Comments on: Channels of Dissent

By: Dissent Fan

Dissent Fan — Tue, 24 Feb 2004 14:56:58 +0000

Dissent is in trouble? It is celebrating its fiftieth birthday, and is in as good a financial shape as it has been at any time in those fifty years, which is a helluva lot more than can be said for the left journals to which the various snipers in this comments section contribute. That is, Henry, when they have actually contribute to a left journal, as opposed to busily padding the resume with articles in the Journal of Comparative Tenure Seeking Articles. And Dissent raises the money to pay for its operating deficit, unlike, say younger New Left Review, which has been financed by the inheritances of its left aristocrat editors. [BTW, which left journal of any size does not rely upon contributions to balance its budget? Or perhaps some pine for the old days, when the “socialist motherland” was making the subsudies.] But nothing is so tiresome as those who have to pose as “to the left” of those who have put in decades in these struggles, with nothing to show for their authentic “leftness” than their word. “Mainstream Democrats with leftist leanings,” “a bland faintly neo-conservative clone of the New Republic,” blah, blah, blah. At least these writers cover themselves in vapid generalities that are clearly opinion based; DSquared can not even restrain himself from misrepresenting the position of the journal, by suggesting that it supported Bush’s invasion of Iraq. Jeez, you make a guy embarassed to be a left academic.

By: Dissent Fan

Dissent Fan — Tue, 24 Feb 2004 14:56:45 +0000

By: Dissent Fan

Dissent Fan — Tue, 24 Feb 2004 14:56:18 +0000

By: dsquared

dsquared — Tue, 24 Feb 2004 07:31:56 +0000

Actually, the title of “Dissent” comes from the old phrase “dissent in the ranks”. As in “Off to bomb Iraq? There’s Dissent, in the ranks”.

By: Ophelia Benson

Ophelia Benson — Tue, 24 Feb 2004 02:01:26 +0000

You know…this has always baffled me. Barnes and Noble doesn’t even carry the Nation. The people who work there have never even heard of it. Miles and miles of gleaming tit magazines, gun magazines, boat magazines, dog magazines, computer, garden, housey, garden, sport, blah blah – and no Nation. It’s one of the oldest damn magazines in the country, with roots in the Abolitionist movement! And they don’t have it! [bangs head on desk]

By: Tom T.

Tom T. — Tue, 24 Feb 2004 00:14:50 +0000

Isn’t it generally the case that most political journals lose money (at least in the US)? I’ve heard that this is generally true both on the left and the right, regardless of which party is in power. Typically, they’re too specialized and idiosyncratic to attract a wide enough audience to cover their costs, and thus have to be subsidized by a benefactor or contributions.

By: Ron Wood

Ron Wood — Mon, 23 Feb 2004 23:38:30 +0000

Surely the reason Dissent is in trouble is because it’s both shit and boring? You can survive quite nicely as one or the other, but the two together are a lethal combination.

By: Russell Arben Fox

Russell Arben Fox — Mon, 23 Feb 2004 21:52:58 +0000

Yuval: Dissent is a “bland, faintly neoconservative New Republic clone”? You’re kidding, right? In what world is this true? Dissent still defends unions; The New Republic has more or less adopted the neoliberal line. Dissent talks about the systemic links between corporate power and democratic decline; TNR complains about the links between the Republican Party and K Street, but not much else. No, Dissent no longer advocates a strictly socialist movement. That doesn’t mean its social democratic bona fides are in doubt.

By: Woody Allen

Woody Allen — Mon, 23 Feb 2004 21:33:54 +0000

I heard that Commentary and Dissent had merged and formed Dysentery.

By: david

david — Mon, 23 Feb 2004 21:16:57 +0000

Except when Walzer’s a prick, of course. Generally smart and interesting, sometimes a prick.

By: Yuval Rubinstein

Yuval Rubinstein — Mon, 23 Feb 2004 21:16:07 +0000

Actually, Dissent has been on a steep downward slide since Irving Howe died a decade ago. What was once a vital voice for democratic socialism is now a bland, faintly neoconservative New Republic clone. Personally, I'd rather give it a dignified burial, as with Partisan Review after the death of William Phillips.

By: marlie

marlie — Mon, 23 Feb 2004 21:11:53 +0000

Can’t help thinking of the Woody Allen joke: what would you get if you crossed Commentary with Dissent? Dysentery.

By: Henry

Henry — Mon, 23 Feb 2004 21:07:56 +0000

What Kieran said. More seriously, I’d identify Dissent as a publication for mainstream Democrats with leftist leanings and an intellectual bent – its vision of the possibilities for social and economic reform is sometimes a little limited. But it has some great article – Walzer in particular is very smart and thoughtful.

By: Kieran Healy

Kieran Healy — Mon, 23 Feb 2004 21:04:08 +0000

I’ve never bought dissent, but it has always struck me as the sort of magazine I really should like. I imagine this is why it loses $100k a year.

By: WillieStyle

WillieStyle — Mon, 23 Feb 2004 20:42:10 +0000

How is dissent to the right of you (other than in general hawkishness)? I’ve never bought dissent, but it has always struck me as the sort of magazine I really should like.