Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/07/17/noam-chomsky-calmly-explains-w.html
…
16 Likes
True, which is why he should be hooked off the stage, ASAP. Recognising that he’s a distraction doesn’t make him any less of a distraction.
15 Likes
Noam, I love you, but…
GTFO with that shit. I mean, I speak in hyperbole and have zero respect for the GOP, but that’s some PhD level bullshit.
4 Likes
He offers a carefully reasoned argument, and that’s all you can offer as a counter-argument?
32 Likes
I haven’t listened to the interview yet, but it seems that he is talking about how the GOP is fanning the flames for 2 existential threats to humanity. There haven’t been any organizations in human history that have had that power that I can think of. And it is terrifying that an organization with the power to bring humanity closer to extinction seems to be actively attempting to accomplish just that (because of greed, lust for power, whatever, but the means don’t justify the end).
26 Likes
FYI Climate change also leads to wars. Terrible wars that exceed anything we have faced before.
24 Likes
Chomsky argues that Trump is a distraction, a showman drawing attention and occupying the media with his antics, “while in the background, the wrecking crew is working… systematically dismantling every aspect of government that works for the benefit of the population.”
Yeah, but look over there! RUSSIANS!
11 Likes
“Doing God’s Will”
6 Likes
It’s interesting that Russia is seen as a super-power on an equal footing the USA. In fact it’s a country with a GDP now smaller than Italy’s, and with an economy extremely vulnerable to fossil fuel divestment. Yet it’s making no apparent efforts to diversify away from that and instead playing geopolitical games. What does that mean, exactly?
13 Likes
Is it true that Pence is a fundamentalist Christian? If so, does he have eschatological views?
1 Like
That interview/talk goes way beyond what the headline here reads. Yes, much of it does discuss the unprecedented criminality of the Republicans in the US and how they are a threat to organized humanity like no other evil in the past (mentions Nazi Germany and Attila the Hun). But Chomsky goes on to talk about how the propaganda evolves to justify what’s going on. He uses Bosnia in the late 1990s and Libya in the 2010’s as detailed examples of how illegal conflicts (according to international law) are justified as humanitarian actions, and how the story is turned around, how the timeline is turned around, to justify those actions.
He wraps it up by saying that the US invasion of Afghanistan was simply revenge, and that Iraq was the real target due to its location and resources. And, how by the end of Bush Jr’s second term, it was acknowledged as being the real reason things went the way they did.
This is a brilliant piece. For those who haven’t seen it, take the time. It’s worth it, however depressing it might be.
20 Likes
Any disruption of the status quo may result in “diversification”.
2 Likes
I remember hearing a quote along the lines of “Russia is never as strong or as weak as we think.”
8 Likes
I agree with the thrust of his points and have no interest in letting the GOP off the hook, but there are numerous organizations actively and currently pursuing the very outcomes he rightfully calls them out for. The Chinese government has shown little to no regard for the environment except where they see an economic benefit and is charging headlong into the same global catastrophe we are, but they have complete control over 1/5 of th world’s population. The GOP is a faction in a highly dysfunctional, but nevertheless open democracy in which they could be voted out of every office within a decade. It just strikes me as very western-centric thinking and damn silly.
Edited to add @Oo_oO to the discussion.
5 Likes
Yeah, he’s looking to immanentize
9 Likes
I think the one power they have on equal or better footing than the US is espionage. More, they’re willing to use it.
6 Likes
There is a ton of potential for China to upend things, true. And there is not doubt that China is one of the biggest offenders in the world when it comes to carbon. But the Chinese Communist Party isn’t actively denying global climate change or humans’ role in it. And, for what it’s worth, they did sign the Paris Accord. The GOP praised the U.S. getting out of the Accord and actively attempts to deny or debunk humanity’s role in climate change. The CCP also isn’t into chest thumping about their nuclear weapons and doesn’t seem to be (publicly) working to increase their arsenal.
12 Likes
Simply not casting doubt on climate science isn’t the same as actively pursuing opposing goals. And China wasn’t meant to be a silver bullet for all the arguments he presents, just a really obvious example of why that particular statement struck me as extremely silly. But, frankly, I don’t give a shit. He can say it any damn way he pleases if it makes a difference.
Still silly, though. 
2 Likes
The most interesting part of this was discovering TeleSUR, the Venezuelan government TV network.
