I was particularly moved one night as I was sitting opposite him at dinner, struck as usual by the enormous distance between what Noam knows about U.S. leaders’ slaughter of innocents around the world and what the public realizes. I suddenly thought of Winston Smith from Orwell’s “1984,” who sees little hope of changing society and focuses only on trying to remain sane and commit to paper the truth in the hope that future generations will remember it. I told Noam that to me, at that moment, he represented Winston Smith to me.
I will always remember his reaction.
He just looked at me.
And smiled sadly.
Source
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I don't usually comment anymore on the quotes and links I leave here, but I'll say that this one in particular meant a great deal to me. The author, Fred Branfman, captured the very thing about Chomsky (and this sad, sad world) that has haunted me incessantly since I was introduced to the ideas and information that Chomsky tends most often to cover.
Zinn and Chomsky are a big part of why I went where I went, why I saw what I saw and now find myself unable to accept that it's okay to lead a normal, American life. It's not all right, everybody. It's not sane to know this stuff and then go on like it's business as usual. It's wrong to know, and then to bury yourself in trivialities. I can't do it. You shouldn't do it. (edit sept. 29: I take that back. I can do it. And perhaps, indeed, you also should, in the interest of self-preservation on an individual level.)
What's coming next for us is the direct result of our combined inaction, inefficient action, and insufficient action. By "us" I mean everyone, everywhere, of every background, ability set, and personality type, all the world over. But with "our" I refer to the acts of you and me. Not the normals. Not the ones with wool in their ears, Jesus in their hearts, and TMZ on their tellies. Nor the ones with tidy, groundless theories to explain it all away. You and me. The ones who see and hear and know what's going on politically in the world right now, who can't or won't block it out just because it hurts, and who remain firmly grounded in what's real.
Some of us have excuses, I suppose. Some of us are simply struggling to keep our own tiny boats from capsizing and haven't got the time or energy for anything else. But when the full enormity of our machine-state surfaces from the murky depths, I think it will be apparent to all who see this monstrosity that no excuse could ever be good enough for our not having joined together and smashed it to bits in the days when it was still possible to do so.
(edit sept 29: btw, I'd personally hazard a conjecture that those days are actually already over, so if you think I'm calling for present or future action here, you're mistaken. ...oh, and hai, govbots. ^_^ How are you? Your algorithms are pretty impressive, I concede. You're barking up the wrong tree, though. I'm just a watcher.)
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Utopia - Winston Smith Takes It on the Jaw
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