JustNathan.com

Just Nathan

A musical offering, in parts
January 25, 2003
Chomsky Beat 2

I found a link to some Chomsky interviews on the repercussions of 9/11. Isn't the BBC wonderful?

Of course, Douglas Rushkoff at NYU manages to bring Chomsky and Rambo into one sentence.

Rushkoff somehow believes in the possibility of power being devolved away from the media corporations and put in the hands of the public. "Things will only go horribly wrong if we as a media consuming culture decide to value more what they're selling than we can get from each other via the net or any other method. And if we value what they're selling, we'll get what we ask for. If people would rather watch Rambo than talk about Chomsky, then that's what they'll get. Right now what we really have is an opportunity for the people of this world to take charge of the global agenda. The controllers of society let the wars of society be fought in the ideological realm, which is the mediaspace. But now they've lost reins of the coach and I'm encouraging the idea that anyone can pick them up."

Does he really feel that the Internet frees our minds? I'm sitting at my desk, writing, when I could be out in the sunshine.

When reading Rushkoff’s blog I came across an interesting New York Times article from November 2002 about Judaism by Numbers. He asserts that “the Jewish people are not a race, to be preserved. Judaism is a set of ideas to be shared”. I can’t share that view. Judaism wasn’t "a loose amalgamation of peoples united around a new idea". It is a race and a religion. This, and his humanitarian interpretation of Jewish social consciousness, undermines the core proposition of his article, that the core strengths of Judaism are greatly needed in this modern, dangerous world, and that “it would be a terrible shame if the religion’s biggest concern continued to be itself”.

Posted by nathan at January 25, 2003 11:42 PM


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