Monday, October 03, 2005

"The truth has to be repeated..."

(A few years ago, I wrote about a new Chomsky CD...making the point about his consistency and the need for repetition. Appropriately, to discuss his new book, I’m re-using that old review...with only a few minor edits.)

While reading “Imperial Ambitions,” the latest collection of David Barsamian interviews with Noam Chomsky, anyone familiar with Chomsky’s work can’t help but by struck with a sense of deja vu. The conversations may have been recorded post-9/11, but much of the context offered (Middle East crisis, U.S. intervention in Central America, etc.) is familiar territory to any seasoned dissident. This however, is not a criticism. Rather, it’s an acknowledgement of a useful jumping-off point for discussing the intrinsic value of such books. To comprehend and appreciate that value involves the recognition of two crucial points.

The first requires that same seasoned dissident to adopt a beginner’s mind. For me, this recalls the time Anarchy magazine called Chomsky’s analysis “pedestrian.” Of course it’s pedestrian to the average Anarchy reader but what about the newcomer? Try to remember the first time you read something that blew your mind ... that feeling of revelation that changed the way you think forever. Why deny that experience to those who’ve never even heard of Noam Chomsky or Anarchy magazine? We’re only talking about the vast majority of humans on the planet. This is not to say we blindly agree with everything someone like Chomsky says but instead, we recognize his value as a resource and do our best to share that value. Stop looking down your subversive nose and playing the “who’s more radical?” game. Chomsky’s not just preaching to the converted. “Imperial Ambitions” may offer little new to you but for most people, it’s a desperately needed intellectual earthquake.

On the second point, I’d like to recall something the late Pakistani dissident, Eqbal Ahmad, said about Chomsky in the book, “Confronting Empire”: “There is a consistency of substance, of posture, of outlook in his work. Consistency, of course, means repetition. Over the last 20 years, Chomsky has repeated himself a lot ... the truth has to be repeated. It doesn’t become stale just because it has been told once.”

Truth or not, repetition is precisely how Corporate America does it ... the same messages pounded into our brains until we submit. Such indoctrination is not easily challenged and it often requires the same brand of replication to do so. Going back to our seasoned dissident, this reiteration has the added value of refreshing one’s memory of the kind of facts needed to back up your critiques.

“Imperial Ambitions” is just one of many such books out there to be read and shared. It just might be a beneficial move for disillusioned dissidents to check it out as a refresher course and then pass it on to someone who, say, actually believes Saddam Hussein was responsible for the 9/11 attacks or still uses the phrase “liberal media.”

To order “Imperial Ambitions,” please click here:
http://tinyurl.com/9vcus

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On the topic of imperial ambitions, I present:
Baker-Carter commission recommends national voter ID card
http://tinyurl.com/78u36

As dear Emma said so long ago: “If voting could change anything, it would be illegal.”

(This post is presented in solidarity with the Progressive Blogger Union. For more information, please visit: http://www.pbu.blogspot.com.)
Tag: PBU40

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Finally, in light of the recent bombings in Bali, I’m posting an article I wrote in response to the terror attack in October 2002:
http://tinyurl.com/7tpuj


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Posted on 10/03 at 04:54 AM
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