Saturday, October 02, 2010

Michael Parenti on the "Conspiracy Theory" Shibboleth

"There are few terms that are more effective in putting foreclosure on rational discourse."

QED. That's why it's the ruling class's rhetorical weapon of choice. But why are so many soi-disant leftists still crippled, both intellectually and politically, by their own refusal or inability to unpack the term? Parenti's short speech is not just brilliantly funny; it's an unanswerable response to a species of supercilious antithought that's still far too prevalent on the left - one recent example being Alex Doherty's disgraceful screed at the New Left Project.



"I tell you, kicking the ass of the ruling class can be fun at times."

6 comments:

  1. Gee. thanks for that link to Alex Doherty's great piece! I'd have missed it otherwise. Sort of like if Zizek hadn't called Chavez a 'clown', nobody would have ever known. I hadn't even thought of some of those great reasons why people believe in the truth movement, but it definitely forms a new version of 'two-tier' when it comes to social life. And here I thought 'est-ies' were hard to schmooze with.

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Gee. thanks for that link to Alex Doherty's great piece!"

    But, Patrick, of course you're a fan of Doherty's lumbering antithought. It's Parenti versus the Buffoons, as I said.

    "I hadn't even thought of some of those great reasons why people believe in the truth movement, but it definitely forms a new version of 'two-tier' when it comes to social life. And here I thought 'est-ies' were hard to schmooze with."

    Mullenish: a language only distantly related to English, but remarkably close to Alzheimer's.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete