Chris Hedges--One of the best out there right now.

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Chris is consistently writing really good articles.
I don't see things exactly as he does 100% of the time, but I find him important.

excerpt----The role of knowledge and art, as the ancient Greeks understood, is to create ekstasis, which means standing outside one’s self to give our individual life and struggle meaning and perspective. The role of art and scholarship is to transform us as individuals, not entertain us as a group. It is to nurture this capacity for understanding and empathy. Art and scholarship allow us to see the underlying structures and assumptions used to manipulate and control us. And this is why art, like intellectual endeavor, is feared by the corporate elite as subversive. This is why corporations have used their money to deform universities into vocational schools that spit out blinkered and illiterate systems managers. This is why the humanities are withering away.

complete article-----http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/retribution_for_a_world_lost_in_screens_20100927/