Never before has the seductive market way of life held such sway in nearly every sphere of American life. This marketing way of life promotes addictions to stimulation and obsessions with comfort and convenience ... centered primarily around bodily pleasures and status rankings. ... The common denominator is a rugged and ragged individualism and rapacious hedonism in quest of a perennial "high" in body and mind.
Cornel WestThe most important assets we have are our bodies and our energy which can be put to good use as resources in political activism for poor and working people.
Cornel WestNo community dictates to any individual how to live their lives. You can criticize and you can push but people freely choose.
Cornel WestI recall coming across a line by the late Charles Tilly when he said, "The conditions for the possibility of social movements have been called into question in the twenty-first century." And I said to myself, my god, a society in history without social movements, for me, is very difficult to live in.
Cornel West