at the risk of seeming ridiculous (MySpace 2/28/2008)

Subject	at the risk of seeming ridiculous
DateCreated	2/28/2008 10:22:00 PM
PostedDate	2/28/2008 10:38:00 PM
Body	"At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love." When I first saw this quote on a poster dedicated to it's author, Che Guevara, it immediately struck a personal chord - even without knowing his original intent.  For the first time, it occurred to me that some of our would-be revolutionaries seemed more motivated by hatred of the "Ruling Class," than by love of the "People". ---- This insight based on Che's quote came to mind again, after reading an angry political essay that is being passed around on MySpace, written by an American left-wing author in response to Kosovo declaring its separation from Serbia. If you are hip to left-wing political themes, all I need say is that the essay is "anti-NATO" and "anti-Bill Clinton," and you would already know much of the rest of the rap.  It's a reasonable guess that the author, and those who share his opinions, have never hung out with Kosovo Albanians, and have no expectations of doing so.  I've been hearing this particular analysis periodically since 1999, mostly from American lefties who feel righteously pissed about NATO, the Pentagon, the Media, and hypocrisy.    And coincidentally, during the same time, I've been hanging out with folks who enjoy the music, dance, and food of the peoples who live in the Balkans - in and around Kosovo. From the start, what seemed weird to me, was that few of the American lefties I heard vocalizing about "NATO" and "Clinton" and "Kosovo," ever showed at Balkan culture events. Most of them didn't seem to know much about the people over there. And they didn't particularly seem to want to learn. Which is a shame, because they were - and I guess still are - missing a lot. Including learning how to frame political beliefs in a way that doesn't dis some of the people who might be sitting at your table. [Wikipedia on the Kosovo War]