The Noble Lie

This is a GREAT and fairly recent talk by Michael Parenti covering many of the topics which are my bread and butter. He gets into how we think, how we perceive, how we take on new information, how imperialists control language and twist words to their ends, and how they use that knowledge to lie to our faces time and time again.

Parenti makes too many powerful points for me to begin to list or cover them.

Part 1

Part 2

Another good Parenti talk, in this one he gets into the incestuous relationship between church and state. He makes a great point about how the term "materialism" is abused by religious organizations.

The audio is originally from TUC Radio in San Francisco. Please listen to the outro for information on how to support them.

[embed file="audio/TUC_Radio/Parenti_Religion.mp3

Sometimes you'll catch me using the habits I criticize. I tend to use the term progressive over the term Liber AL, excuse me, liberal. I know both are meaningless terms by themselves. A progressive is somebody who makes progress towards something. To progress towards something presupposes an end goal, so what is the end goal that progressives are progressing toward? Though I love his talks and he speaks a lot of truth (which is why I post them), sometimes it seems the end goal of Parenti and others of their ilk is international communism -- not something I would necessary call "progress."

Who defines this progress thing anyway? Is this God again? Silly me, here I thought that progressives were secular atheists and agnostics. Is this "progress" Manifest Destiny, as our square founders liked to call it? Is it Historical Necessity, which seems to be the communist term for same? Is it the Grand Architect... or the Carpenter's Son?

Anyway, the main point I'm trying to make right now is that some of these labels are just labels, and don't read too much into me using them. Certainly don't read a full endorsement into it.

Michael Parenti is a respected progressive scholar. In this talk, he speaks out passionately against the Mafia-like thugs who run the national security apparatus of the United States and other nations, killing or conspiring against any who pose an obstacle to their agendas.

The audio is originally from TUC Radio in San Francisco. Please listen to the outro for information on how to support them.

[embed file="audio/TUC_Radio/Parenti-JFK.xml