Message-ID: <32DA9EFD.6C32@mind.net> Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 20:45:49 +0000 From: "B. Diamond" <mailto:bdiamond@MIND.NET> Subject: Re: Inventing Reality To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
mailto:EUNSteve@AOL.COM wrote: >
> Bret points us to authors he believes will help us understand the true nature
> of capitalism: Howard Zinn and Michael Parenti.
>
> I've located my paperback edition of Parenti's 1986 book INVENTING REALITY:
> The Politics of The Mass Media.
> He devotes one chapter, called "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are
> Collapsing," to refuting the reports that suggest that freedom in the USSR is
> limited, and that their economy is in serious difficulty.
>
> To counter these "invented realities," Parenti cites a CIA report that
> "concluded that the Soviet economy has been growing at a faster rate than the
> US economy."
> I do not think that the record supports the contention that such as Zinn and
> Parenti are honorable and truthful guides either to the state of affairs in
> our country or abroad.
OW! OUCH! I guess I'll have to dismiss my entire argument given Steve's rabid investigative abilities.... On the other hand, perhaps Mr. Eskow would care to provide us with a list of the leading right-wing capitalist lackeys (economists, conservative think tank-types, etc.) who accurately predicted the fall of the Soviet empire. Or, better yet, given Mr. Gorbachev's infinite popularity in Russia at the moment(for bringing them capitalist reform), perhaps Mr. Eskow could provide us with a list of those (besides the Russian Mafia, drug dealers, etc.) of those in Russia who actually feel they are better off today than they were 10 years ago. I'd imagine it is a *very* short list......
BD