If nobody spoke unless she had something to say, the human race would very soon loose the use of speech.
(Source: johnnydib)
"Anarchists are actually bearded men who want to kill you"
—
Noam Chomsky
(Source: lipstickandliberty)
The Function of Language (Revisited)
I don’t know what flowers are for. Is it food for the bees? Or is it there, so I can like stupid, put it in my hair, and walk around the green to impress you? How was wine invented? Was it serendipity? That you had a half-empty bottle, and your fat friend pointed me out? The economic sense of canals doesn’t skip me. But I can’t help but think, that the engineers of yesteryears, dug’em up so we can walk, to the background music of the stream, away from curious peeks, but those of joggers. I don’t know, those random architectural features, like the stairs that lead up to a dead end brick wall, on the side of the art gallery, down the street from your place; or the structural pole so close to the corner in the main hall, of the old university building, were these drawn for us to cuddle. The beauty spot on your upper lip, I know, is there so I can write cheesy poems, that you’ll love me for, because you’re a woman. But what about the invention of paper, the folded envelope and the stamps? Did they think of my scheme to win you over, when they established regular postal services in this country? Stephen Fry says Hello was invented during the first telephone call, because they didn’t know what else to say. Why do we still not know what else to say? Why after hello, do we still wait in silence until your cat says something, and then talk for hours about cats and dogs, birds and bees, anything and nothing. We’re not talking about anything, we’re just saying things to listen to eachother’s voices. Forget abstract thinking and the expression of thought, the function of language is falling in love.
I think I love Noam Chomsky’s comma intonation at the end of every breath more than anything else in the world.
http://youtu.be/-kPlEJlmWuc Sound recording of Government in the Future (1970) by Noam Chomsky. Also available in pamphlet book format from Seven Stories Press.
"Oh yeah. Take say “The Multilateral Agreement on Investment” the organizing in opposing it, was done mostly on the internet. Because it could not be done through the mainstream media; they wouldn’t permit it. So it was done through the internet. A lot of the planning and organizing for the recent demonstration, has also been by getting around the mainstream system, or information control system; by using the internet. The same is true in other countries, like take say Indonesia: the protest against the Suharto government could not be done in the Indonesian press. A lot of it was done through the internet, through an internet organizing system.
And in fact, whether this will continue or not is a real matter for struggle. We know certainly what corporations want: they don’t want the internet to be used for information and activism. And if the public is willing to struggle to maintain control of what it (the public) created and not hand it over as another weapon of domination, well it will stay a tool for organizing and activism. But it’s not gonna be that automatically."
And in fact, whether this will continue or not is a real matter for struggle. We know certainly what corporations want: they don’t want the internet to be used for information and activism. And if the public is willing to struggle to maintain control of what it (the public) created and not hand it over as another weapon of domination, well it will stay a tool for organizing and activism. But it’s not gonna be that automatically."
— Noam Chomsky on the Internet. From an interview with Allan Gregg in June 2000. Answering the question: “Do you see the internet as providing an alternative means to get public views discussed outside of the traditional media?”
"What is happening to me? I have done all the right things. I am a God-fearing Christian. I work hard for my family. I have a gun. I believe in the values of this country and my life is collapsing."
— What American conservatives think according to Noam Chomsky
"Take a walk through any big city. Do you see anything that needs improvement? There are huge amounts of work to be done, and lots of idle hands. People would be delighted to do the work, but the economic system is such a catastrophe it can’t put them to work.
The country’s awash in capital. Corporations have so much money they don’t know what to do with it - it’s coming out of their ears. There’s no scarcity in funds - these aren’t “lean and mean” times. That’s just a fraud."
The country’s awash in capital. Corporations have so much money they don’t know what to do with it - it’s coming out of their ears. There’s no scarcity in funds - these aren’t “lean and mean” times. That’s just a fraud."
—
Noam Chomsky in an interview with David Barsamian. From the book The Common Good.
One thing I would add to this: Not only would idle hands be delighted to do the work, but also the countless people performing useless operations that just keep the wheel of profit turning; all the while there are tons of things that need to be done, and are much more fulfilling to perform.
"
Let me begin by counter-posing two different conceptions of democracy. One conception of democracy has it that a democ-ratic society is one in which the public has the means to participate in some meaningful way in the management of their own affairs and the means of information are open and free. If you look up democracy in the dictionary you’ll get a definition something like that.
An alternative conception of democracy is that the public must be barred from managing of their own affairs and the means of information must be kept narrowly and rigidly con-trolled. That may sound like an odd conception of democracy, but it’s important to understand that it is the prevailing conception. In fact, it has long been, not just in operation, but even in theory. There’s a long history that goes back to the earliest modern democratic revolutions in seventeenth century England which largely expresses this point of view.
"— “Media Control: A spectacular achievement of propaganda” - Noam Chomsky (via noam-chomsky)
