[Peace-discuss] News from Neptune…

Fri Jul 25 00:57:29 EDT 2014

Mort--

My thanks for the kind words - I'm pleased (and surprised) you find "the program is stimulating, worthwhile, and on the whole admirable" - and a brief answer to the severe ones. 

It is written in the Neptune Book of Maxims, "No One Can Be Wrong All the Time." (That comes just after "If a Thing's Worth Doing, It's Worth Doing Badly.") But as to being right...? 

I see no need to gin up controversy because we should. I'm reminded of the ancient Christian text that advises, "Fast on Wednesdays and Fridays each week; not on Thursdays and Saturdays, like the hypocrites." We don't want to "encourage debate" as the hypocrites in the media and academy do: as Himself [Irish patois] says, "The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate" (Chomsky).

I freely admit to being a Yellow-Dog Chomskyan. ("The Republican part of Nebraska, when its nomination to a state office was equivalent to an election, boasted that it could run 'a yellow dog' for Governor and beat the best and ablest Democrat named for that office," The Conservative, Nebraska City, Nebraska, August 11, 1898.) Cf. the inverse maxim above.

Here's the text of the first talk I ever heard Chomsky give, more than 40 years ago; it stands up better than any political text of similar vintage that I know:

http://tangibleinfo.blogspot.com/2006/11/noam-chomsky-lecture-from-1970-full.html

And here's Chomsky's most recent comment on the BDS matter; again, I know of nothing better on the subject: 

http://www.thenation.com/article/180756/israel-palestine-and-bds-chomsky-replies

It is wrong to say that "Chomsky is doing a disservice to those trying ... to punish the Israelis as long as they oppress the Palestinians"; he is precisely concerned with tactics that do more harm than good in ending the oppression. That's what the argument is about. 

And to say, "...as to who is wagging whose tail, U.S. or Israel, the issue is more complex than statements that the U.S. is more responsible for Israel’s actions than Israel itself," is to make a nonsense of Chomsky's accurate observation that the government of Israel would be unable to continue its oppression of the Palestinians, absent the diplomatic, economic, military, and political support of the US government.

In struggle (which I doubt Chomsky would ever say), CGE

On Jul 23, 2014, at 10:46 PM, Brussel, Morton K via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote:

> I’ve listened to this program, and come to the conclusion that you all, the three participants, agree with each other too much, as if everything that is said between you is unchallengeable. It is not. Especially annoying is the seeming worship of the god Chomsky, who (I think) is losing his way on important issues, especially with regard to the desirable two state solution in Israel-Palestine.  I would rather defer here to Ilan Pappe. Chomsky is doing a disservice to those trying, e.g., via BDS, to punish the Israelis as long as they oppress the Palestinians.  There is even the implication that BDS could only lead to a neoliberal result in »Palestine », as it has in S.A.  There are other facets of the remarks that are less than clear or convincing, some bordering on boilerplate in its repetitiousness, IMO. For example, as to who is wagging whose tail, U.S. or Israel; the issue is more complex than statements that the U.S. is more responsible for Israel’s actions than Israel itself, which borders on nonsense.  
> 
> But withal, the program is stimulating, worthwhile, and on the whole admirable. 
> 
> —mkb
> 
> On Jul 23, 2014, at 8:54 PM, 'C. G. Estabrook' carl at newsfromneptune.com [sftalk] <sftalk at yahoogroups.com> wrote:
> 
>> 
>> 
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCHbY1xoZYU
>> 
>> NEWS FROM NEPTUNE FOR 11 JULY 2014
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> Peace-discuss mailing list
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