Re: Naivete Envy

Adults are aware enough that this isn't the case. But they'd like to think it were so. So they cheer the Samantha Smiths and Severn Suzukis patronizingly and then do nothing.

I think it's easy to say that, but have you any real proof of it? How can you parse out the adults who cheer such children patronizingly and then "do nothing" (as you describe them) and those like me, who genuinely take delight in seeing a young child so actively engaged in politics (at least those I agree with) but feels helpless to do anything because few people in power are willing to think big enough to tackle such problems head on?

And now let me be blunt: I think you're tap dancing around your real point here, which is aimed squarely at me, particularly in the wake of my fallout with Dissident. You appear to be mistaking disgust with the system with apathy and condescension. I feel it necessary to point this out because, given Dissident's accusation of me, it is apparently fair game to impugn the motives of others on this board and poison the well as we deem necessary, a weapon I shall make frequent use of (though without some sadness, not unlike a national leader forced to resort to nuclear weapons because he sees no other alternative if he is to stay on an even keel with his enemies--of course, in a genuine nuclear war there will be no one left to celebrate any tactical victory, and that is what's going to happen to our "movement" such as it is.)