Written by Andor Carnes   

RE: Noam Chomsky: 'No Individual Changes Anything Alone'-By Aida Edemariam, Guardian UK –RSN-March, 23, 2013.

Talk is an infinite circle, which looks linear but is still circular within the realm of what we know. It is a tragedy that we give standing ovations to inspiration and not solution. The hope is always to inspire and catalyze one spark that grows less talk and more action, and yet, hope is the least realized of all the emotions. Hope is directional but actionless.

Rhetoric forever returns to itself to re-iterate a position or emotion and by inference and entertainment to represent “clever” as a meaningful path. It is true that the more we take note of, and recognize, the speech and speaker, the more chance we have of actually listening to their ideas. Pointing out their validity or persistence of notion is one way to bring ideas to light. However, credibility comes from the path those ideas take to reality. Simply giving or taking hope does not constitute action, and without action, a cavernous body of thought is just a vacuous path to the illusion of solution through talk. Cleverness can make us accept a lack of personal action.

This process cycle of talk increases exposure and desire for that which we recognize as probably meaningful. Unfortunately, this probable “meaning” never forms the stones under the feet. In teaching and all things, reach is not assured influence. Credibility is not guaranteed, and fair thought is a fuel for an engine of action, too often neglected in any academic setting.

Martin Luther King Jr. was the recipient of the momentum of his time, and he rode it well. It is clever to say that “he couldn't have said: This is what I changed”. However, it is clearly not true. He knew exactly what he changed when he said, “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent.”

We all know that simply saying something does not make it true. Yet, said well, the phrase can make it memorable, and that is what we applaud, instead of the catalyzed moment to action. Both are meritorious, however, without final action, we change nothing, and we must not allow that perpetuated “nothing” to become a clever, acceptable razor.

Repetition can lead to recognition; however, “teaching” instead of sharing and helping to action has become the norm for the human experience, and that leads back to circular thinking and assumed, not earned credibility.

Communication can catalyze reactions but words actually do nothing in themselves and rely on the first individual action toward a compound effort toward a realized result. Therefore, well intentioned as we all are, we cannot say the individual action is not the seed that changes everything. The rhetoric is also a part. However, nothing moves, if action is not taken.

Aida Edemariam in his article quoted a Noam Chomsky speech as saying, "Unless the powerful are capable of learning to respect the dignity of their victims ... impassable barriers will remain, and the world will be doomed to violence, cruelty and bitter suffering." He then went on to reflect on Chomsky’s quote, “It's a gloomy coda, but he leaves to a standing ovation”. Action is part enough for a solution but rhetoric is not.

We continue to applaud clever doom, when we should actually acknowledge the insight and then relentlessly drive to a solution.

“No Individual Changes Anything Alone” is simply untrue. It is not even true that no individual finishes anything alone. They finish their part, whatever that is to be. What fire without spark? It is true that the first to: take action, stand up, defy, say no, stop an injustice rather than point it out, grasp a moment, risk everything, say the unpopular, fight the unfair, be fair, protect the vulnerable, and take back dignity is likely to be the least known. Yet, they stand as the giants of change agents. Nothing but “clever” progresses without them. Now there is a coda for hope-to-change.