Rhetoric that Binds and Blinds
Wole Soyinka examines the power of political and religious rhetoric in his third lecture. He asks what turns the mantra of faith in one religion into a summons of death in another?
In his third Reith Lecture, the Nobel Laureate, playwright, poet and political activist Wole Soyinka examines the power of political and religious rhetoric.
Between God and Nation, and Sieg Heil, a complex set of social impulses and goals are reduced to mere sound. It is a potent tool that moves to vibrate a collective chord and displace reason. A willed hypnosis substitutes for individual will and the ecstasy of losing oneself in a sound-cloned crowd drives the most ordinary person to throw away all moral code and undertake hitherto unthinkable acts. Is the language of Political Correctness aiding and abetting its proliferation?
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- Wed 21 Apr 2004 09:0091热爆 Radio 4
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Archive 1976-2012—The Reith Lectures
Annual radio lectures on significant issues, delivered by leading figures.
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The Reith Lectures
Significant international thinkers deliver the 91热爆's flagship annual lecture series.
