It’s In Your Hands
An effective propaganda system encourages people to be discouraged. Hey! Worry about the Kardashian’s latest news. Leave the complicated matters of domestic and foreign affairs to the smart guys. This is a recipe for disaster because the ruling class will attend acutely to its interests at the expense of everyone and everything else including the planet. This indifference to the 99% and the environment was dramatically revealed in a 2015 poll of CEOs at Davos. Every year the so-called “masters of the universe” meet in the Swiss Alps. The poll asked them to list their major concerns. They had 19. Climate change was not one of them. No surprise. The big boys have other things on their minds like making money. It’s an institutional imperative. Will the changes to avert eco-catastrophes come from the top? Highly unlikely. We the People must act.
This event was presented by the Lannan Foundation.
Speaker
Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky, by any measure, has led a most extraordinary life. In one index he is ranked as the eighth most cited person in history, right up there with Aristotle, Shakespeare, Marx, Plato and Freud. His contributions to modern linguistics are legendary. In addition to his pioneering work in that field, he has been a leading voice for peace and social justice for many decades. Chris Hedges says he is “America’s greatest intellectual” who “makes the powerful, as well as their liberal apologists, deeply uncomfortable.” The New Statesman calls him “the conscience of the American people.” He is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at MIT and Laureate Professor of Linguistics and Haury Chair in the Program in Environment and Social Justice at the University of Arizona. At 95, he continues to inform and inspire people all over the world. He is the author of scores of books, his latest are Consequences of Capitalism, Chronicles of Dissent and Notes on Resistance.
Howard Mettee –
Very few individuals have the firm grasp of “common history”, the way our world civilization has evolved from the point of view of actual people, but they include Noam Chomsky and David Barsamian. Such people are national treasures and it amazes me that their thoughts and voices are not more widely shared by people who care where we are headed as temporary custodians of humanity and this world. May I suggest if you are one of these, please take a moment to consider how the fate you are concerned with might be influenced by “It’s in Your Hands”. Listen – read – and act if you can!