Tag: outsiders

I.F. “Izzy” Stone – lessons for journalists and everyone else

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Izzy quotes from Wikiquote:

There must be renewed recognition that societies are kept stable and healthy by reform, not by thought police; this means there must be free play for so-called subversive ideas – every idea subverts the old to make way for the new. To shut off subversion is to shut off peaceful progress and to invite revolution and war.
I.F. Stone’s Weekly (1954-03-15)

Every time we are confronted with a new revolution we take to the opium pipes of our own propaganda.
I.F. Stone’s Weekly (1963-01-21)

I sought in political reporting what Galsworthy in another context had called “the significant trifle” — the bit of dialogue, the overlooked fact, the buried observation which illuminated the realities of the situation.
The Haunted Fifties (1963)

The fault I find with most American newspapers is not the absence of dissent. it is the absence of news. With a dozen or so honorable exceptions, most American newspapers carry very little news. Their main concern is advertising.
The Haunted Fifties (1963)

A certain moral imbecility marks all ethnocentric movements.
I.F. Stone’s Weekly (1967-08-03)

All governments lie, but disaster lies in wait for countries whose officials smoke the same hashish they give out.
In a Time of Torment, 1961-1967 (1967), p. 317

Lifelong dissent has more than acclimated me cheerfully to defeat. It has made me suspicious of victory. I feel uneasy at the very idea of a Movement. I see every insight degenerating into a dogma, and fresh thoughts freezing into lifeless party line.
I.F. Stone’s Bi-Weekly (1969-05-19)

I thought I might teach philosophy but the atmosphere of a college faculty repelled me; the few islands of greatness seemed to be washed by seas of pettiness and mediocrity.
I.F. Stone’s Bi-Weekly (1971-12-14)

Culture Music Pussy Riot Pussy Riot’s Nadezhda Tolokonnikova: Why I have gone on hunger strike

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Pussy Riot’s Nadezhda Tolokonnikova: Why I have gone on hunger strike
In an open letter, the imprisoned Pussy Riot member explains why the brutal conditions at Penal Colony No 14 have led her to undertake a hunger strike in protest

Click on text to read article and watch video

Walter Benjamin quote

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“The tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the ‘state of emergency’ in which we live is not the exception but the rule. We must attain to a conception of history that is in keeping with this insight. Then we shall clearly realize that it is our task to bring about a real state of emergency, and this will improve our position in the struggle against Fascism. One reason why Fascism has a chance is that in the name of progress its opponents treat it as a historical norm. The current amazement that the things we are experiencing are ‘still’ possible in the twentieth century is not philosophical. This amazement is not the beginning of knowledge–unless it is the knowledge that the view of history which gives rise to it is untenable.”
– Walter Benjamin, “Theses on the Philosophy of History,” (Spring, 1940) trans. Harry Zohn.

Les Dimanches de Ville d’avray / Sundays And Cybele

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Click the “cc” button to turn on subtitles.

I don’t give a whit about industry awards, but for those of you who do: Sundays and Cybele won the 1962 academy award for best foreign language film – and was nominated for best music and best writing.

More consequentially, Morris Berman highly recommends this film – and I highly recommend you read all of his books:

Click here for a list of books

As an introduction to his thought, here is an interview he did with Thom Hartmann: