Funny how sometimes things fall into place. Yesterday, I
wrote a post about DeVos' promotion of the teaching of Intelligent
Design/Creationism. I also heard that
href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060922/wr_nm/chavez_dc_1">Hugo
Chavez' mention of Noam Chomsky's book,
href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?pwb=1&ean=9780805076882">Hegemony
or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance,
resulted in instant promotion of the book to bestseller status.
That brought to mind the recent
href="http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/09/noam_chomsky_robert_trivers.php">interview
that Seed Magazine posted between Chomsky and Robert Trivers.
I had been meaning to either watch or read the interview.
In my post about DeVos, I made the point that he runs his business via
deception, and I expect him to operate government the same way (if he
is elected). One of my quirkier commenters (and former chess
partner) made an interesting point. He sees the current
version of America's social contract as a kind of shell game.
It is based upon deception.
So, I go to the transcript of the Chomsky-Trivers interview, and here
is the first sentence:
Noam Chomsky: One of the most
important comments on deceit, I
think, was made by Adam Smith. He pointed out that a major goal of
business is to deceive and oppress the public.
You may not be able to get Chomsky's book right now. A lot of
places have sold all their copies. But you can get a taste
from the interview. The Seed video is
href="http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/09/seed_video_feature_noam_chomsk.php">here.
YouTube has a bunch more Chomsky videos
href="http://youtube.com/results?search_query=chomsky&search=Search">here.
Lots of seeds for thought.
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I heard they are reprinting additional 250,000 copies of the Chomsky book! Good: more people read it the better.
Ha! I've had a copy of the book ever since it was first published in 2003.
PS. Google Video has a far better collection of Chomsky stuff than YouTube.
"quirkier" = "more insightful", right?
You commented, "In my post about DeVos, I made the point that he runs his business via deception, and I expect him to operate government the same way (if he is elected). "
Well, doesn't democracy pretty much require that? First, if more than one person is generally interested in being elected to public offices - a dichotomy, if not plurality of parties will form - to show the voters the differences between those running.
Then, it's in each candidates interest to appear to be just to the left (or right) of their opponent - otherwise they simply hand their opponent a healthy percentage of the vote.
Some probably adopt that position psychologically because of the high motivation - but I suspect that the politicians who enjoy long careers develop the deceptive practice of triangulation to a high art and like any pro they seldom allow (at least their less strongly held) personal beliefs to get in the way.
I am not making a value judgement here, just an observation. I expect that most form of motivated human interaction are similar - like selling, getting good grades, buying insurance, etc.
I read a really fine book once called "The Utmost Island" where the author postulated that there is a cultural, historic, religious difference between a pledge to "tell the truth" and "giving one's word".
In the pre-Christian Viking era if you "gave your word" to someone that something was factual - and it was not - then you would lose your ability to speak - at least until it was returned to you by the person who you decieved. But, in all other forms of horse-trading lies were expected - and lieing was developed to a high art that earned its better practioners acclaim in song and story.
It was the hypocritical Christians who stigmatized and made "sinful" such a pervasive and necessary human practice - and we've never fully recovered.
Oops, just ran into this:
Business Grad Students Most Likely to Cheat: Study
http://today.reuters.com/news/ArticleNews.aspx?type=domesticnews&storyI…
QUirkier does not always mean more insightful, but in this case, it does.
Ha! I've had a copy of the book ever since it was first published in 2003.
Me too, brother! My hardcover copy is still in pristine condition next to my copy of Failed States. Both of which feature Chomsky's usual penetrating analysis into American foreign policy.