Thanks all.. I kept re-reading it, but couldn't seem to figure out how to put everything in it I thought to be important, without turning it into a novel.
But I thought it important to make the point that some folks like Chomsky like to wallow in the minutiae and emphasize conspiratorial influences that may only be a "bit part" player in a grander process.
Chomsky likes to blame capitalist influences for so much misery, but seemingly underplays the misery that has been inflicted by far more oppressive interests, or just the overall misery of human oppression that has existed for millenia.
And at the same time he unplays the benefits that capitalism has brought...
But little of this is truly about capitalism or economics.. It's about a group of people who have an overriding desire to impose a global order that would return the world to medieval times.
This is a cultural war that is being waged. A war between the forces of reactionarism and authoritarianism, and those ofprogress, moderation, and individual human liberties.
They know that the US represents an inexorable cultural force that will undermine their antiquated social structures and religious dogma, just as it has undermined the past power of the Catholic church over its adherents.
And this war has been thrust upon us and we have to decide if we're up to the task, or whether we're going to just put a "band-aid" on it until the sore festers again.
The US played a MAJOR role in eliminating the old imperialist colonial power structure that had been imposed by Europe around the world.
And we're changing the rest of the world with our views of inalienable human rights and governments elected and empowered by their own people, as well as our beliefs in free trade that create the economic ties that make open conflict politically unthinkable.
And this is what certain groups like these Islamic fundamentalists fear... They know they are anachronisms and that they must fight now, or be completely subjugated to the forces of progress.
Just my "broad-stroke" opinion on all of this.
Hawkmoon |
