dave32 Posted August 13, 2011 Report Share Posted August 13, 2011 By coincidence this week I've started reading Chomsky and Herman's Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media which surprisingly confirms a lot of what I have always thought anyway. Chomsky is just as predictable/cliched as the fellas on the right (Limbaugh, O'Reilly, etc. - though a hell of a lot more fancy). I went to go see him at Berkeley when I came home from the military. Was reading him and Howard Zinn at the time and I respected him (in some ways still do). Anyway, he was giving his anti-government anti-Western anti-Corporate spiel and talking about military oppression, and I remember there was a Vietnam Vet there who asked him if any military action ever was OK. He said no. Everything had to be solved through non-violence. So the Vet asked him about the resistance to Nazi aggression in WWII, and Chomsky just went off on how innocents were killed and violence was never the answer. And all these PhDs from Berkeley were clapping in unison and there was this one soft spoken Vet telling him it wasn't that easy. And they started booing him. And all I was thinking was: fucking idiots. Chomsky is smart but he's one track and as dogmatic as you can get. And wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coss Posted August 13, 2011 Report Share Posted August 13, 2011 That's the problem with philosophy, real world people don't ever understand. Humans are animals, even if you educate everyone, more than 50% will not understand. Basic instincts triumph by and large. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unit731 Posted August 13, 2011 Report Share Posted August 13, 2011 "Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted August 13, 2011 Report Share Posted August 13, 2011 Is that was it says on the Mexican border? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamui Posted August 13, 2011 Report Share Posted August 13, 2011 Besides the voice of US rightwing crazies like Ann Coulter - who are usually a part of the problem, not of the solution - there are voices of reason AND experience: US 'supercop' Bill Bratton says riot arrests not only answer Communities cannot "arrest their way out" of gang crime, the prime minister's new crime adviser, US "supercop" Bill Bratton, has warned. The former New York police chief meets David Cameron next month to discuss violence in English cities and says the issue is for society as a whole. Mr Bratton gained a reputation for introducing bold measures to reduce crime over two decades, particularly in LA after riots in 1992. He told US broadcaster ABC: "You can't arrest your way out of the problem." Arrest is certainly appropriate for the most violent, the incorrigible, but so much of it can be addressed in other ways and it's not just a police issue, it is in fact a societal issue. "Accepting that the necessary changes would not be easy, he went on: "Part of what the government is going to do is to take a look at what worked and what didn't work during the course of the last week." BBC News PS: More info on Bratton: In Los Angeles, a Police Force Transformed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamui Posted August 13, 2011 Report Share Posted August 13, 2011 You can't deport a citizen from his own country although the USA will let you leave the USA but not let you come back! There are always the Highlands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lazyphil Posted August 13, 2011 Report Share Posted August 13, 2011 build more prisons....better still prison ships anchored shetland isles... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamui Posted August 13, 2011 Report Share Posted August 13, 2011 build more prisons....better still prison ships anchored shetland isles... Isn't Scotland enough punishment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh_Hoy Posted August 13, 2011 Report Share Posted August 13, 2011 build more prisons....better still prison ships anchored shetland isles... Better yet, get some of your old moth-balled navy ships fitted out, stack the prisoners there, tow em to the Falklands and email the Argentine Navy. 5555555555555555 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangkoktraveler Posted August 14, 2011 Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 I don't know why the USA crowd is so considered about the London riots when we in the USA have been having similar riots in Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Cleveland? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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