Density, complexity, and historical-semantic value that is so strong as to make politics possible... Gramsci's insight is to have recognised that subordination, fracturing, diffusion, reproducing, as much as producing, creating, forcing, guiding, are necessary aspects of elaboration.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the intricate nature of politics, emphasizing that both creation and subordination are essential to political dynamics.
Edward Said highlights the complexity of political processes by discussing how various factors such as subordination and creativity are intertwined. He underscores the idea that effective political action is not solely about creating new structures but also involves understanding and managing the existing frameworks and power dynamics that shape society. This dual recognition sheds light on the multifaceted nature of political engagement.
In practice
In a lecture on political theory, this quote could illustrate the interplay of power and creativity.
All knowledge that is about human society, and not about the natural world, is historical knowledge, and therefore rests upon judgment and interpretation. This is not to say that facts or data are nonexistent, but that facts get their importance from what is made of them in interpretation… for interpretations depend very much on who the interpreter is, who he or she is addressing, what his or her purpose is, at what historical moment the interpretation takes place.
Uninformed and yet open to appeals for justice as they are, Americans are capable of reacting as they did to the ANC campaign against apartheid, which finally changed the balance of forces inside South Africa.
Refuse to allow yourself to become a vegetable that simply absorbs information, pre-packaged, pre-ideologized , because no message.. is anything but an ideological package that has gone through a kind of processing.
Since the time of Homer every European, in what he could say about the Orient, was a racist, an imperialist, and almost totally ethnocentric.
Much as I have no wish to hurt anyone's feelings, my first obligation has not been to be nice but to be true to my perhaps peculiar memories, experiences and feelings.
It is quite common to hear high officials in Washington and elsewhere speak of changing the map of the Middle East, as if ancient societies and myriad peoples can be shaken up like so many peanuts in a jar.
Moreover, I consider that Carthage should be destroyed.
One man's death: that is a catastrophe. A hundred thousand dead: that is a statistic
All abstract sciences are nothing but the study of relations between signs.
Many things are mechanical and should remain mechanical. But mechanical thoughts, mechanical feelings—that is what has to be studied and can and should be changed. Mechanical thinking is not worth a penny. You can think about many things mechanically, but you will get nothing from it.
A lot of the evil in the world is actually not intentional. A lot of people in the financial system did a lot of damage without intending to.
Truth is not to be found outside. No teacher, no scripture can give it to you. It is inside you and if you wish to attain it, seek your own company. Be with yourself.
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