Adventures in Emerging Adulthood
Noam Chomsky speaks at Occupy Boston (part 1 of 3)
(Note: the first video is a bit squeaky since he is using two microphones, but the others are much better.)
Bought his ‘Profits Over People’ today. (Also, ‘The Marriage Plot’!)
New York Times: Occupying McDonald's
I’m doing well now, though. I drank six Four Lokos with Core, a beer or two. And then we ordered an iced mocha and two chicken fingers and large fries. I lost my virginity today. I was amped for it.
!!!
The paranoid spokesman sees the fate of conspiracy in apocalyptic terms—he traffics in the birth and death of whole worlds, whole political orders, whole systems of human values. He is always manning the barricades of civilization…. As a member of the avant-garde who is capable of perceiving the conspiracy before it is fully obvious to an as yet unaroused public, the paranoid is a militant leader. He does not see social conflict as something to be mediated and compromised, in the manner of the working politician. Since what is at stake is always a conflict between absolute good and absolute evil, what is necessary is not compromise but the will to fight things out to a finish. Since the enemy is thought of as being totally evil and totally unappeasable, he must be totally eliminated—if not from the world, at least from the theatre of operations to which the paranoid directs his attention. This demand for total triumph leads to the formulation of hopelessly unrealistic goals, and since these goals are not even remotely attainable, failure constantly heightens the paranoid’s sense of frustration. Even partial success leaves him with the same feeling of powerlessness with which he began, and this in turn only strengthens his awareness of the vast and terrifying quality of the enemy he opposes.
The enemy is clearly delineated: he is a perfect model of malice, a kind of amoral superman—sinister, ubiquitous, powerful, cruel, sensual, luxury-loving. Unlike the rest of us, the enemy is not caught in the toils of the vast mechanism of history, himself a victim of his past, his desires, his limitations. He wills, indeed he manufactures, the mechanism of history, or tries to deflect the normal course of history in an evil way. He makes crises, starts runs on banks, causes depressions, manufactures disasters, and then enjoys and profits from the misery he has produced. The paranoid’s interpretation of history is distinctly personal: decisive events are not taken as part of the stream of history, but as the consequences of someone’s will. Very often the enemy is held to possess some especially effective source of power: he controls the press; he has unlimited funds; he has a new secret for influencing the mind (brainwashing); he has a special technique for seduction (the Catholic confessional).
”
Aaron Gell on a Very Important, and Thus Far Neglected, Aspect of #OWS
This is a fabulous start to the real story down there in that small park.
Wherein Bill O’Reilly o-riles up Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, producing a funnysad moment of exasperation at 5:01. Check it…5:01, people.
He was like an angel.
Just watched Reverend Jesse Jackson talk down cops threatening to take down the medical tent in Zuccotti Park, before joining a human chain linked around the tent himself. As one protester explained into the camera broadcasting the livestream, the tent is to ensure privacy for patients— no one sleeps inside of it at night—, and police officiers had previously allowed it to stand for that purpose. In reference to Jackson another protester compared him to a winged friend from above.
I am deeply honored to have been able to watch this event live from the comfort of my home, and to have spread word of the events via Twitter. Thank you to Lorenzo (@uneditedcamera)— who both gave the tip I read on Twitter and manned and narrator the camera— and the rest of the livestream team for making it possible.
(photo via @Newyorkist. More at ANIMAL New York.)
Three tiers. Smartphones. How it’s done. (via @OccupyKSt, @ShuiXianSheng)
