What Thinkers, Scholars, Texts Influence(d) Your Political Views?

DoctorJones24 · Dec 17, 2002

I thought it might be interesting to hear who some of the important political philosophers are that BS politicos are influenced by. Particularly, I'm interested in the conservative ones, as I'd like to check a few out, but I don't want to waste time wading through Hannity and Bill O'Reilly. Mostly, I'm interested in contemporary intellectuals of the Edward Said or William F. Buckely ilk, to construct an odd pairing, for sure.

I wouldn't consider myself an expert on the contemporary left by any stretch, either, so I'm also interested in finding out the names of some brilliant social critics I've missed so far.

But anyway, the question is, who do you read/listen to/seek out most? Whose writing and thought both challenge and encourage you in the ways that political commentators are meant to?

Some of mine in various politically charged fields:
Benedict Anderson (history, nationalism)
Noam Chomsky (media, US foreign policy)
Salman Rushdie (literature, "internationalism")
Edward Said (literature, Mid East)
Hayden White (history, postmodernism)
Howard Zinn (US history)
Fatima Mernissi (feminism, Islam)
Cathy Caruth (cultural memory, psychology)

AFCA · Dec 17, 2002

Mein Kampf. Yup.

Note: joke

Ludahai · Dec 17, 2002

Originally posted by AFCA
Note: joke
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Sad that you have to point that out, isn't it?

AFCA · Dec 17, 2002

Yup.

But just to be on the safe side.

Doctor Stamen · Dec 17, 2002

My Struggle, but not the Hitler version .

I don't really have any strong influences, but some of the ideas of J. S. Mills, J-J Rousseau, and Thomas Locke are appealing.

Colin Grabow · Dec 17, 2002

Karl Marx
Jim Jeffords
Benedict Arnold
The Hungry, Hungry Caterpillar

cossack · Dec 17, 2002

Not familiar with Hayden White, Fatima Mernissi or Cathy Caruth but I have read and take much from the others you listed. Here are others from which I've taken great interest:

Eric Hobsbawm (history)
Antonio Gramsci (culture and hegemony)
Theda Skocpol (history and sociology)
Max Weber (sociology)
Emile Durkheim (social theory)
Robert Cox (globalization)
Arjun Appadurai (culture and globalization)

obie · Dec 17, 2002

The Politics of Jesus by John Yoder. The best book ever about Christianity and social interaction; should be read by every Southern Baptist.

Economics by Paul Samuelson. The definitive first-year Econ text.

Principles of Political Economy and Taxation by David Ricardo.

GringoTex · Dec 17, 2002

Religion - Monsenor Romero
Economics - Balzac
Mass media - Godard
Politics - Chomsky

bert patenaude · Dec 17, 2002

Henry David Thoreau - Walden
Ralph Waldo Emerson - Essays
William James - Essays on Pragmatism
Martin Luther King, Jr. - Speeches and Letter from the Birmingham Jail
Robert Caro - Power Broker
Hamilton, Madison and Jay - The Federalist Papers

TheWakeUpBomb · Dec 17, 2002

Art Bell (current events)
Ted Nugent (Music, zoology)
Pat Buchanan (culture, ideology)
Bay Buchanan (feminism)
Albert Gore, Jr. {post modern theory)
SpongeBob Squarepants (Lesbian, gay, transgender theory)
Charlie Ward (Zionism)

dawgpound2 · Dec 17, 2002

The Bible

joseph pakovits · Dec 17, 2002

Ayn Rand
Milton Friedman
The Cato Institute
Harry Browne
Charles Murray
James Bovard
Ed Optiz
William F. Buckley, Jr.
Pat Robertson
Ronald Reagan
Henry Kissinger
Rush Limbaugh
Bob Dornan
Oliver North
G. Gordon Liddy
Billy Sunday
David Duke
Timothy McViegh
Ozzy Osbourne

[edit]I forgot to add Phyllis Schlafly. How did that happen?[/edit]

cossack · Dec 17, 2002

I forgot today is Bizarro Day.

In that case,

Dinesh D'souza.

DoctorJones24 · Dec 17, 2002

Originally posted by cossack
Not familiar with Hayden White, Fatima Mernissi or Cathy Caruth but I have read and take much from the others you listed. Here are others from which I've taken great interest:

Eric Hobsbawm (history)
Antonio Gramsci (culture and hegemony)
Theda Skocpol (history and sociology)
Max Weber (sociology)
Emile Durkheim (social theory)
Robert Cox (globalization)
Arjun Appadurai (culture and globalization)
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Hayden White's book "Metahistory" kind of challenged all historians to deal with the poststructural developments in theory that had HUGE implications for their field (but which many were trying to ignore). His controversial thesis was something like "historial stories are determined only by the emplotting strategies the historian chooses, and there is nothing in the actual historical record that requires a certain kind of plot structure." He waffled in this stance a bit when confronted with the Holocaust, though I don't think he should have.

Mernissi's Harvard doctoral thesis "Beyond the Veil" came out in the 70s or 80s and is a brilliant feminist critique of Islam. She's published a handful of other pretty important books, especially "Women and Islam" and "Islam and Democracy."

Caruth is a Harvard professor who more or less founded the "trauma theory" lens of critical theory, borrowing on a mix of Freud and Derrida, combined with the work of pychologists working with Holocaust survivors. Her point is that trauma, both for individuals and for cultures, are acts that defy narrativization; from this follows all sorts of moral questions of how to "bear witness" to these acts then, in order to help fit them into a narrative so that the patient/culture can move forward, but to do so without somehow "normlizing" the experience and thus betraying its original brutality.

zverskiy yobar · Dec 17, 2002

Scholars-
Thomas Jefferson
Texts-
Havamal
Mahabharata

Dan Loney · Dec 17, 2002

Kurt Vonnegut
George Orwell
Thomas Jefferson

and, of course,
The Turner Diaries
The Left Behind series
Where's the Rest of Me?
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
The collected works of Skrewdriver

joseph pakovits · Dec 17, 2002

Is it too late for me to add JRR Tolkien to my list? I'm all about monarchy now since reading Lord of the Rings.

GringoTex · Dec 17, 2002

Originally posted by TheWakeUpBomb
Art Bell (current events)
Ted Nugent (Music, zoology)
Pat Buchanan (culture, ideology)
Bay Buchanan (feminism)
Albert Gore, Jr. {post modern theory)
SpongeBob Squarepants (Lesbian, gay, transgender theory)
Charlie Ward (Zionism)
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The best list.

spejic · Dec 17, 2002

Benito Mussolini - "The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism"
B.H. Liddel Hart - "Strategy"
Martin van Creveld - "Supplying War : Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton"
Friedrich Nietzsche - "Beyond Good and Evil"
Colin J Campbell - "The Coming Oil Crisis"
Oliver Stone (rewriting a 1932 movie) - "Scarface"

DoctorJones24 · Dec 17, 2002

Come on you right wingers, anyone going to offer a serious suggestion? Some of you must go beyond The Washington Times, Rush show, and Fox News, surely...right? Seriously? Oh well, maybe not.

How bout someone like even a George Will, PJ O'Rourke, Dinesh D'Souza, etc. Haven't read much from these guys myself, but I would at least think they offer more cogent analysis than Sean Hannity.

dawgpound2 · Dec 17, 2002

Originally posted by Dan Loney
Kurt Vonnegut
George Orwell
Thomas Jefferson

and, of course,
The Turner Diaries
The Left Behind series
Where's the Rest of Me?
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
The collected works of Skrewdriver
Click to expand...

C'mon, Dan, you and I will surely never see eye to eye. But, too often, people here on BS are comparing ALL christians to scum and the dregs of humanity. It's kind of sad to label a LARGE number of people, most of whom just go about their lives quietly, trying to do what they believe is right, being good neighbors and friends and citizens.

And before Pakovits comes in here with his "Christians all suck" rant, think about it.

SoFla Metro · Dec 17, 2002

Originally posted by dawgpound2
C'mon, Dan, you and I will surely never see eye to eye. But, too often, people here on BS are comparing ALL christians to scum and the dregs of humanity. It's kind of sad to label a LARGE number of people, most of whom just go about their lives quietly, trying to do what they believe is right, being good neighbors and friends and citizens.

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I certainly don't see how you got from point a (Dan sarcastically citing a bunch of right-wing nonsense) to point b (Dan calling all Christians scum).

Actually, he didn't. So that would mean that you called them scum.

Dan Loney · Dec 17, 2002

Originally posted by dawgpound2
C'mon, Dan, you and I will surely never see eye to eye. But, too often, people here on BS are comparing ALL christians to scum and the dregs of humanity.
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The Reagan cheap shot aside, I was really poking fun at the extreme right wing.

I'm sure I've posted things that born-again Christians Jimmy Carter and Al Gore would not agree with, for example, but I don't think I'm prejudiced against them.

In any case, that's the nature of this kind of yapfest. I've heard liberals and Democrats lumped in the same way - it all depends on whose donut is being trod upon.

It's kind of sad to label a LARGE number of people, most of whom just go about their lives quietly, trying to do what they believe is right, being good neighbors and friends and citizens.
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I'll say whatever I want about Fire fans.

superdave · Dec 17, 2002

Bob Dylan
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Erich Fromm
Paul Hewsom
Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior