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Harold Pinter 2005 Nobel: The great American hypnosis
I have selected a few paragraphs from this magnificent speech, delivered by Harold Pinter from his home, on his acceptance of the Nobel Prize for Literature. This is, in my opinion, one of the most courageous and honest accounts on the appalling state of the international politics under the unchallenged rule of the US.
The link to this speech is located at the bottom of the page.
The great American hypnosis
December 9, 2005
continue reading: the AGE, http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/the-great-american-hypnosis/2005/12/08/1133829719914.html?page=fullpage
The link to this speech is located at the bottom of the page.
The great American hypnosis
December 9, 2005
The US claims to champion freedom. In fact, its long record of brutality has imperilled peace, says Harold Pinter.
POLITICIANS are interested not in truth but in power. To maintain that power it is essential that people remain in ignorance, that they live in ignorance of the truth, even the truth of their own lives. What surrounds us therefore is a vast tapestry of lies, upon which we feed.
(....)
The crimes of the US have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them. You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It's a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis.
(....)
It's a scintillating stratagem. Language is actually employed to keep thought at bay. The words "the American people" provide a truly voluptuous cushion of reassurance. You don't need to think.
(....)
What has happened to our moral sensibility? Did we ever have any? What do these words mean? Do they refer to a term very rarely employed these days conscience? A conscience to do not only with our own acts but to do with our shared responsibility in the acts of others? Is all this dead?
(....)
How many people do you have to kill before you qualify to be described as a mass murderer and a war criminal?
Death in this context is irrelevant. At least 100,000 Iraqis were killed by American bombs and missiles before the Iraq insurgency began. These people are of no moment. Their deaths don't exist. They are blank. They are not even recorded as being dead. "We don't do body counts," said general Tommy Franks.
(....)
When we look into a mirror we think the image that confronts us is accurate. But move a millimetre and the image changes. Sometimes a writer has to smash the mirror, for it is on the other side of that mirror that the truth stares at us.
Despite the enormous odds that exist, unflinching, unswerving, fierce intellectual determination, as citizens, to define the real truth of our lives and our societies is a crucial obligation that devolves upon us all. It is in fact mandatory. If such a determination is not embodied in our political vision we have no hope of restoring what is so nearly lost to us the dignity of man.
British writer Harold Pinter is winner of the 2005 Nobel prize for literature. This is part of his acceptance speech. It will be delivered tomorrow by video as the ailing Pinter has been forbidden by doctors from travelling to Stockholm.
continue reading: the AGE, http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/the-great-american-hypnosis/2005/12/08/1133829719914.html?page=fullpage
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