Perhaps if dedicated citizens work on this hard enough, we can find a way to make fights over parking spaces and noise ordinances into the determining factor that will somehow bring peace to Israel.

I, for one, am glad that conservatives don’t engage in such frivolous protests.

Now excuse me, while I change my profile picture to green to support Iranian revolution.

I saw the picture of the stuffed monkey at the top of this post and thought it must have been some sort of attack on Obama.  It would never occur to me that someone might actually offer that kind of money for a children’s toy.  Maybe a dog or a cat (maybe).  But a children’s stuffed animal?  That’s nuts…unless there were diamonds hidden inside (thinking of the plot of a James Bond film) or something…

I think the idea behind the large reward was to motivate people to go out and look for the monkey. For free, anyone who stumbled across it would probably turn it in, but for $500, they might comb the area over their lunch break, or ask their friends to keep an eye out. They would also be much likelier to remember the sign later, if they found the monkey after, say, a week.

Back on topic, of course boycotts never work. That’s why black people still have to sit in the back of buses.

Should women not take small feminist actions in their own lives (keeping their last name, or eschewing marriage), or should they not be discussed at all because they are unlikely to wholesale bring down the Patriarchy?

In fairness to the ParkSlopians, individuals and small groups making smallish, day-to-day decisions about what they’re going to buy, where they’re going to go, how they’re going to get there, etc., are the only thing most of us can do to change anything. (I mean, what, they should write their congressperson or something?)

It may well be that this is a useless, hollow gesture, performed by self-important and unlikeable people, but sometimes useless, hollow gestures are all you have.

I sympathize with your distaste. We well-off white liberals do get pretty self-important. (Some of the best entries in Stuff White People Like played on this fact.)

But even as a boycott skeptic (I generally think they’re completely ineffective) I do recognize that the great boycotts that actually had some impact—I’m thinking particularly of public sentiment against apartheid in the 1980’s—were about exactly what you’re seeing here: small entities making choices, and hoping that those choices become widespread enough to make a difference. 

I support their desire to do right and to purchase with conscience. I could just do without the smugness that usually goes with it.

And yet, here this parent feels that no sum less than $500 will cause their fellow human beings to relieve the pain of this loss by returning the monkey, slightly bruised and dirtied, to the grieving child.

Another teacup in the making.

While last week’s meeting seemed surprisingly orderly to many of those in attendance, opponents like Ms. Mazor feel B.D.S. could alienate many co-op members. Already there are dueling blogs, psfcbds.wordpress.com and stopbdsparkslope.blopgspot.com—part of an emerging genre—and should a vote be held, it could divide granola-munching families and friends. There is fear of an exodus of Jews.

This ain’t a co-op, it’s a goddamn up-in-arms rave.

Arms RACE even.  Preview is your frieeeeend.

@Cris: I have a rule about those things: if someone asks, “why don’t you buy _____?”, I tell them. Otherwise, it’s pretty much the same. (Exception for people who do buy things I’m boycotting, WHILE giving me shit for not being vegan. “Live and let live” is a two-way street.)

By “the same”, I mean, “same as if I wasn’t boycotting product X”. I just realized how dumb it sounds as is.

Data, please point to where I said that highly organized, targeted boycotts that have a strong focus and specific goals don’t work.

Please. Good luck!  I’m guessing you’ll be combing a long time through a post about vague boycotts with little economic impact that simply “send messages” to people who aren’t listening.

But hey, they give people something to fight over in a game of holier-than-thou, and that’s far more important than being fucking effective.

Have they even checked to see if those three or four items are still on their shelves? It seems like someone working their three hour shift might have gotten tired of the bickering and took it upon themselves to just dump the handful of things the arguing is about.

Where do people find the time to argue about bath salts and produce? Do they even realize that their actions are trivializing a very, very serious conflict? Maybe in the land of $500 rewards for stuffed animals everything (including bath salts) is a life or death situation.

No. Actual pragmatic issues could suck precious seconds away from puffing up about how much smarter and more moral you are than everyone else.

Reminds me of the famous, “help, help, I’m being repressed” scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Seriously - rather than duking it out like this, the co-op manager could use shelf tags to ID the origins of all imported products. Those who wished to boycott products sourced from Israel would then be free to do so. After several months, if sales of Israeli products have dropped sharply, then the co-op - just like any other business - would have a perfectly valid reason to stop carrying them - as the membership will have “voted” on the issue with their wallets.

Badda-bing, badda boom - problem solved.

But hey, they give people something to fight over in a game of holier-than-thou, and that’s far more important than being fucking effective.

Oh, the irony.

I thought we had stopped fooling ourselves that Beanie Babies were actually worth anything.

I definitely have to agree that I like the fact that my co-op (in Lexington, KY) pays a decent wage to workers and you can qualify for health-insurance & benefits at the 20 hr per week minimum. As a result, I know many writers/artists/adjuncts who work at the co-op part-time in order to qualify for said benefits and I’m happy to pay a slightly higher price for good food.

Is there a word or a phrase to identify this energy-consuming, pointless bullshit that liberals engage in?  I see it so damned much in my life, and I don’t have a good vocabulary to describe it.  It’s fine when it’s 19 year old Women’s Studies majors who are just starting to figure out how pervasive oppression is, but when you’re 35 years old and you spend 6 months expending your emotional energy on something that doesn’t affect anyone but yourself, it’s pretty embarrassing.

(Also, I thought the picture was one of those hipster jokes.  Who the hell takes that good of a picture of their kids’ stuffed animals?)

I’m sure Israel will miss all the sales from products they’re not even sure they actually carry in the store (isn’t Item 1 on the agenda to check on whether you actually have products you can boycott before calling for a boycott?)

I can’t wait to see the debate when they graduate to whether they should give some sort of moral support to the flotilla (nevermind logistical or material support).

@DataSnake - waitaminute, when did choosing not to buy certain classes of products for personal reasons become a boycott?

I kind of thought that a boycott was an organized, tightly-focused movement to force change by depriving the target of a market, by definition. I don’t see how a single person (or, for that matter, a single hippie food co-op) could boycott anything.

I mean, shit, I choose not to buy Swiffers because I find them environmentally and morally appalling, but I think it would be a real stretch to say that I was “boycotting” Swiffer. Likewise, I haven’t purchased anything in a WalMart for a good seven years (and that was an accident), but it’s hard to claim very convincingly that I am “boycotting” WalMart because I don’t shop there. I don’t buy my groceries at CostCo, another store that I find aesthetically repugnant, but I’m not not “boycotting” CostCo, either.

waitaminute, when did choosing not to buy certain classes of products for personal reasons become a boycott?

When enough people do it.

True, the buying decisions of one co-op somewhere in Brooklyn is really not going to affect the Middle East.

But Amanda’s post going holier-than-thou on that co-op’s decision-making process about a boycott is even less likely to do so, making her railing at them for being ineffective… really very ironic.

Because it reminds me that even in Park Slope, there are still remnants of the weird and occasionally disturbing New York City I remember from days of yore, I thought it was worth mentioning that the Brooklyn Paper article about Bongo the monkey clarifies that he’s not in fact a child’s toy, but the “best friend” of a non-romantically-involved Manhattan couple who went out to dinner in Park Slope, and took Bongo along.  Because they take him everywhere.  Because he’s the “son they never had.”

But Amanda’s post going holier-than-thou on that co-op’s decision-making process about a boycott is even less likely to do so, making her railing at them for being ineffective… really very ironic.

Only if Amanda’s point in writing this was to educate people about effective ways to support Palestine.  I assume that her motivation for writing this was to highlight the stupidity of directing emotion, energy, and work towards in-group fighting rather than using it to organize, educate, and motivate other people to effect change for a larger purpose.

Examples of not-stupid things to do:
(1)  Ask a Park Slope Palestinian how the co-op could support Palestine.
(2)  Ask a Park Slope Israeli how the co-op could support Palestine without alienating their Jewish members.
(3)  Host an event educating the larger community about why the co-op is getting involved in Palestine’s business and offering ways for people to help.

I’m not getting into the Palestinian vs. Israel debate here (although I come from a generation more influenced by the Holocaust only a decade before and the book Exodus.)

But the relative irrelevance of the fight at a Brooklyn co-op could also be said of any of your blog posts on anything, Amanda.

Do you really believe that anything you write on this little blog (one newspaper site, another blog) will affect the Religious Right, and so on and so forth?

I say the above as someone who both enjoys the discussions here, often agrees with Amanda’s point of view, and is well aware of the relative irrelevance of my comments on any subject.

Thanks for the background link professordarkheart.

They should take the $500 and spend it on a good therapist. Jeesh.

On the other hand, although it would seem pointless of one member or a small group of the Religious Right or Tea Party to write a blog, post a comment, boycott something or other—we’re now living in a government run by Tea Party/Religious Right sentiments.

I’ve been reading Amanda’s posts for years, and used her arguments and reasoning when talking to people in my own life.  Within that time, upwards of a dozen people stopped voting Republican, countless others have become pro-choice, and I’m starting to get the odd email every few months from people I haven’t spoken to in years who said that they finally understand what I said.  Hell, knowing that she’s also getting rape/death threats and yet continues to put a strong feminist voice in the public’s year motivates me to keep doing the same when I receive the same threats.  I’d say that yes, her one little blog has caused tremendous, measurable ripple through my circles in the Midwest. 

The Religious Right became so powerful because conservatives talk to each other and convince each other that it’s best to uphold power structures.  They talk to each other.  Shouting at each other until one person changes their mind is ineffective because no one wants to partner with the angry jerk yelling in their face.  Again, you only have to see how powerful the Religious Right is to understand that.

publics’ ear, not public’s year.  Yikes.

For the entire 14 months we lived in Park Slope, we were asked roughly twice a week if we were members of the co-op, which we initially thought might be mandatory if you live in the Slope.  We never did join.  We took the tour of it and considered it after having people rave to us about how it’s a great lefty institution, and very socialist in nature. Much (most?) of the labor is provided by members—-you have to work a 3 hour shift once a month—-which I thought wasn’t actually that leftist or socialist at all, but more like anarachist.  Being the labor-oriented lefty that I am, I would rather pay a higher fee and actually give people jobs, instead of work three hours so that I, an already-employed person, could get slightly cheaper food at the grocery store.  So we didn’t join.

While I do think it’s a good idea to hire people who need jobs, as Thealogian mentioned is a feature of the Lexington KY co-op s/he belongs to, I wonder if the initial thought was, if everyone is a participant, then everyone knows what it’s like to be the worker.  So that you don’t get overentitled Park Slopers treating the co-op employees like crap.

Or maybe there is some difference in the tax or other legal status of the co-op if it has paying versus participating members.

Is there a word or a phrase to identify this energy-consuming, pointless bullshit that liberals engage in? 
Comment #23: stubbles on 08/03 at 01:43 PM

Circular firing squad.

@19: I have an idea. Let’s debate again how devastatingly wicked it is to spoil a book that’s been out four years.

For mental health reasons, I really need to limit my exposure to humorlessness and butthurtness. It’s not doing me any good, honestly.

As I said, Amanda’s relative irrelevance—who knows how many have been affected by the Brooklyn Co-op?

The Religious Right and Tea Partiers may not shout at each other, but they sure seem to get their message across by shouting down any other in the media.

The point I was making is: it’s no more foolish to put forth your point of view in a co-op or a blog. If they were written on a paper bag, someone might pick it up and read that, too.

Which is why it’s very odd indeed that Amanda should deride the actions of a co-op, when her blog isn’t irradicating the Religious Right in one fell swoop, either.

Really, Amanda. This was a humor column? Huh.

I have a theory: when people laugh, it’s funny.

But that’s just a theory.

If it were just about a $500 reward for the lost stuffed toy, well, I’ll grant you that’s pretty darn stupidly funny.

A question about a long ongoing thing I’ve noticed about people, but specifically concentrated here.

Why do people rail against and crusade against “holier-than-thou-ism” and “smugness?”

Is it about insecurity? Someone’s emotions doesn’t make them more right or moral than oneself no matter how hard they feel it. One’s accomplishments, positions, morality and ethics, efforts, a lot of things aren’t affected because someone else might feel “smug” about something they’ve done.

It’s very weird, that people seem to feel the need to attack others because others may feel good about themselves, but then weird is what normal people do all the time. I remember a long time ago an incident that has stayed with me, where a person just came out and told me I was feeling good about myself and needed to be attacked for it, and then proceeded to do so. This was not a person I knew or was communicating with, yet for whatever reason they had a compelling emotional desire to attack a stranger because they felt that the stranger was feeling too good about themselves or their accomplishments.

Considering how common and accepted this behavior is, I’d like to know what the rules are. How do I know when another is feeling too good? How do I go about attacking them? Should I limit myself in my attacks or does anything go so long as I don’t physically harm them? Would it be better to comport myself and communicate in a manner that informs others that in my presence, certain things, like feeling good about oneself, is proscribed?

I realize that many might find it ridiculous that I have to ask about his bit of behavior as they probably simply “get it” but I’m asking in earnestness as I really don’t get the behavior and it also bugs the fuck out of me on many levels.

Wow is there ever some grade A whinging going on in this thread.

Although #28 is awesome.

By far my favorite part of this piece is that the NY Observer reporter, Matt Chaban, felt compelled to call Senator Chuck Schumer—who Matt helpfully points out is not even a member of the co-op, though he does live in Park Slope—for comment.

Schumer “could not be reached for comment due to the debt ceiling vote Tuesday,” but I like to think if he’d actually been asked about this, his response would be something to the effect of, “You’re fucking shitting me, right?”

It’s people’s incapacity to comprehend the lack of difference between 0 and 0.0000001 in some contexts that’s the problem here.

I’m sure none of the boycotters are aware that a huge percentage of Intel’s processors are manufactured in Israel, and that every one of them probably has at least one of them.  Because it’s a global economy, and the best we’re going to do, any of us, is keep the percentages down.

(Also, since when is forcing other people not to buy your stuff a “boycott”?  Boycotts involve you and your community agreeing not to do stuff.  I served on the board of our Graduate Student Organization back in the day, and we were asked to endorse a political thing.  Despite the fact that every single member of the board agreed with the political thing, we didn’t.  Because a good 30% of our members didn’t agree, and we knew it, and we knew we shouldn’t speak for them unless we needed to.)

OMG every single story in this post was comedy gold. XD

(The very very very srs bzns comments following were comedy silver. Keep trying, guys! ;p)

I’m with stubbles. This blog has given me a great deal of food for thought and ways to influence arguments.

True, the buying decisions of one co-op somewhere in Brooklyn is really not going to affect the Middle East.

Geez, are you sure?

I’m pretty sure that if the coop carries hummus, it is probably made in Brooklyn or nearby in Jersey.  Though I could hope for Cedars or Joseph’s from here in MA as I saw both in specialty shops in Jersey City a couple of years ago.

For some reason I’m reminded of that episode of South Park where Kyle’s parents move to San Francisco where supposedly everyone is so smug about their own superiority that they smell their own farts on a regular basis. Are the Park-Slopians that variety of smug liberal? Just curious.

A Bagelsan, since Brooklyn is really heavily Jewish, I think they don’t think that person really knows what they are saying.  I believe there’s a pretty heavy middle eastern population of all types, actually.  If they wanted to specify Park Slope, I wouldn’t know; but Brooklyn?  Yeah, pretty unaware.

@judybrowni:

Well, if it wasn’t supposed to be a humor post, Amanda must have done something wrong, because I thought it was funny as hell.

This is like the ALA (American Library Association) making a public statement about their stance on Darfur.  It is absurd because the ALA is not the agency you would usually think of in stopping war and genocide.  At the same time, more and more libraries are hiring paraprofessionals, more communities are closing libraries and paying workers less.  You would think that the ALA would, duh, concentrate more on these matters since it is supposed to an advocacy group for librarians.
As for the Park-Slope co-op, wouldn’t their energy be better spent advocating for community gardens, locally grown and manufactured food, and csa hook-ups?  That way, no one would be contributing to any sort of conflict and not making an empty gesture at the same time.

... something about a machine that extrapolates the universe from a piece of fairy cake, and having a sense of proportion.

Judi: “If it were just about a $500 reward for the lost stuffed toy, well, I’ll grant you that’s pretty darn stupidly funny.”

Yep. Though the tiny blog going OH NOES THIS COOP IS STUNNINGLY IRRELEVANT is also funny, at least I got a grin out of it.

Amanda: “Let’s debate again how devastatingly wicked it is to spoil a [movie] that’s been out four [days].”

Fixed that for you. Nah, let’s not: I ought to know by this time that you’re one of those Americans who believes that once you’ve seen a movie, spoiler warnings shouldn’t matter.

Jesur—Did you have a big bowl of Honey Crunch Stupid Smacks for breakfast?

This is like the ALA (American Library Association) making a public statement about their stance on Darfur.

Do you know that the town of Brattleboro, Vermont, indicted Cheney on war crimes charges at a town meeting? Yes, really. Why work on boring shit like parks, roads, sewers, and schools when you cosplay as The Hague?

Yeah, nearly as funny a title as Pandagon Blog Eradicates the Religious Right.

@47: Oddly, despite not knowing that, I always buy AMD (well, for processors. I still prefer nVidia for graphics). Mostly because a Phenom II x4 costs WAY less than a similarly-clocked Core 2 Duo on newegg.

@47 well you probably just illustrated why they didn’t choose to, say, boycott Chinese-made goods over the occupation of Tibet.

you have to work a 3 hour shift once a month—-which I thought wasn’t actually that leftist or socialist at all, but more like anarachist.

There’s a passage somewhere in Marx’s work where he visualizes an ideal life for himself where he can choose to do with his labor as he pleases, so it’s definitely socialist.

Black Bloc is better suited to discuss the relationship of that practice to anarchism, but I can see where you’re coming from.

Being the labor-oriented lefty that I am, I would rather pay a higher fee and actually give people jobs, instead of work three hours so that I, an already-employed person, could get slightly cheaper food at the grocery store.  So we didn’t join.

I think the threshold for membership is too low, and labor requires you to invest yourself, not only your money, into the institution. It also lets’ you see what’s going on on the other side of the counter, which a lot of people without experience in retail sales would benefit from, even at 6 hours a month.  Also, it would be a great place for social observation for someone with your descriptive skills, IMHO.
We are social creatures, and you have to remember that when you donate your labor, you’re donating what your employer gets out of it as well as what you get paid for it.  That’s how much your labor is worth on the open market. So you have to think about donated labor in a new light, perhaps.

I support their desire to do right and to purchase with conscience. I could just do without the smugness that usually goes with it.

I remember back in the mid-70s, when my mothers’ best friend was so glad to have some grapes that Dad and I liberated from a field in the Central Valley, she excitedly told us how she had adhered to the grape boycott since it had been announced.  This is in Red California, not exactly a liberal enclave in those days.

She never got to direct Tango by the playwright Mrozek which was her dream play, godammit, as my mother would say.
She even argued with me about staging it using Stranvinsky’s little Tango, saying that you’d have to use the one specified in the play.

Where are those kind of liberals these days? 

Do you really believe that anything you write on this little blog (one newspaper site, another blog) will affect the Religious Right, and so on and so forth?

Which is why it’s very odd indeed that Amanda should deride the actions of a co-op, when her blog isn’t irradicating the Religious Right in one fell swoop, either.

“It is better to light one candle than curse the darkness.”

THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.

“You’re fucking shitting me, right?”

No more than that Tiger Mother who thought she could get away with passing off extreme mothering as some sort of cultural value.

Amanda, thank you for fighting the good fight, especially when you do it with humor.

  The key blog about the BDS movement, written by an enemy of the movement, is Divest This.

  http://www.divestthis.com/

  I think the blog describes the entire reasoning beyond the BDS movement rather well.

  Keep in mind, my opinions regarding Israel are probably going to be much more pro-Israel than other readers of this blog.

Ben D: Do you know that the town of Brattleboro, Vermont, indicted Cheney on war crimes charges at a town meeting? Yes, really.

Yes. I thought it was kind of neat.

Not to veer off topic but:

the Brooklyn Paper article about Bongo the monkey clarifies that he’s not in fact a child’s toy, but the “best friend” of a non-romantically-involved Manhattan couple who went out to dinner in Park Slope, and took Bongo along.  Because they take him everywhere.  Because he’s the “son they never had.”

Wait, what?

CBG:

As Mark Twain put it:

“The only difference between reality and fiction,
is that fiction needs to be credible.”

Sometimes a second draft is needed.

A better equivalent to “Brooklyn Co-Op Fixes the Middle East” would be “Pandagon Blog Converts Religious Right to Islam.”

Or, BLOGGER CONVERTS RELIGIOUS RIGHT TO SECULAR HUMANISM.

    “In response to Amanda Marcotte’s blog post, Religious Right spokesman Jerry Fallwell admitted, ‘Damn, that girl is right! I’m going down to Planned Parenthood tomorrow to get me an abortion.’”

One problem I have with Amanda’s post is conflating a yuppie (or whatever they’re calling them these days) reward poster for a stuffed toy to people expressing a political opinion in a way that may not change the world, immediately.

Well, neither does anything any of us write here, I hate to inform you.

Ha!  My friend sent me a link saying that Park Slopians send their nannies to work their co-op shifts!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/18/nyregion/18coop.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

So the allegation by a Park Slope blog last week that some members were sending their nannies to fulfill their work shifts has raised eyebrows and debate among the granola-and-strollers set of greater Park Slope, and smug satisfaction among those who would rather go to Key Food.

One problem I have with Amanda’s post is conflating a yuppie (or whatever they’re calling them these days) reward poster for a stuffed toy to people expressing a political opinion in a way that may not change the world, immediately.

Well, neither does anything any of us write here, I hate to inform you.

I completely disagree.  Amanda’s posts have taught me more about feminism that I would have learned otherwise.  I had conversations with hundreds of people because of her posts.  She won’t change the world immediately, but she has changed increments the some aspects world extremely slowly.

Contrast that with the Park Slope co-op who aren’t talking to anyone but themselves.  If all you’re doing is arguing about hummus, there’s no point for the world to notice.  You’re not challenging any status quo, you’re not introducing new ideas to the discussion.  You’re just shaming each other for eating the wrong kind of hummus.  Who benefits?

One problem I have with Amanda’s post is conflating a yuppie (or whatever they’re calling them these days) reward poster for a stuffed toy to people expressing a political opinion in a way that may not change the world, immediately.

You’re right, that’s unfair. One is a desperate paper-thin attempt by helplessly clueless rich people to cling to a comforting fantasy by crying and throwing money around, while the other is trying to find a stuffed animal.

Again, as much as I admire most of Amanda’s posts, and the effect they may or may not have on the world: they don’t change it completely and immediately, either.

As for the Park Slope Co-Op: well, their opinions are now out to the world, from this blog, if nowhere else.

They’re expressing a political opinion, one I don’t happen to agree with, by the way. And as a matter of fact, I’ve seen the opinions on Israel in this country change incrementally over the last 50 years, until they’re nearly the reverse of what they were.

Increments that would include things like this mini-boycott, I imagine. Is that co-op a smaller world than this blog? Maybe. And so? This blog isn’t the bigger action needed to change the world overnight, but that’s fine, too.

I realize we’ve criticized your goddess Amanda and that’s all hurty, but like every other person in the universe Amanda has her hobby horses to ride.

I thought it was funny.

Ah sending their nannies to do their co-op work, now that’s a hypocrisy you can sink your teeth into! That’s on a par with the reward for a missing stuffed toy.

Now, I’m getting the picture about Park Slopians.

Ah sending their nannies to do their co-op work, now that’s a hypocrisy you can sink your teeth into!

How about this?

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/07/whats-wrong-with-this-picture-good-enough-for-your-kids-not-good-enough-for-me-edition/

I never thought about that issue before reading that post, but now cars made with Southern, non-union temp labor sporting liberal (or worse, explicitly pro-union!) bumper stickers annoy the hell out of me.

Also I’ll add that I disagree with the poster that it’s the same thing as being pro-union while wearing a shirt made in China. It’s nearly impossible, especially outside of major cities, to find affordable (non-designer) clothes that aren’t made with cheap non-union labor, while you can buy a mainstream car made with UAW or CAW labor anywhere in the US.

I did not for one minute imagine that monkey poster was advertising a lost child’s toy.  I must really have a low opinion of my fellow human beings because the only scenario I imagine upon returning the monkey is that the owners of that phone number would cook and eat me.

This is like the ALA (American Library Association) making a public statement about their stance on Darfur.  It is absurd because the ALA is not the agency you would usually think of in stopping war and genocide.  At the same time, more and more libraries are hiring paraprofessionals, more communities are closing libraries and paying workers less.  You would think that the ALA would, duh, concentrate more on these matters since it is supposed to an advocacy group for librarians.

I dunno about Darfur, but libraries do have a unique role in society - they are the only institution dedicated to practical democracy on an individual level. You can walk into a public library and expect free service from an educated professional to help you find the information you need; to the extent that information helps you to be free, this is unlike any other organisation.  They’re not interested in your money, they’re not pushing an agenda on you, and they’re not expecting something from you.

A society that devalues its libraries is one slipping from citizenry to serfdom.

That’s as important to librarians as the nuts-and-bolts issues.  We may be humble, but we’re the ones who spend our entire lives enabling the very basic core values of an actual democracy.

Do you know that the town of Brattleboro, Vermont, indicted Cheney on war crimes charges at a town meeting? Yes, really.

So?  Even if you don’t have the power to enforce it, standing on the side of what is right is worth it in itself.

A society that devalues its libraries is one slipping from citizenry to serfdom.

That’s as important to librarians as the nuts-and-bolts issues.  We may be humble, but we’re the ones who spend our entire lives enabling the very basic core values of an actual democracy.

Good stuff, PiatoR!

People sending their nannies to do their co-op shifts for them?  That should be grounds for a permanent ban from the co-op.  Talk about missing the point!

Also:  as for Amanda’s post and all the perceived “irony,” I think we need to remember that context is always important.

This is an issue that is a major drama in her neighborhood.  I understand how overdramatic nieghbors can be a drag, and I think Amanda is right on to laugh about it, because she’s sorta in the middle of it.  Sometimes a community needs to hear that message of “pick your battles.”

If Amanda had made a post ridiculing something similar happening in Los Angeles, I think she’d be more open to some of the criticism she’s getting here.  Just my 2 cents on that.

#80 should have said “FORMER” neighborhood, but I think the point still has merit.  Crazy fighting that appears pointless is a pretty good reason to be glad you left.

Well, neither does anything any of us write here, I hate to inform you.

judibrowni, thank you for your considered input here.

Crapgame: Then make a DEAL!

Big Joe: What kind of deal?

Crapgame: A DEAL, deal! Maybe the guy’s a Republican. “Business is business,” right?

I realize we’ve criticized your goddess Amanda and that’s all hurty

Shut up shutupshutup! Don’t you realize I already fucking sacrificed one baby to her this month? I’ve been getting knocked up at socialist lesbian orgies and aborting on her alter on the regular, like a good Pandagonian, but sheesh if you keep offending the all-powerful Marcotte I’mma get a cramp. Where am I gonna find a Christian infant to appease her at this hour? :(

It always amazes me that an American can object to anything, except the actions of the state of Israel, then they’re anti-semitic.

As a former Jewish person that has now seen reason as the ‘way’, I can say that just because a state CLAIMS to speak for a religion, doesn’t mean every member of that religion has to approve of the actions of that state (witness Iran, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, and many others).

Chassidic Jews don’t believe that Jews should be in Israel until the mystical ‘messiah’ comes, so are they anti-semitic?

I’m a pretty huge fan of the blog, but I don’t find this post really compelling. Yeah, lefty scenes can get introspective and very into themselves, but any scene can do that. And the Israeli boycotts are part of a movement, and this is one coop considering taking that step.

As a Minnesotan (flyover, chilly midwestern) I get used to the coasts being ‘the real thing’ and I a lot of a ‘dont be so hipster elitist’ vibe from Amanda’s post.

I think Amanda’s recent book was the last nonfiction book I read, so I’m very appreciative of this blog and her writing. I tactically disagree that this stuff is much of a problem. Dropping cluster bombs is a problem.

JonG, did you quit being Jewish like that kid in a Seinfeld episode? Just wonderin’.

Well, if I were to boycott Israeli products - which makes a little sense, since Palestinians aren’t allowed by Israel to sell to non-Israelis - I’d have to change what canisters I use to make carbonated water.

What competitor to the ‘99 Camry was made with all union parts?  What competitor to the Prius was made with all union parts?  Or just by Ford or Chevy?

The answer is that no such cars existed.  They do now, but they didn’t in ‘99, so they don’t exist on the used market.

And why can’t a non-union-member support the right to unionize, and why do people who support the rights of unions have to only buy things (even if that isn’t enough to live in the US) made with Union labor?

I’ve been getting knocked up at socialist lesbian orgies

Okay, Bagelsan, I think we have to have a little talk about why the other Womyn in your collective have such hairy legs and Adam’s apples…

Sounds like Park Slope needs to organize a humanitarian trip to Darfur ... similar to a Holiday in Cambodia.

@84: I’ve been wondering about that myself. Nobody thinks it’s Islamophobic to call Saudi Arabia and Iran out on their treatment of women, for instance; why does Israel get special protection?

Sometimes you have to come up with a creative solution, and offering a $500 reward isn’t it.

Back in the 80s I once drove 2.5 hours each way to get another stuffed buffalo to replace a lost buffalo named Jack, mainly because my kid was utterly convinced that Jack ate the nighttime scary monsters, which of course had come back after Jack got lost.

Getting a new one sort of worked—after “finding” the new buffalo under his pillow, my kid looked at it and exclaimed, “New Jack!!!” And apparently New Jack could eat the nighttime scary monsters just as well as Old Jack…who eventually did turn up.

PiaTor, what do you think about folks who fight over libraries instead of the Middle East?:

The opponents of the new North Beach Library have gone through an unfortunate progression. They began with legitimate concerns, fell back to thoughtful disagreement, and now they’ve moved on to tin-foil hats and conspiracy theories.

A lawsuit filed two weeks ago to derail the project was met with groans by community groups, city leaders and planners who have been going over the same hurdles and arguments for years.

“I have been here five years, and I have been working on this for 4 1/2,” said Deputy City Librarian Jill Bourne. “We counted up the number of hearings we’ve had and it was something like 15, way more than required.”

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/04/BAC11KITPO.DTL

I ought to know by this time that you’re one of those Americans who believes that once you’ve seen a movie, spoiler warnings shouldn’t matter.

I didn’t know spoiling movies was an American thing. I feel so patriotic now.

I went to this meeting, not knowing what the topic was, simply because if you go to a general meeting at the coop, you get a work slot credit.  It was actually one of the best, most reasonable discussions I have ever seen or heard of on this topic. That said, I don’t think the co-op should have a referendum on it- to divisive. I have been a member of the Park slope Food coop since 1983, and its an amazing institution. For some reason a lot of people like to hate on the food coop - could it be jealousy?

I have been a member of the Park slope Food coop since 1983, and its an amazing institution. For some reason a lot of people like to hate on the food coop - could it be jealousy?

No, it’s not jealously. It’s because you have a big institution that’s also very isolated in its own self-absorbed value system that is convinced that its beliefs and rules are THE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER while the rest of the neighborhood looks at them in mild amusement.

It’s gotten to the point where membership in the co-op has become a sign of virtue within Park Slope when in fact it’s just another quirky institution with its own unusual value system. Which is fine, but people are still going to make fun of it.

Gawker has the details about the missing monkey doll. It didn’t belong to a spoiled, greiving child. In fact, there’s no child at all.

http://gawker.com/5827499/missing-park-slope-baby-is-actually-a-monkey-doll

AL, see #28.

For some reason a lot of people like to hate on the food coop - could it be jealousy?

You know how The Reason why people love to hate hipsters is that hipsters take so much joy in the things they care about that they put to shame all the losers who are content with listening to bad music and wearing khaki pants?  It’s probably not at all like that.

Tyro: “It’s because you have a big institution that’s also very isolated in its own self-absorbed value system that is convinced that its beliefs and rules are THE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER while the rest of the neighborhood looks at them in mild amusement. “

*nods* think thats your answer, Kjbrooklyn. If they really didn’t care about this co-op and its internal discussions, there wouldn’t be this silly blog post complaining about it and all the followup comments making out that there’s some big significance in this.

Jesur, give it a break, you’ve been on Amanda’s ass here long enough that if she walked on water you’d complain that she’s part of a plot to convince people they don’t need to learn how to swim.

she’s part of a plot to convince people they don’t need to learn how to swim.

(I knew Amanda secretly hated black people…)

And Piator: nice try, but they warned me you’d say that!

The 3 hour-shift monthly requirement is quite reminiscent of the labor requirement for joining one of the food co-ops on my Midwest SLAC undergrad for students who wanted out of the dining hall fare for dietary, political, or other reasons. That and the surreal sanctiminiousness from a few…..especially one well-known for neo-hippieism and for having students from the wealthiest families by income/assets during the mid-late ‘90s. 

This would be so typical of my undergrad…..minus the seeming incoherence of not checking whether they’re actually carrying items to be “boycotted” first.

Heh, exholt, I was just talking to a fellow alumnus of the Harvard of the Midwest, she says that our alma matter is getting very picky in who they let in, the acceptance rate is 15% of the applicants, and you have to have a very good academic record and be an interesting person as well.