Noam Chomsky, poet and a prophet.....

[marmar]

"There is no reason to accept the doctrines crafted to sustain power and privilege, or to believe that we are constrained by mysterious and unknown social laws. These are simply decisions made within institutions that are subject to human will and that must face the test of legitimacy. And if they do not meet the test, they can be replaced by other institutions that are more free and more just, as has happened often in the past."

*****

"The most effective way to restrict democracy is to transfer decision-making from the public arena to unaccountable institutions: kings and princes, priestly castes, military juntas, party dictatorships, or modern corporations."

*****

" Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the (U.S.) media."

*****

" The U.S. will not permit constructive programs in its own domains, so it must ensure that they are destroyed elsewhere to terminate 'the threat of a good example.'"

[pnorman]

1. Here's one of my favorites:

When I'm driving, I sometimes turn on the radio and I find very often that what I'm listening to is a discussion of sports. These are telephone conversations. People call in and have long and intricate discussions, and it's plain that quite a high degree of thought and analysis is going into that. People know a tremendous amount. They know all sorts of complicated details and enter into far-reaching discussion about whether the coach made the right decision yesterday and so on. These are ordinary people, not professionals, who are applying their intelligence and analytic skills in these areas and accumulating quite a lot of knowledge and, for all I know, understanding. On the other hand, when I hear people talk about, say, international affairs or domestic problems, it's at a level of superficiality that's beyond belief.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky

"On the other hand, when I hear people talk about, say, international affairs or domestic problems, it's at a level of superficiality that's beyond belief."

pnorman

[ananda]

2. Wow

" The U.S. will not permit constructive programs in its own domains, so it must ensure that they are destroyed elsewhere to terminate 'the threat of a good example.'"

I hadn't thought if it exactly that way, but it makes sense... in a chilling goosebumps way.

[AnotherGreenWorld]

3. Yeah...now there's some good poetry...

"The U.S. will not permit constructive...' Reminds me of a young Keats!