17 quotes
Through all this, one seldom actually hears from the “politically correct” people who supposedly dominate the universe of discourse.
Contrary Notions (2007)
For all their faults and shortcomings, the people are all we have.
Contrary Notions (2007)
The secret to wealth usually is not to work hard, but to have others work hard for you.
Contrary Notions (2007)
Democracy is something more than a set of political procedures. To be worthy of its name, democracy should produce outcomes that advance the well-being of the people.
Contrary Notions (2007)
History has many enemies, including some who profess to serve its cause. The struggle to define the past is part of the struggle to control society itself.
Contrary Notions (2007)
The struggle against plutocracy and the striving for peace and democracy are forever reborn.
Contrary Notions (2007)
Superior firepower, not superior culture, has brought the Europeans and Euro-North Americans to positions of global supremacy.
Contrary Notions (2007)
The efficacy of a label is that it propagates an evocative but undefined image lacking a specific content that can be held up to the test of evidence.
Contrary Notions (2007)
The conceptual distinction between state and government allows us to understand why taking office in government seldom guarantees full access to the instruments of state power.
Contrary Notions (2007)
Devoid of the supportive background assumptions of the dominant belief system, the deviant view sounds too improbable and too controversial to be treated as reliable information.
Contrary Notions (2007)
In short, it is possible to demonstrate that (a) many people support positions or political forces that violate their own professed interests, and (b) many people profess interests that violate their actual well-being.
Contrary Notions (2007)
Some critics complain that the press is sensationalistic and intrusive. In fact, the media’s basic modus operandi is evasive rather than invasive. More common than the sensationalistic hype is the artful avoidance.
Contrary Notions (2007)
Something has got to be done about the internal combustion engine before it does something irreversible to us—assuming it already has not. It is not a rational and survivable form of technology. Its social, ecological, and human costs are far greater than any benefit it brings.
Contrary Notions (2007)
It is somewhat ironic to credit capitalism with the genius of gradual reform when most reforms through history have been vehemently and sometimes violently resisted by the capitalist class and were won only after prolonged and bitter contest.
Contrary Notions (2007)
Our readiness to accept something as true, or reject it as false, rests less on its argument and evidence and more on how it aligns with the preconceived notions embedded in the dominant culture, assumptions we have internalized due to repeated exposure.
Contrary Notions (2007)
Imperialism has created what I call “maldevelopment”: modern office buildings and luxury hotels in the capital city instead of housing for the poor, cosmetic surgery clinics for the affluent instead of hospitals for workers, highways that go from the mines and latifundios to the refineries and ports instead of roads in the back country for those who might hope to see a doctor or a teacher.
Contrary Notions (2007)
People who never complain of the orthodoxy of their mainstream political education are the first to complain about the dogmatic “political correctness” of any challenge to it. Far from seeking a diversity of views, they defend themselves from exposure to such diversity, preferring to leave their unexamined background assumptions and conventional political opinions unruffled.
Contrary Notions (2007)