Originally posted by braindrainedAsh
Is anyone in to these? At the moment I'm reading "The New Rulers of the World" by John Pilger. It's most interesting and eye opening.
This was indeed interesting..Quite eye-opening about the role of America in the 1965-66 massacres in Indonesia. (With some 500 000 being murdered.
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Along those lines, Noam Chomsky is good.. Perhaps you'd like 'Year 501', or 'Deterring Democracy'. Haven't read his new one though, so if anyone has, do comment.
However, for a political text that functions both as literary interpretation and a highly relevant insight into the current political situation, I recommend 'Orientalism' by Edward Said. To quote, the basic thesis of this text is that;
Orientalism is a style of thought based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between the 'Orient' and (most of the time), 'the Occident'. Thus a very large mass of writers, among whom are poets, novelists, philosophers, political theorists, economists and imperial administrators, have accepted the basic distinction between East and West as the starting point for elaborate theories, epics, novels, social descriptions, and political accounts concerning the Orient, its people, customs, 'mind', destiny, and so-on...
Or as an epigraph within states;
They must be represented, for they can not represent themselves.-Karl Marx.
I believe at least part of this thesis is demonstrated by the flurry of texts concerning terrorism and the supposed 'Islamic Mind'..Also seen in theories such as the supposed 'Clash Of Civilisations'.
