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While
we are on the subject of evil... HISTORICAL
EVIL:
"The Triangle Fire," by Leon Stein with a new introduction
by William Greider. (Cornell University Press, 2001.)
EVIL
IN THE RAG TRADE:
"NO SWEAT: Fashion, Free Trade, and the Rights of Garment
Workers," edited by Andrew Ross. (Verso Press 1997.)
BORDERLINE
EVIL:
"Border Witness," by Maureen Casey and Brian Casey. (The New
York State Labor-Religion Coalition, 2002).
COSMIC
EVIL:
"Evil in Modern Thought: An Alternative History of Philosophy,"
by Susan Neiman. (Princeton U. Press, 2002.)
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> NO SWEAT NEWS >
NEWS ARCHIVE
Harvey Blume
The Interviewer Interviewed- A Writer Reflects on the Rag Trade
By Harvey Blume
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| Reading
is fundamental! |
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As
the group's interviewer-in-chief, I decided it would be appropriate
to aggressively interview myself. I know my own dodges. Let see
if I can ferret myself out.
Harvey: You once vigorously protested for Civil Rights and
against the War in Vietnam. So did many of your generation, lots
of whom became neoconservative in middle age. How did you avoid
that?
Blume: There are people who can't live without some kind
of dogma, left or right. Have you ever read Norman Podhoretz's criticism
of say, a new book by Saul Bellow?
Harvey: Podhoretz the editor of Commentary in its neocon
heyday, correct?
Blume: The very one. It's like Podhoretz has a checklist.
Hmm, seems like Bellow expressed a liberal sentiment there. Too
bad. Subtract some points. And here we have yet another instance
of leftover leftism. Saul, what were you thinking? Take off more
points. Tsk tsk tsk, you should know better, Bellow. I mean, dogma
is brain dead.
Harvey: So you are a literary type.
Blume: Well, I have been known to publish.
Harvey: Really? For example?
Blume: Lots of articles. A book even. Since I can tell you
are about to ask -- call it telepathy -- it is called "Ota Benga:
The Pygmy in the Zoo."
Harvey: The obvious question now is what brings the likes
of you to tee-shirts?
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| Adam
Neiman with T-Shirts |
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Blume: Not tee-shirts. Adam gets very mad if you say tee-shirts!
Apparel. Can you say apparel?
Harvey: Hey, I'll say what I want. Tee-shirts. Rag trade.
Shmatehs. What brings you here?
Blume: I'm not just a literary type. I'm a media type, especially
new media. I have written about it. I have written for it. Once,
as a programmer, I even wrote "it".
Harvey: You're better at English than you were at c.
Blume: Let's hope. I'm interested in how digital media can
address injustice. The saying is, information wants to be free.
But can information do you any good if your working on a sweatshop
in some hellhole in Jakarta? Will information set you free?
Harvey: Will it?
Blume: We'll see, won't we? I think it can, if enough of
it gets to the right people.
Harvey: So that's what brings you here.
Blume: Precisely.
Harvey: Anything else? Anything you'd like to add?
Blume: Such as?
Harvey: $$$. You're not getting paid for posing that very
interesting question about information and freedom, are you?
Blume: No. Adam did buy me some sort of asparagus green pepper
avacado wrap last week. But I want to get paid. I need to get paid.
Harvey: Are you saying that there is no contradiction between
working for profit and effecting social change?
Blume: You do ask good questions. Let me get back to you
on that one.
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