Cornel West Quotes
If we can't get back to principles and integrity and it's reduced just the interest of calculation and Machiavellian manipulation, we are in deep trouble.
West, Cornel. Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism. Penguin Books, 2004.
In the early 21st century America’s world image, credibility, and popularity had plummeted to new lows. The George W. Bush administration spent millions of dollars on public diplomacy – public relations, propaganda, and image building using the techniques of Madison Avenue to change the world perception of America. Veteran diplomats like Kissinger advised that the Bush was going about it backwards. If America did the right things, world opinion would appreciate it and America’s credibility will follow as it has throughout most of the 20th century. Most foreign politicians and journalists tended to agree. It had been Bush’s policies and practices that had been disliked. They were understood, it was argued, and did not need to be better explained—just changed.
Cornel Ronald West is an American philosopher, political activist, social critic, and public intellectual. The grandson of a Baptist minister, West focuses on the role of race, gender, and class in American society and the means by which people act and react to their "radical conditionedness." A radical democrat and socialist, West draws intellectual contributions from multiple traditions, including Christianity, the black church, Marxism, neopragmatism, and transcendentalism. Among his most influential books are Race Matters (1994) and Democracy Matters (2004).
