Careful

Gut Check

...about what leads the left into self-made traps, traps that isolate them from the people they most want to reach. Basically, the left comes to the conclusion that it is not doing better because people are bamboozled in one way or another about what is really going on. If people did understand, they would pay attention to the alternatives offered by the left and join together to change the system toward greater equality, participation, and cooperation. This assumption lies behind the frequent claim that the left fails because the MASS MEDIA BRAINWASH PEOPLE. In a much more sophisticated form, this is the assumption that underlies the classical Marxist theory of "false consciousness," where the problem is located in the very structure of how the capitalist system operates, making it unnecessary for capitalists to do much propagandizing in favor of the system. The system sells itself by appearing to offer a fair day's wage for a fair day's work. This emphasis on the systemic origins of bamboozlement also is present in the claims by Gramsci, Marcuse, Foucault, and Bourdieu.

So, the system has bamboozled the people, but not the leftists??? Elegant though the theory may be, and even if it has some validity, it is a self-made trap because it precludes any re-thinking and encourages an ELITIST MENTALITY which everyday people can sense from a mile away. It provides a very satisfactory explanation for why the left has failed. It is never a matter of the left's inadequate strategies, but of the people's false consciousness. But this also leads to a cycle of frustration and withdrawal, perhaps followed by impulsive actions. More commonly, it leads to the current stance of the left: start small groups focused on specific issues that hassle government officials.