Hi All--
Just adding a couple more links to the conversations going on and the
article-links collecting here about the dangerous rhetorical climate in the U.S.,
the interest taken over the last several years by the noxious Christian Right
in terms of in dominating or comandeering political discourse, which trend
seems to me to be effectively tossing out as many red herrings as possible on
complex issues and damaging or disabling the reputations of many dissident
public voices who could otherwise prompt continued exigency for and audience
attention to crucial environmental issues at hand.
These articles/editorial pieces are both by James Howard Kunstler, author of
_The Long Emergency_ (Grove Atlantic, 2005_). The first link is to Common
Dreams this week (after being in Rolling Stone last week), and the other is
from Orion, just out yesterday. Clearly, if progressive-minded people are
busy defending themselves from the kinds of red-herring attack Juan Cole
explains, then they will not have time to assess our current state of economic and
environmental problems and consequences, nor will their be any audience left
to convince once the reputations of progressive-public-intellectuals are
undermined.
_http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0413-28.htm_
(http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0413-28.htm)
(http://www.oriononline.org/pages/oo/curmudgeon/index_curmudgeon.html)
_http://www.oriononline.org/pages/oo/curmudgeon/index_curmudgeon.html_
(http://www.oriononline.org/pages/oo/curmudgeon/index_curmudgeon.html)
There is a great need for continued attention to this problem of rhetorical
attacks from neo-con sources, then.
Best Wishes,
Chris Murray
_http://texfiles.blogspot.com_ (http://texfiles.blogspot.com)
_http://e-po.blogspot.com_ (http://e-po.blogspot.com)
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