2 Comments

1. #1 Redroom Studios
   on Nov 8th, 2008 at 11:43 am

   curious than Zinn is based in Boston as is Chomsky and as was Timothy Leary… what a great intellectual center!

   The second half of this interview is clearly stronger and more interesting. Zinn has a good analysis of Obama’s (so far) traditional views on the Israel / Palestine issue as well as the slow decline away from racism. The question about taxes always baffles me. Why are taxes so scary to many people? Taxes can be a good thing if they are returned through public services rather than military spending. Overall Zinn seems to have a very balanced and realistic views of the challenges ahead.

2. #2 shapeshift
   on Nov 8th, 2008 at 12:27 pm

   People have been trained by the GOP for many years to think that taxes mean big government meddling in people’s affair, a big brother scare tactic where they use words like socialism and communism to achieve their aim. So for many people taxes mean socialism especially as it is played up by uninformed or fear-based politicians and the right wing media. Now, with Obama articulating a new and more nuanced language, some people are seeing through the fog but many regular folks are still under the dark spell.

   I like Howard Zinn’s views very much. You notice that he is very hopeful, consistently using the word hope every time he sums up an issue.

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