Noted Weenie afraid of the Rise of the "Far Right" in the US

[leroy]

All:____________

This is posted in a spirit of "know your enemy".

It is an interesting read from a noted commie philosopher and MIT professor, Noam Chomsky (...bio here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky...).

Chomsky is 81 years old, an avowed hater of the US, and a socialist at heart. He is the pinnacle of academia in the US.

The link to the essay is here: Facing the Threat from the Far Right, Noam Chomsky Says He 'Has Never Seen Anything Like This' | | AlterNet

In true commie form; he has made the Pravda blog. Link here:Noam Chomsky Has ‘Never Seen Anything Like This’

Text below:

Facing the Threat from the Far Right, Noam Chomsky Says He 'Has Never Seen Anything Like This'

By Chris Hedges, Truthdig

Posted on April 19, 2010, Printed on April 24, 2010

Facing the Threat from the Far Right, Noam Chomsky Says He 'Has Never Seen Anything Like This' | | AlterNet

This article first appeared on TruthDig.

Noam Chomsky is America’s greatest intellectual. His massive body of work, which includes nearly 100 books, has for decades deflated and exposed the lies of the power elite and the myths they perpetrate. Chomsky has done this despite being blacklisted by the commercial media, turned into a pariah by the academy and, by his own admission, being a pedantic and at times slightly boring speaker. He combines moral autonomy with rigorous scholarship, a remarkable grasp of detail and a searing intellect. He curtly dismisses our two-party system as a mirage orchestrated by the corporate state, excoriates the liberal intelligentsia for being fops and courtiers and describes the drivel of the commercial media as a form of “brainwashing.†And as our nation’s most prescient critic of unregulated capitalism, globalization and the poison of empire, he enters his 81st year warning us that we have little time left to save our anemic democracy.

“It is very similar to late Weimar Germany,†Chomsky told me when I called him at his office in Cambridge, Mass. “The parallels are striking. There was also tremendous disillusionment with the parliamentary system. The most striking fact about Weimar was not that the Nazis managed to destroy the Social Democrats and the Communists but that the traditional parties, the Conservative and Liberal parties, were hated and disappeared. It left a vacuum which the Nazis very cleverly and intelligently managed to take over.â€

“The United States is extremely lucky that no honest, charismatic figure has arisen,†Chomsky went on. “Every charismatic figure is such an obvious crook that he destroys himself, like McCarthy or Nixon or the evangelist preachers. If somebody comes along who is charismatic and honest this country is in real trouble because of the frustration, disillusionment, the justified anger and the absence of any coherent response. What are people supposed to think if someone says ‘I have got an answer, we have an enemy’? There it was the Jews. Here it will be the illegal immigrants and the blacks. We will be told that white males are a persecuted minority. We will be told we have to defend ourselves and the honor of the nation. Military force will be exalted. People will be beaten up. This could become an overwhelming force. And if it happens it will be more dangerous than Germany. The United States is the world power. Germany was powerful but had more powerful antagonists. I don’t think all this is very far away. If the polls are accurate it is not the Republicans but the right-wing Republicans, the crazed Republicans, who will sweep the next election.â€

“I have never seen anything like this in my lifetime,†Chomsky added. “I am old enough to remember the 1930s. My whole family was unemployed. There were far more desperate conditions than today. But it was hopeful. People had hope. The CIO was organizing. No one wants to say it anymore but the Communist Party was the spearhead for labor and civil rights organizing. Even things like giving my unemployed seamstress aunt a week in the country. It was a life. There is nothing like that now. The mood of the country is frightening. The level of anger, frustration and hatred of institutions is not organized in a constructive way. It is going off into self-destructive fantasies.â€

“I listen to talk radio,†Chomsky said. “I don’t want to hear Rush Limbaugh. I want to hear the people calling in. They are like [suicide pilot] Joe Stack. What is happening to me? I have done all the right things. I am a God-fearing Christian. I work hard for my family. I have a gun. I believe in the values of the country and my life is collapsing.â€

Chomsky has, more than any other American intellectual, charted the downward spiral of the American political and economic system, in works such as “On Power and Ideology: The Managua Lectures,†“Rethinking Camelot: JFK, the Vietnam War, and US Political Culture,†“A New Generation Draws the Line: Kosovo, East Timor and the Standards of the West,†“Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky,†“Manufacturing Consent†and “Letters From Lexington: Reflections on Propaganda.†He reminds us that genuine intellectual inquiry is always subversive. It challenges cultural and political assumptions. It critiques structures. It is relentlessly self-critical. It implodes the self-indulgent myths and stereotypes we use to elevate ourselves and ignore our complicity in acts of violence and oppression. And it makes the powerful, as well as their liberal apologists, deeply uncomfortable.

Chomsky reserves his fiercest venom for the liberal elite in the press, the universities and the political system who serve as a smoke screen for the cruelty of unchecked capitalism and imperial war. He exposes their moral and intellectual posturing as a fraud. And this is why Chomsky is hated, and perhaps feared, more among liberal elites than among the right wing he also excoriates. When Christopher Hitchens decided to become a windup doll for the Bush administration after the attacks of 9/11, one of the first things he did was write a vicious article attacking Chomsky. Hitchens, unlike most of those he served, knew which intellectual in America mattered. [Editor’s note: To see some of the articles in the 2001 exchanges between Hitchens and Chomsky, click here, here, here and here.]

“I don’t bother writing about Fox News,†Chomsky said. “It is too easy. What I talk about are the liberal intellectuals, the ones who portray themselves and perceive themselves as challenging power, as courageous, as standing up for truth and justice. They are basically the guardians of the faith. They set the limits. They tell us how far we can go. They say, ‘Look how courageous I am.’ But do not go one millimeter beyond that. At least for the educated sectors, they are the most dangerous in supporting power.â€

Chomsky, because he steps outside of every group and eschews all ideologies, has been crucial to American discourse for decades, from his work on the Vietnam War to his criticisms of the Obama administration. He stubbornly maintains his position as an iconoclast, one who distrusts power in any form.

“Most intellectuals have a self-understanding of themselves as the conscience of humanity,†said the Middle East scholar Norman Finkelstein. “They revel in and admire someone like Vaclav Havel. Chomsky is contemptuous of Havel. Chomsky embraces the Julien Benda view of the world. There are two sets of principles. They are the principles of power and privilege and the principles of truth and justice. If you pursue truth and justice it will always mean a diminution of power and privilege. If you pursue power and privilege it will always be at the expense of truth and justice. Benda says that the credo of any true intellectual has to be, as Christ said, ‘my kingdom is not of this world.’ Chomsky exposes the pretenses of those who claim to be the bearers of truth and justice. He shows that in fact these intellectuals are the bearers of power and privilege and all the evil that attends it.â€

“Some of Chomsky’s books will consist of things like analyzing the misrepresentations of the Arias plan in Central America, and he will devote 200 pages to it,†Finkelstein said. “And two years later, who will have heard of Oscar Arias? It causes you to wonder would Chomsky have been wiser to write things on a grander scale, things with a more enduring quality so that you read them forty or sixty years later. This is what Russell did in books like ‘Marriage and Morals.’ Can you even read any longer what Chomsky wrote on Vietnam and Central America? The answer has to often be no. This tells you something about him. He is not writing for ego. If he were writing for ego he would have written in a grand style that would have buttressed his legacy. He is writing because he wants to effect political change. He cares about the lives of people and there the details count. He is trying to refute the daily lies spewed out by the establishment media. He could have devoted his time to writing philosophical treatises that would have endured like Kant or Russell. But he invested in the tiny details which make a difference to win a political battle.â€

“I try to encourage people to think for themselves, to question standard assumptions,†Chomsky said when asked about his goals. “Don’t take assumptions for granted. Begin by taking a skeptical attitude toward anything that is conventional wisdom. Make it justify itself. It usually can’t. Be willing to ask questions about what is taken for granted. Try to think things through for yourself. There is plenty of information. You have got to learn how to judge, evaluate and compare it with other things. You have to take some things on trust or you can’t survive. But if there is something significant and important don’t take it on trust. As soon as you read anything that is anonymous you should immediately distrust it. If you read in the newspapers that Iran is defying the international community, ask who is the international community? India is opposed to sanctions. China is opposed to sanctions. Brazil is opposed to sanctions. The Non-Aligned Movement is vigorously opposed to sanctions and has been for years. Who is the international community? It is Washington and anyone who happens to agree with it. You can figure that out, but you have to do work. It is the same on issue after issue.â€

Chomsky’s courage to speak on behalf of those, such as the Palestinians, whose suffering is often minimized or ignored in mass culture, holds up the possibility of the moral life. And, perhaps even more than his scholarship, his example of intellectual and moral independence sustains all who defy the cant of the crowd to speak the truth.

“I cannot tell you how many people, myself included, and this is not hyperbole, whose lives were changed by him,†said Finkelstein, who has been driven out of several university posts for his intellectual courage and independence. “Were it not for Chomsky I would have long ago succumbed. I was beaten and battered in my professional life. It was only the knowledge that one of the greatest minds in human history has faith in me that compensates for this constant, relentless and vicious battering. There are many people who are considered nonentities, the so-called little people of this world, who suddenly get an e-mail from Noam Chomsky. It breathes new life into you. Chomsky has stirred many, many people to realize a level of their potential that would forever been lost.â€

Chris Hedges, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, is a senior fellow at the Nation Institute. He writes a regular column for TruthDig every Monday. His latest book is Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle.

© 2010 Truthdig All rights reserved.

View this story online at: Facing the Threat from the Far Right, Noam Chomsky Says He 'Has Never Seen Anything Like This' | | AlterNet

I believe that it is a good thing to have socialist trash like Chomsky afraid of the "far right". Keep up the good work. Remember, there is an election in November. Vote early and often!!!

Keep up the good work.

Leroy

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Is that self proclaimed intellectual? I have one of his books. I don't know what to do with it. It's really unreadable. I guess that makes me not an intellectual. Anyone want it?

[Oh Shoot]

I agree he's out of the loop on the "far right" take, and mostly on the "unregulated" and "unchecked" capitalism, but I dunno, he's got some of it right:

"He curtly dismisses our two-party system as a mirage orchestrated by the corporate state, "

Couldn't agree more. More precisely, I think it's proper to define the US Government AS the "corporate state". It's become a huge conglomerate, the largest single employer with over 2 million employees (not even counting the Post Office), with the largest budget, supplied by roughly 240 million stockholders and unsustainable loans, operating at an enormous loss.

But "mirage" nails the perception that we really have a two party system.

"...excoriates the liberal intelligentsia for being fops and courtiers and describes the drivel of the commercial media as a form of “brainwashing.â€

Surely you don't disagree with that?

- OS

[Guest Dragonman]

Guy is really outta touch with reality and his statement about “Every charismatic figure is such an obvious crook that he destroys himself", could well apply to himself. Things will really have to get REAL bad before some right wingnut fanatic will take over this country.

Although he has drawn the obvious conclusion that come November there's gonna be a lot of unemployed democratic folks looking for a new job. But after health care reform votes were bought out and rammed down Americans throats even a bling man can see that coming.

[Oh Shoot]

...even a bling man can see that coming.

Bling Man Sees That Coming

Couldn't resist,

- OS

[Smith]

I agree he's out of the loop on the "far right" take, and mostly on the "unregulated" and "unchecked" capitalism, but I dunno, he's got some of it right:

"He curtly dismisses our two-party system as a mirage orchestrated by the corporate state, "

Couldn't agree more. More precisely, I think it's proper to define the US Government AS the "corporate state". It's become a huge conglomerate, the largest single employer with over 2 million employees (not even counting the Post Office), with the largest budget, supplied by roughly 240 million stockholders and unsustainable loans, operating at an enormous loss.

But "mirage" nails the perception that we really have a two party system.

"...excoriates the liberal intelligentsia for being fops and courtiers and describes the drivel of the commercial media as a form of “brainwashing.â€

Surely you don't disagree with that?

- OS

Seldom are lies pure fabrication. They all start with slivers of truth and then are cunningly twisted for desired results. These liars sometimes sucker those of us in who seek truth, because we generally don't dismiss the whole due to the parts that are true. why do you think Bil Clinton made such a big hullabaloo about the word "is"? That <1% changed truth to fiction. This is why there is any kind of debate right now about where this country is headed.

The truthful man must learn to reject half truths as whole lies or sooner or later we will will slide off into their pit with the rest of the former Democrat/Republican parties.

[Guest Dragonman]

Bling Man Sees That Coming

Couldn't resist,

- OS

That be funny right thar! :)

[mikegideon]

Seldom are lies pure fabrication. They all start with slivers of truth and then are cunningly twisted for desired results. These liars sometimes sucker those of us in who seek truth, because we generally don't dismiss the whole due to the parts that are true. why do you think Bil Clinton made such a big hullabaloo about the word "is"? That <1% changed truth to fiction. This is why there is any kind of debate right now about where this country is headed.

The truthful man must learn to reject half truths as whole lies or sooner or later we will will slide off into their pit with the rest of the former Democrat/Republican parties.

+1.

All politicians are compelled to lie. One easy way to get thru life is to just know they are all lying, and ignore all politics. I spent a lot of years doing that. A large portion of the population will continue to do that, and vote for a candidate for some BS reason.

[Mark@Sea]

Chomsky, a devoted communist, isn't worth the ten minutes it would take to shred his ravings. I have yet to meet a leftist who responds to fact and logical deduction anyway - right now the left are beginning to trumpet 'economic recovery' in the face of staggering unemployment (which continues to grow 'unexpectedly' monthly), deficits have gone beyond unsettling to the realm of insane, healthcare reform which will RAISE costs passed to their acclaim, cap and tax and amnesty are fighting it out to be the next truly bad law to get passed...

No wonder this idiot is worried about November.

[Guest Bonedaddy]

I think he missed it. I believe it's already too late. There's no stopping the American Corporate Monster!

[eapking]

Typical hand wringing and wailing of left wing academia.

[StPatrick]

I have one of his books. I don't know what to do with it.QUOTE]

I'll bet it would make a fine target for some 6.8 SPC, but that would probably be cited as another indicator of imminent right-wing violence.

[Guest CK1]

All:____________

This is posted in a spirit of "know your enemy".

It is an interesting read from a noted commie philosopher and MIT professor, Noam Chomsky

Chomsky is 81 years old, an avowed hater of the US, and a socialist at heart. He is the pinnacle of academia in the US.

...and one of the smartest people currently inhabiting the planet Earth. Try reading one of his books sometime before you shoot it or burn it at your tea-bag rally.

[Smith]

...and one of the smartest people currently inhabiting the planet Earth. Try reading one of his books sometime before you shoot it or burn it at your tea-bag rally.

I don't know if I'm supposed to laugh at the joke or cry over the ignorance.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I have one of his books. I don't know what to do with it.QUOTE]

I'll bet it would make a fine target for some 6.8 SPC, but that would probably be cited as another indicator of imminent right-wing violence.

That's a good idea. I look at that book at it gives me a headache. I wonder

if the range will let me use it as a target.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I don't know if I'm supposed to laugh at the joke or cry over the ignorance.

I'm wondering, myself:confused:

[Guest FroggyOne2]

Is that self proclaimed intellectual? I have one of his books. I don't know what to do with it. It's really unreadable. I guess that makes me not an intellectual. Anyone want it?

Do you have a fireplace?

[Guest Dragonman]

I think he missed it. I believe it's already too late. There's no stopping the American Corporate Monster!

Sure there is, the current administration is bent on bankrupting America.

[eapking]

There's a lot of brilliant minds in academia. However, a lot of them seem to be pretty short on common sense. I know because my family is loaded with them.

The pro 2A argument is all about common sense, logic, and facts. The anti 2A argument is all about factless emotion, illogic, and mystical utopian worlds of unicorns and rainbows.

[Smith]

There's a lot of brilliant minds in academia. However, a lot of them seem to be pretty short on common sense. I know because my family is loaded with them.

The pro 2A argument is all about common sense, logic, and facts. The anti 2A argument is all about factless emotion, illogic, and mystical utopian worlds of unicorns and rainbows.

You know I hear that a lot. My question is: How brilliant are you if you can teach quantum physics but can't change your spark plugs?

Point being, the truly smart and gifted are those that can take the complex understood by few and make it understandable to many. There is a lot of truth behind the old adage about school teachers: Those that can - do. Those that can't - teach.

[eapking]

The absent-minded professor adage comes to mind as well. There's "theory (book) smart" and "practical smart (street, common sense, etc.). The two are diametrically opposed for most profs.