creation of Europeans.\u00a0 Come on Jack!\u00a0America is named for Amerigo Vespucci, you know that!\u00a0 And Vespucci, as you are equally well aware, is of European stock, a white man.\u00a0<\/p>\n

JK: Ok. Fine. Let me begin my question again, but this time minus the allusion to any specific nonwhite group other than blacks.\u00a0 While no one would deny that—-<\/p>\n

LM: Wait! With all due respect, Jack, listen to what you\u2019re saying. \u201cNonwhites?\u201d\u00a0 Have you ever met anyone who identified her or himself as a \u201cnonwhite?\u201d\u00a0 The concept of a \u201cnonwhite\u201d is a negative concept, the negation or privation <\/em>of the positive concept, the good, of whiteness.\u00a0 \u201cNonwhite\u201d stands in relation to \u201cwhite\u201d as disease stands in relation to health, or darkness relates to light.<\/p>\n

\u201cNonwhite\u201d is a racist category without which the system of White Supremacy couldn\u2019t long survive.<\/p>\n

JK: Just a minute,Leon.\u00a0 Just a minute.\u00a0 We also—<\/p>\n

LM: What do you mean by \u201cwe,\u201d Jack?\u00a0 To whom <\/em>does \u201cwe<\/em>\u201d <\/em>refer?\u00a0 Though less explicitly exclusive than \u201cour,\u201d \u201cwe\u201d too is a pronoun that has served to divide and conquer.<\/p>\n

JK: By \u201cwe\u201d I refer to us, <\/em>to—-<\/p>\n

LM: Us<\/em>? Don\u2019t you realize that \u201cus\u201d always implies a \u201cthem?\u201d<\/p>\n

JK: Leon! Please. In this culture, this country, we\u2014the citizens of America\u2014also use the term \u201cnonblack.\u201d\u00a0 Is this <\/em>an illegitimate concept too?<\/p>\n

LM: For the purpose of facilitating this exchange, Jack, I\u2019ll refrain, for the moment, of noting that the notion of \u201ccitizenship\u201d is an intrinsically racist one.\u00a0 For now, suffice it to say that, yes, \u201cnonblack\u201d is just as supportive of White Supremacy as is \u201cnonwhite.\u201d\u00a0 Think about it: the concept of black is a social construction, a Eurocentric<\/em> social construction.\u00a0 It is a category that whites devised and then imposed upon a diverse array of peoples from the continent of Africa.\u00a0 Prior to the invasion of Europeans, Africans didn\u2019t regard themselves as \u201cblack.\u201d They defined themselves <\/em>in terms of their tribes\u2014not the monolithic \u201cblack\u201d that whites came up with to identify them.<\/p>\n

JK: Oh, I get it.\u00a0 You believe that a more suitable label is \u201cAfrican-American\u201d—-<\/p>\n

LM: Jack, Jack, Jack. As I said before with respect to the racism of \u201cNative American\u201d—<\/p>\n

JK: Right, right.\u00a0 I forgot: \u201cAfrican-American\u201d is racist also, for it presupposes \u201cAmerica,\u201d which in turn is the invention of whites.<\/p>\n

LM: Now you are catching on.<\/p>\n

The second part of my interview with Dr. Leon Marlensky will be published soon. \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Below is an excerpt of the first part of my interview with Dr. Leon Marlensky, the most rigorous-minded leftist of whom I have ever heard.\u00a0 In the interest of promoting a genuinely free market place of ideas, I have decided provide Dr. Marlensky\u2014or Leon, as he insists upon being called\u2014with an opportunity to express himself…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAnother Point of View: An Interview with Leftist Extraordinaire, Dr. Leon Marlensky<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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