Hi
it is difficult to agree more with what Seamus says, and so clearly.
Indeed claims of moral authority through political persuasion deserve critical judgement too, and there is loads of legitimate debate and contested argument even WITHIN the `left`, and simply taking dogmatic stands on issues that repsume moral authority come-what-may certainly profoundly lacks any critical edge whatsoever.
And of course there are different speheres of `what matters` that may be as pertinent as each other, not a one-line story endlessly to claim to benefit any intellect.
[`more critical than thou does not equal more dogmatic, more uncritcal posturing!.]
lets have a genuinely crtical geographer that is inclusive, intelligent, and perhaps above all, tolerant.
very good wishes
DAvid
>>> "Dr.Seamus Grimes" <[log in to unmask]> 05/02/03 11:18am >>>
I suspect that many who subscribe to this forum do so mainly for the
general information about conferences, etc, and they are likely to be
very selective in reading/deleting messages.
It is reasonable to assume that subscribers see themselves as being
'critical' in the perspectives they adopt, but to make assumptions about
their political positionings is foolhardy and suggests a naïve view that
to be 'critical' (quite difficult to define precisely) is to be 'on the
left'.
My own view is that many people change political positions depending on
the issues involved, precisely because they adopt a critical
perspective, rather than assume a consistent ideological and uncritical
view of life.
Seamus Grimes
Department of Geography and Centre for Innovation and Structural Change
National University of Ireland, Galway
Galway
Ireland
www.nuigalway.ie/cisc
Ph: 353-91-512148
Fax: 353-91-512505
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