Observations on Howard Zinn's War and Social Justice Lecture
In front of an audience at Binghamton University, long time anti-war activist Howard Zinn administered a compelling lecture called "war and social justice" in November of 2008. This critical speech gives his outlook on war and societal rhetoric surrounding it. After being a bomber pilot during WW2, Howard Zinn utilized his GI Bill to attain a Bachelors from New York University, before transitioning to the role of civil rights activist and later earning his Ph.D. from Columbia University.
His speaking experience is evident in his calm, contemplative demeanor as he addresses the current social problems and gives his view of what the role of government should become in an ideal Democratic society.
One great example of his casual demeanor is the following statement in which Zinn boldly advocates a single-payer healthcare system in the United States while refering to socialism in a humorously tongue-in-cheek manner:
"No, I was really gratified when Obama called for "Let's tax the rich more, and let's tax the poor and middle class less." And they said, "That's socialism." And I thought, "Whoa! I'm happy to hear that. Finally, socialism is getting a good name."
Advocating the single-payer system of healthcare, Zinn becomes critical of Obama for reasons entirely different the likes of a Tea Party member. Rather than lashing out at Obama for proposing an increase on corporate taxes, Zinn is instead critical of Obama for not raising taxes on the rich in order to fund a Single-Payer system of healthcare. Zinn is also critical of Obama for not challenging the economic interests of corporations who make money from the current health care system.
Zinn's points on socialism and democracy are met with praise by the audience which is not typical of the standard american audience you might see at one of the current presidential candidates' speeches. The role of socialism is often heavily downplayed in society, and has been for a long time due to the influence of conservative values on media networks such as Fox, and CNN, to radio talk show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck. These people and corporations get paid a lot of money by public relations firms to portray a negative view of socialism in the popular cultural medium; this in turn makes it harder to find accurate information on the ideas of those who are in favor of social spending and nonviolent foreign policy.
What makes Howard Zinn's vision unique is the duality of his experiences throughout the course of his life. In his experience as a pilot who ran bombing missions in WW2, Zinn has a genuinely broad overhead perspective on war. He draws on his own experiences in much of his work not just to simply demonstrate his expertise on the subject, .what it truly does is give moral credibility to the anti-war cause, and gives credibility to the civil rights movement as a whole as well.
.
In the wake of Zinn's death, the Federal Government released 423 pages of data they had on Howard Zinn's life starting in 1949 at the height of McCarthyism because of suspicion that he might be a member of the communist party. He was later deemed a national security risk by the FBI during his time protesting the Vietnam war, and also for his connections to Martin Luther King. It is safe to say that almost all of the history that we are taught in high school is critical of Mr Zinn's view. Fox news has and will continue to make great efforts to paint socialism and communism and Hitler, and Stalin into the same picture.
I don't remember hearing about Zinn's death in the media like we have for Steve Jobs, and Whitney Houston. We live in a world where the rules of marketing carry more weight in society, than the rules of right and wrong because the influence of money driven corporate interests now permeate every aspect of our cultural identity.
To be truly socially liberal in America at a time of war seems to also require defying social norms.. It takes a certain amount of courage to go against the grain in the way that Zinn has. In popular male culture, it is almost customary for war stories to be passed down from generation, and battle scars to be viewed with admiration. America is a place where violence is bred into us through iconic imagery of powerful men the lesser, and ultimately dishonest "other." It takes a certain amount of introspection to defy this innate tendency to do harm to others for one's own expense.
This is yet another hidden line that divides us as people in American rhetoric. Most of those who idolize war have never seen it, but nowadays we have an abundance of computer games that allow you to experience it in a virtual setting. The influence of war on American culture is responsible for the loss of trillions of dollars that could have been used to fund so many helpful programs for people who don't have a lot of money. As a whole, people are very polarized on the issues due to the upcoming presidential election. Issues such as religion, and economic stability are now being tied in with the ideas of pro-war republicans. This clever use of the issue-attention cycle in turn makes it harder to see the magnitude of the impact that war, and the Bush plan has truly had on our economy.
I find it puzzling that the Occupy Wall Street movement still lacks clear leadership and I truly believe that if Howard Zinn were still alive that he would be that man. Perhaps he still can be due to the fact that his uses of rhetoric are permanent, and well documented. One of his most popular books "A people's History of the United States is quite popular and has been met with praise by students of the social sciences nationwide.
Youtube Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E9Pg61kNhg
Text Source: http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_BinghamtonUniv_2008.html
His speaking experience is evident in his calm, contemplative demeanor as he addresses the current social problems and gives his view of what the role of government should become in an ideal Democratic society.
One great example of his casual demeanor is the following statement in which Zinn boldly advocates a single-payer healthcare system in the United States while refering to socialism in a humorously tongue-in-cheek manner:
"No, I was really gratified when Obama called for "Let's tax the rich more, and let's tax the poor and middle class less." And they said, "That's socialism." And I thought, "Whoa! I'm happy to hear that. Finally, socialism is getting a good name."
Advocating the single-payer system of healthcare, Zinn becomes critical of Obama for reasons entirely different the likes of a Tea Party member. Rather than lashing out at Obama for proposing an increase on corporate taxes, Zinn is instead critical of Obama for not raising taxes on the rich in order to fund a Single-Payer system of healthcare. Zinn is also critical of Obama for not challenging the economic interests of corporations who make money from the current health care system.
Zinn's points on socialism and democracy are met with praise by the audience which is not typical of the standard american audience you might see at one of the current presidential candidates' speeches. The role of socialism is often heavily downplayed in society, and has been for a long time due to the influence of conservative values on media networks such as Fox, and CNN, to radio talk show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck. These people and corporations get paid a lot of money by public relations firms to portray a negative view of socialism in the popular cultural medium; this in turn makes it harder to find accurate information on the ideas of those who are in favor of social spending and nonviolent foreign policy.
What makes Howard Zinn's vision unique is the duality of his experiences throughout the course of his life. In his experience as a pilot who ran bombing missions in WW2, Zinn has a genuinely broad overhead perspective on war. He draws on his own experiences in much of his work not just to simply demonstrate his expertise on the subject, .what it truly does is give moral credibility to the anti-war cause, and gives credibility to the civil rights movement as a whole as well.
.
In the wake of Zinn's death, the Federal Government released 423 pages of data they had on Howard Zinn's life starting in 1949 at the height of McCarthyism because of suspicion that he might be a member of the communist party. He was later deemed a national security risk by the FBI during his time protesting the Vietnam war, and also for his connections to Martin Luther King. It is safe to say that almost all of the history that we are taught in high school is critical of Mr Zinn's view. Fox news has and will continue to make great efforts to paint socialism and communism and Hitler, and Stalin into the same picture.
I don't remember hearing about Zinn's death in the media like we have for Steve Jobs, and Whitney Houston. We live in a world where the rules of marketing carry more weight in society, than the rules of right and wrong because the influence of money driven corporate interests now permeate every aspect of our cultural identity.
To be truly socially liberal in America at a time of war seems to also require defying social norms.. It takes a certain amount of courage to go against the grain in the way that Zinn has. In popular male culture, it is almost customary for war stories to be passed down from generation, and battle scars to be viewed with admiration. America is a place where violence is bred into us through iconic imagery of powerful men the lesser, and ultimately dishonest "other." It takes a certain amount of introspection to defy this innate tendency to do harm to others for one's own expense.
This is yet another hidden line that divides us as people in American rhetoric. Most of those who idolize war have never seen it, but nowadays we have an abundance of computer games that allow you to experience it in a virtual setting. The influence of war on American culture is responsible for the loss of trillions of dollars that could have been used to fund so many helpful programs for people who don't have a lot of money. As a whole, people are very polarized on the issues due to the upcoming presidential election. Issues such as religion, and economic stability are now being tied in with the ideas of pro-war republicans. This clever use of the issue-attention cycle in turn makes it harder to see the magnitude of the impact that war, and the Bush plan has truly had on our economy.
I find it puzzling that the Occupy Wall Street movement still lacks clear leadership and I truly believe that if Howard Zinn were still alive that he would be that man. Perhaps he still can be due to the fact that his uses of rhetoric are permanent, and well documented. One of his most popular books "A people's History of the United States is quite popular and has been met with praise by students of the social sciences nationwide.
Youtube Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E9Pg61kNhg
Text Source: http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_BinghamtonUniv_2008.html