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| Beautiful nature in our neighbourhood park is a nice respite from global turmoil. |
Summer is here - the season for relaxing and reading. This morning I was checking out a piece by William A. Cohn, professor of jurisprudence at New York University. In it he was explaining how the whole Brexit thing was just more obfuscation, of which there is plenty these days.
Contained within his writing were some suggestions for summer reading that I thought I would share.
Cohn wrote that "thankfully, starting tomorrow, we will have to hear less about the so-called debate on Brexit – a debate which has been marked by lies, omission, and fear-mongering."
Unfortunately that describes most of the crap emanating from governments, corporations, and their media enablers around the world these days, as they prepare us for the ultimate corporate take-over.
"New issues will capture the headlines, Cohn says, "and new false choices will be presented. Ignore them as best you can."
You can't ignore the fact that it is summer time, an opportunity to read and relax. I am not sure if these titles will provide a break from the turmoil, but they will improve our knowledge base, and therefore our ability to counter anti-freedom forces. In spite of their potential heaviness, I will be visiting the library to check some of these out... before they are banned by the corporatocracy.
The following are the books the good professor recommends for the beach this season:
"Bad Samaritans" by Ha-Joon Chang
"News: The Politics of Illusion" by Lance Bennet
"Absurdistan" by Gary Shteyngart
"Democracy Incorporated" by Sheldon Wolin
"Johnny Got His Gun" by Dalton Trumbo.
"Knowledge is potential power, to be acted upon, towards building new and better ways of organizing our world."
Read, rest, relax. And change the world at the same time.
"New issues will capture the headlines, Cohn says, "and new false choices will be presented. Ignore them as best you can."
ReplyDeleteThis is excellent advice! My summer reading has been loaded up with mysteries like those of Agatha Christie and Sofie Kelly (easy reading from two very different time periods). Thanks and have a wonderful weekend.
Mary
I voted to remain in the EU. The campaign to leave has been lead by the extreme neo liberal elements of the Tory party. They used the fear of immigration and this is what it's really about. Soon the project will be complete and England will become a tax haven with 50 million people to support. Despite it's flaws and problems the EU provided workers rights, a human rights act, absolute opposition to the death penalty and environmental protections.
ReplyDeleteThe EU has been awful to Greece and economically it is impossible for the weaker southern countries to prosper due to the strength of the Euro - before countries could devalue their currency to get out of trouble and this is no longer possible. Germany should and must recycle it's budget surplus to balance the Eurozone, like Keynes's global recycling mechanism.
Thanks for heads up on the books, I check them out.
Alex
I've just started re-reading - A Different King Of Luxury: Japanese Lessons in Simple Living and Inner Abundance by Andy Couturier. This is a wonderful and inspiring book I think you would love if your library could get it for you. I find it incredibly comforting to read books which feature people living sanely and beautifully.
ReplyDeleteHappy Summer reading,
Madeleine.x