[Peace-discuss] New Noam

[C. G. Estabrook]

On Mon, 31 Jan 2005, jencart wrote:

> Yow, what an interview.  I feel like every brain cell in my head has
> been rearranged.  Jenifer

I agree entirely.  I think the following paragraph from the interview sets
out quite clearly what AWARE should be doing;

"9/11 had a complex effect on the US which I don't think is appreciated
abroad. The picture abroad is that it turned everyone into a raving
jingoist and that is absolutely not true. It opened people's minds. This
is a very insular society. People in the US don't know anything about the
outside world. They may not know where France is, literally. [That's true:
a friend of mine was recently teaching a graduate acting class in which a
perfectly intelligent member of that class said, "France? That's in
Europe? Right?" --CGE] It's a huge country, everything has been focused
internally. 9/11 made a lot of people think: 'We'd better figure out what
is going on in the world. We'd better figure out what our role is and why
things like that are happening. And the result was a huge increase in
interest and concern. Huge audiences. I spend probably an hour a night
just turning down requests for interviews from all over the place. They're
not necessarily agreeing but they're thinking about what is going on. This
is a very polled society and right before the November elections two of
the major polling institutions, Program on International Policy Attitudes
in Maryland and the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, both published
major studies of popular attitudes and they were extremely interesting.
What they showed is that the two political parties are far to the right of
the population on issue after issue. What's happened is that the public is
far removed from the bipartisan political system and intellectual culture
and that is a reflection of changes that have taken place for many years."

Note that: both political parties are far to the RIGHT of the population
on issue after issue.  It's our job to make that clear. (I've often had
people call our "left-wing radio program" and say, "Look, I agree with you
guys, but I thought I was the only one who thought that way!") --CGE

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        C. G. Estabrook
        "News from Neptune" (Saturdays 10:00-11:00AM) and
        "From Bard to Verse: A Program of the Spoken Arts"
        (Saturdays noon-1:00PM) on WEFT Champaign 90.1 FM
        www.newsfromneptune.com carl at newsfromneptune.com
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