Knowing and Reading the Right (left) People

THERE ARE SEVERAL ESTEEMED PEOPLE WITH WHOM ALL AMERICANS should be familiar. Among them are: Noam Chomsky, Joesph Stiglitz, Chris Hedges, Gore Vidal. Obviously there are many others, but these four are a good beginning. Of them, only Vidal is no longer living. His best works are his nonfiction books and essays on politics in America and on American society generally. Although Vidal became successful as a novelist at a very young age, his non fiction comprises his most incisive contribution to the sacred spirit of truth.... Noam chomsky became a professor at M.I.T. the same year I was born, 1955. He is still active academically, although he transferred to Arizona state a few years ago, presumably to get away from the Bostom climate. At ninety two, Chomksy is proof that the key to avoiding dementia and remaining mentally sharp is at least partly embodied in continuing, ceaseless intellectual activity. Chomsky has written more than a hundred books, a prodigious number of academic papers and essays, and is widely regarded outside the United States as America's most accomplished intellectual. The fact that he is not especially well known among ordinary Americans nor featured prominently in the mainstream conservative corporate media is evidence of and precipitated by his radicalism socially, economically, politically. His primary field is linguistics, a science which he has revolutionized in much the same way that Einstein revolutionized physics. It is accurate to say that Chomksy is the father of modern linguistical theory. His passion otherwise is political activism. Among his more controversial beliefs and assertions is that every American president since World War Two was and is a demonstrable war criminal, and that the United States is owned and operated by an elite corporate oligarchy which ignores the will of the people. In this, of course he is hardly alone. Most intelligent people, meaning progressives, have long been aware of this. Gore Vidal also expoused this theme. Becasue of his age, Noam Chomsky will not be among us much longer. The day he dies is the day America loses one of its brightest, most illuminating forces of reason and truth.... Chris Hedges has lived one of the most interesting lives imaginable. He obtained a doctorate in divinity studies from Harvard, impressive in its own right, but went on to pursue a career in jourmalism. He has not failed to throw himself into journalistic research completely, having embedded himself in every major conflict in the world for purposes of reporting: the midle east, Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Latin America, among others. All his books are fascinating and illuminating. One of his most recent, "Unspeakable", focuses on controversial topics that are avoided or ignored by most writers and most Americans. That is the essence of Chris Hedges: he deliberately seeks out an directly addresses the most controversial, least desirable aspects of American society and addresses them head on. He, like Chomksy and Vidal, is considered "radical", but only because he tells the truth in a world filled with obfuscation, conservatism, and misinformation.... Of the four scholars, Joseph Stigliaz is by far the least controversial. He has taught at Columbia long, and was the chairman of President Clinton's council of economic advisors. He has also served as an advisor to the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. Stigliz is a progressive economist who warns against the concentration of wealth in America, and its destructive impact. The greater the concentration of wealth, the less demand for consumer goods across the broad economy, and the less supply, production, distribution, and prosperity. Capitalism itself greatly benefits from an equal distribution of wealth among workers and owners. Stiglitz, like the other three, makes perfect sense, which is probably why he is eschewed among conservatives.