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"We fought (boxing) on Saturday nights for $25 in arenas in working-class neighborhoods like Charlestown. My closest friends were construction workers and pot washers. They worked hard. They believed in unions. They wanted a better life, which few of them ever got. We used to run five miles after our nightly training, passing through the Mission Main and Mission Extension Housing Projects, and they would joke, "I hope we get mugged." They knew precisely what to do with people who abused them. They may not have been liberal, they may not have finished high school, but they were far more grounded than most of those I studied with across the Charles River. They would have felt awkward, and would have been made to feel awkward, at the little gatherings of progressive and liberal intellectuals at Harvard, but you could trust and rely on them.I went on to spend two decades as a war correspondent. The qualities
inherent in good soldiers or Marines, like the qualities I found among those
boxers, are qualities I admire--self-sacrifice, courage, the ability to make
decisions under stress, the capacity to endure physical discomfort, and a
fierce loyalty to those around you, even if it puts you in greater danger. If
liberals had even a bit of their fortitude we could have avoided this mess. But
they don't. So here we are again, begging Obama to be Obama. He is
Obama. Obama is not the problem. We are." Chris is also proud of having voted for Nader.
He seems to like the idea of maiming and causing pain for fellow humans for the hell of it, as is the purpose of boxing. He wishes someone would attack him for the same reason. He seems to think that if what he calls liberals could endure physical discomfort, and were more loyal, we would not be in the present political mess. I consider myself both liberal and progressive, but I don't recall ever asking Obama to be Obama--perhaps he did a poll I am not aware of? He is stool pigeon enough to be a murderer for a moron, as is a marine for Bush or some other politician. He advocates for getting out of a dishwashing job you don't like, rather than argue for higher wages for jobs that need doing, or for free education. He casts his vote for someone who has the charisma of an earthworm and could never be a leader of the masses. One can only conclude he thinks little george was well-grounded, since he worked out rather than doing his homework.
I'm not fond of the stigma of any labels, but give me a liberal, progressive, or even a libertarian, before you give me Chris Hedges as a leader.
