Thoughts on Terrorism: Noam Chomsky »
Posted by: populist 1 year agoOverviews of 3 books Chomsky wrote about foreign policy and terrorism. He explains, "You don't declare a war on terrorism unless you're planning yourself to undertake massive international terrorism." Calling a war on terror self-defense is pure baloney.
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populist1 year ago
This country has had a foreign policy of aggression, force and war for 5-6 decades now. Some call it militarism.
It's this kind of policy that engenders hatred towards the US and guarantees more terrorism. It's this kind of insane policy that needs to end.
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dan-and-jennifer1 year ago
Agreed. I think it was mother Theresa that made the statement (I'm paraphrasing...) - "I will never attend an anti-war rally, but if you ever have a peace rally, I'll be there".
Something like that... But the point is that we get what we focus on and our brain does not understand negatives, so focusing on anti-war, is still focusing on war.
Let's try focusing on peace rather than war and terror!
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GoldStandard1 year ago
So we had no right to end nazi Germany or imperial Japan? Interesting. And this part of the article made me burst out laughing:
"End all types of exploitation including so-called one-way 'free trade,' adopting instead a fair trade model like Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government follows that's equitable to all trading partners and their people."
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GoldStandard1 year ago
Coincidentally, this just in regarding Chavez:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20070725/wl_time/i...
This is what Chomsky believes we should emulate. I don't think so.
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Candida1 year ago
GoldStandard: "So we had no right to end nazi Germany or imperial Japan?"
Nobody is saying that a country doesn't have the right to defend itself. Hitler declared war on the US and Japan attacked it. Of course it had the right to defend itself, just like other countries have the right to defend themselves against the US if/when it attacks them. As far as I know, neither the South-American countries mentioned in the article nor Iraq attacked the US, and the US does not have a God-given right the dictate what kinds of regimes other countries should have.
I don't know whether Hugo Chavez engages in fair trade, but I know as a fact that the US doesn't.
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Aurinkohirvi1 year ago
It was the Soviets that ended Germany in WW2. They were already in Poland when the western allies made it to Normandy. The huge majority of Germany's war effort was on the eastern front.
Did you have a "right" to fight war against Germany and Japan? No, you didn't. USA was in no way neutral, before entering the war! USA was clearly allied against Japan and Germany, with Soviet Union and Western European countries before entering the hot war.
USA aided it's future allies with funds and war material and covert actions in China. USA was in competition of Pacific Ocean hegemony with Japan, and declared Japan into trade embargo of oil and other natural resources, froze Japanese funds in USA, and banned Japanese ships from the Panama Channel. With the Atlantic Charter USA established herself firmly against Germany and Japan. All this before USA joined the hot war.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lend-Lease
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_convoys_of_...
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scriblerus11 year ago
Absolutely correct, knothead (how well the name fits!). Among the Faux Noise crowd, Chomsky is considered a nut, and George Bush is considered a genius. And I saw where they called Arlen Specter a Democrat the other day too!
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insideoutgraphics1 year ago
What amazes me it is that most Americans do not know their own history. Nor do they care to learn. What matters is the hear and now and what they are allowed to believe are at issue.What they've been told only. To actually understand todays issues, we must all delve back into our history. Not rely on the current trend of selected data flow.We need to read about,Iran/Contra,Understand that many of todays framers are in fact the same ones that designed the horrors of our past.The motivation, the players,the lies,cover ups are still employed today.It's the same game plan that pits one against the other and they want to make certain that the US continues to control. At any cost.Be it a CIA backed coup,Occupation, or invasion ,some one is calling the shots and it sure is not this democratic society we've all been conditioned to believe works. It only works when the scherade)sp) is able to continue, while the real issues of unrestrained power go unchecked and kept behind locked doors
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populist1 year ago
"What amazes me it is that most Americans do not know their own history. "
Absolutely true. That's a major contributor to "blowback" Which, are the unintended consequences of foreign policy actions by the US government that the American people know nothing about.
9-11 was a good example of this. Most Americans weren't familiar with the years and years of interventionism, meddling, coups, assassinations, propping up brutal dictators , etc - so they couldn't put the 9-11 attacks into any kind of context.
blowback.
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insideoutgraphics1 year ago
Poulist and Truzseeker, You know, on one hand,all of this could be so overwhelming, but the upshot to all of it is that people are awakening from the carefully orchestrated induced stupor due to not being informed.
Granted there are many that are just begining to understand that these issues were not born out of the current Bush Adm. They're merely a continuation of the past. However, due to increased global awareness mostly due to internet, decades of stealth policies and actions is giving rise to the begining signs of their self implotion.We're watching them stumble and crumble, one day at a time,one plan at a time. The decades of behind the scenes production of controlled global chaos is being exposed. Granted they're not throwing in the towel,they've worked too long, but we're begining to see the sliver of a silver linning...The fall of the Corprate Elite Empire.I know it's a slow motion change,but it's a start.We're witnessing their implosion.Like the House of Usher. Swoosh!
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insideoutgraphics1 year ago
Continued:Thank you for posting the article. I did not mean to imply that all Americans are not capable if independent critical thinking.Yet it appears that over the years, when a population is spoon fed one perspective, it merely keeps us further from reality.But now and again, we're provided a closer look at what's actually occurring,such as Naom Chomsky's work and many others. However, works such as these ought to be front page news, not something the right likes to call fringe radical thought.Which of course is an offensive ploy,aimed to target dissent and independent thought.But it is real and we all need to be aware of how past and present Adm have rolled right over us with double speak in order to block/dupe us from their real agenda. I believe they view us as being threats and thorns of their agenda.
We live in a dual reality.One is the facade, the other is the reality they hope we don't see as we begin to hopefully connect their dots of power,lies and greed.
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Truzseeker1 year ago
Inside, don't think anyone took your comment in the negative. We need to keep pounding at giving the people information that they can read. Hopefully this will set the wheels in motion for independent thought then concern to pay attention to what is really happening. Another good post Populist, and thanks for sharing this with me.
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GoldStandard1 year ago
What is "independent thought"? What is "really happening"? Is it whatever Chomsky and his followers say is happening? Do you really believe Chomsky is free of all biases and knows everything that is going on? Is "non-independent" thought applied to anyone who disagrees with you? You, Inside, and Populist suffer from the same black-and-white mentality that your side of the political spectrum often claims to disdain. I don't submit to the "my country, right or wrong" crowd by a longshot, but neither do I say "my country, ALWAYS wrong".
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HannibalBarca1 year ago
To get an different opinion you need to step out of the box, USA is divided, almost like 1861, and to argue amongst yourselves is almost like a dog chasing his tail. Having two good friends arguing with each other while you stay on the sidelines you see both sides differently than the arguing parties do, now whether your observations are valid or not usually your friends listen, after that who knows, but many a friendship has survived due to dialogue rather than fists.
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Candida1 year ago
GoldStandard: "What is "independent thought"?"
To me, independent thought means taking all the evidence, or at least as much as one can digest, from a variety of sources and then trying to make sense of them all using logic. That's why it's important to pay attention to people like Chomsky too, not just those you agree with. One doesn't have to agree with his conclusions, but one should pay attention to the evidence he presents. My experience with him is that he tends to support his arguments. No, he doesn't know everything, but he seems to have a long memory and is good at reminding people about what's happened in the past.
If you disagree with what he says, or if you find him factually incorrect, why don't you present your arguments to refute his? That's what this forum is for.
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canadianrancher571 year ago
As a person who lives outside of your country I have been witness to many act by your country that could be called terrorist acts. I think that many in the world share the same opinion, most of the people of the world consider American people to be good people but we feel that the idea that you have a democracy is wrong, you do get to vote on who runs your country but most of us from outside your country feel that it is more of a capitalist society and those are the people who run things. Military actions and trade deals all seem to be made for only one reason and that is to make the rich richer, even the people of your country do not receive the rewards from government policy and it usually ends up costing them in jobs or lives lost aquiring resources in other parts of the world. Sorry if I have offeded you down there but that's how alot of us see it.
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scriblerus11 year ago
Well said, indeed. Unregulated capitalism is inimical to democracy. If capitalists are let alone to do as they wish, the big fish soon gobble up the little ones, and then they use their financial power to take control of the government to do away with regulation. Which is what has now happened in the U.S. Once they control the government, they start bullying the rest of the world to accept their trade policies. And they provoke wars, which are the easiest way for corporations to make money. They hire politicians to promulgate patriotic myths to cover their vicious greed.
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tiredofwhiners1 year ago
canadian:- This is a capitalist society, so is Canada. And it is the "good people" who elect all the presidents we have had. They don't get there and engage in their "terrorism" and stay in power without the people electing them i.e. Reagan and Clinton - 8 years each and would've won again if allowed. Don't make the mistake that the "good American people" aren't responsible. And the rich corps., good or bad, have made things OK for me. I'm happy, thank you. Perhaps the people will elect a non-terrorist president more to your liking in 2008.
If I were a western Canadian I would not worry about American terrorism trying to acquire your assets (oil, wheat, cattle, minerals). I would worry about securing you borders before too many legal and illegal immigrants ruin it all for you.
I like Canada (most of it and its people). I promise, if I move to Canada, I will have my opinions but will not call any of your Prime Ministers terrorists supporting capitalism.
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Aurinkohirvi1 year ago
So do you think because USA is a capitalist society, it's okay to support civil war groups (like those in Guatemala, Nicaracua, El Salvador, Iraq, Afghanistan etc.), finance wars, wage wars, kidnap and assasinate people, arrange regime changes on democratically elected (or any) governments and so on?
And you think we shouldn't call USA as a country that practises state-terrorism? Well, excuse me, but there's a lot of us who think otherwise.
It's the "I'm happy" people of the Americans who are the problem. The power is in the hands of corporations and huge capital, making USA de facto a fascist system. And the "I'm happy" people do not see nor do they care.
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HannibalBarca1 year ago
We don't live, shielded by your military as your enemies are ones that you made all by yourself without our help. Where did all air traffic get diverted to on 9/11? Which was the first nation to help when Katrina hit N.O.? 5 days before your leader did anything. And as for gratitude when have you and those like you ever treated us with respect, you often refer to us in a condescending way as you are sooo superior, all I can say is thanks for the put downs.
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Mutainia1 year ago
Chomsky made points with me on his theory of language, but, to me, his reasoning on this issue is wreckless.
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Ruggaboo1 year ago
I've read Chomsky and sadly, he is a commie pinko sympathizer who puts a hard left spin on everything.
Worst of all is his unsubstantiated, undocumented mass murder charges that have no basis in fact.
For Chomsky, as with most libertinians, fighting fire with fire is taboo. I suspect his work is labelled fiction at the local library. Because many of the murderous regimes he supports have been stonewalled...the need arises to flip the script. In his eyes, Communist Russia, Nazi Germany were all unfairly and covertly attacked by some global bully.
While Chomsky makes a few points about power abuse, his theorems are baseless and wholly unproven, his methods antagonistic and his sources unlisted and incredible.
He fits right in with the hate America left.
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KingOfTruth1 year ago
100% accurate...he is a commie pinko sympathizer...he is the prototypical anti-American, leftwing, neo-communist, socialist, radical, loonie bin escapee....
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GWHayduke1 year ago
So identifying imperialist actions and labeling them as such makes him a commie?
Sadly, some folks just fail to take into account that other people/nations/cultures have opposing views to yours that the US is just a good-ol' cant do wrong benevolent society.
Pointing out the obvious and providing a world view does not make anyone a 'hard leftist', it just makes them a literalist - you may (or may not) recall that Chomsky was and is just as critical of some of Clinton's/Yeltsin's/Hu Jintao's policies that lead to oppression.
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KingOfTruth1 year ago
Thorn in the side: "I was a lifelong Democrat only because the choices were limited. The Democrats are the party of slavery and were the party that started every war in the 20th century, except the other Bush debacle. The Federal Reserve, permanent federal income taxes, not one but two World Wars, Japanese concentration camps, and not one but two atom bombs dropped on the innocent citizens of Japan, all brought to us via the Democrats." Cindy Sheehan, nailing her cohorts....
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johninkorea1 year ago
If people would really be afraid of the real Boogie man, George Bush, then they would stand up and say NO MORE. that is how you get justice, when all people march on the white house and say STOP IT, and make it happen.
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tiredofwhiners1 year ago
Basically a left wing bunch of opinions by an apparently anti-American anti-corporate anti-Republican revisionist. I don't believe a word he says. I didn't read it all because the first half or so was apparently all his own fuzzy, slanted opinion. He refers to his own books and the New York Times (ha!) as well as a few of his own like minded authors. If I ever had heard of him I might have spent more time reading it. I could just as well have submitted an article opposing everything he said. All opinion and stories, no facts.
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GWHayduke1 year ago
Yes you could submit your own article but it is unlikely that anyone would read it.
Chomsky is a tenured professor at MIT - one of the most respected universities in the country. "Where does he get off spouting his intellectual diatribe anyway?"
You have never heard of him because you are probably letting the media dictate your information in small digestable sound bytes.
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unome21 year ago
Bush knocked down the towers and sent the anthrax. As disillutionment grows for the illegal corporate war on the Iraqi people to control their oil it is likely we will see another black-op on American soil soon.
The sheep must be brought back to the flock.
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djrevelky1 year ago
Really? I guess we weren't attacked at our embassies in Beirut, Kenya, or Tanzania. The USS Cole bombing as well as 9/11 and the 1st WTC bombing did not happen.
We were never attacked a single time by terrorist until we invaded in Iraq...true story because Chomsky and Wildman6557 say so.
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