At
the age of 91, Professor Noam Chomsky, author, linguist, historian, philosopher and political dissident currently lives
with his second wife Valeria in Tucson Arizona. He grew up in Philadelphia during the Great Depression of the
1930s and has documented and written about the Spanish Civil War, the Cold War,
the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, Cambodian dictatorship, the Watergate
scandal, the Reagan and Thatcher era, the Iraq War, the global financial crisis
of 2008 and recently, the reign of Donald Trump.
Not
only has Chomsky taught linguistics and social science for almost 50 years at
the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, he’s written over 100
influential political books. According to Democracy
Now,
Chomsky’s recent books include Global Discontents: Conversations on the
Rising Threats to Democracy, Who Rules the World? and Requiem
for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth &
Power.
Born
as Avram
Noam Chomsky on 7 December 1928 in Philadelphia, Noam grew
up with his parents Elsie and William, and younger brother David during the
great depression. This strongly influenced his views of the world. Elsie and
William were Russian-Jewish migrants and times were tough for them being the
only Jewish family in an Anti-Jewish part of town. With his parents being Hebrew
teachers and scholars, it seems rational that Noam would follow suit.
During
his youth, Noam took an interest in reading translated Russian and French
classics and would borrow up to 12 books at once from the library. He was
indoctrinated into the Hebrew ways and traditions, and his clique of Zionism revered
socialism via nationalism through Jewish cooperation. Within his community,
there was a strong working-class socialist culture, and he gravitated towards
the working-class intellectual component of the Jewish community. The values of
solidarity and socialism during these times became values important to him.
Even
though this type of upbringing would have influenced Noam’s abilities and
interests, he recounts
memories of spending time with an uncle who had a newsstand in New
York City. During the depression jobs were scarce, therefore, sources of income
and entertainment were meagre. Nevertheless, Noam spent time reading and
debating issues around the newsstand which inspired critical thinking and
curiosity about social and political discourse. Moreover, Noam’s uncle had
strong left-wing values and beliefs which duly influenced his character and understanding
of the world.
Sights
and experiences during the Great
Depression such as seeing strikers being beaten were frequent, and
the fascist movement throughout Europe was also noticeable in Noam’s
neighbourhood. Global and national political ideals and economic hardships of
the time inspired Noam’s interest in anarchist philosophy. He explains anarchism
as meaning opposition to authoritarian structures that aims to dominate and
control others. Anarchism seeks
to reject the use of power and supremacy that harms others. Abuse of power can
be seen at a micro level as domineering paternalistic family structures and
witnessed on a larger scale as trade structures to enable more wealth creation
for the wealthy.
Anarchism
opposes and undermines corrupt structures that act only to serve the interests
of the powerful. Chomsky considers that to attain order for social hierarchical
structures, various forms of domination and subordination need to take place.
This idea may fit with biological evolution, however, when there are corrupt
systems that are engineered to maintain tyranny or harm others, they must be deposed.
On this premise he states,
It’s a relationship that is maintained by
obedience, by force, by tradition, by one or another form of sometimes
physical, sometimes intellectual or moral coercion. If so, it ought to be
dismantled. People ought to become liberated and discover that they are under a
form of oppression which is illegitimate, and move to dismantle it.
What
took place during the Spanish Civil War
influenced Noam and many others around the world. There were several factions
within Spain’s tumultuous journey from monarchy towards fascist dictatorship
and eventually, to a more egalitarian democracy. During Spain’s civil upheaval,
fascists, separatists, loyalists, communists were opposed by a group known as the
Iberian
Anarchist Federation (FAI). As a ten year old, Noam studied and
wrote about the Spanish Civil War. He was frightened by the stories about the
rise of fascism in Europe and this transferred to his vicinity. In his
neighbourhood, there were pro fascist Germans and Irish Catholic immigrants who
despised the British. Both groups spouted anti-Semitic rhetoric, and Noam
noticed his parent’s unease which made things quite tense at times. The anarchic
actions and ideals of the FAI obviously sparked something within Noam’s young
mind, even now, he confesses to be an anarchist, however, politically, leaning
towards libertarian socialism.
Near
the end of the Second World War, Noam began his journey as a scholar at the
University of Pennsylvania. Linguistic structures became his focus and he
established new theory on neurological development and language. This work was
published in his book titled Syntactic
Structures in 1957. Language historian R.H. Robins
stated that Syntactic Structures was "probably the most radical and
important change in direction in descriptive linguistics and in linguistic
theory that has taken place in recent years". The foundation of the theory
formulated language behaviour patterns which then could be coded and decoded.
At the dawning of the computer age, the U.S.
Defence Forces showed interest in his research and even contributed
financially towards the project. As one could imagine, being able to decode
language to increase intelligence or enhance mechanical and human interfaces
could provide real military advantages.
Carol Schatz and Noam Chomsky. Source:
WDW 2020.
In
1949, Noam married his childhood acquaintance Carol
Schatz, and they had three children. Carol was also a
specialist in education and linguistics. During their early years together,
Carol sought further qualifications in case Noam was imprisoned for political
dissidence regarding the Vietnam War. Activism regarding tyrannical authority was
important to him, and the risk of being locked up for voicing his opinions just
was part of it. Recollecting his activism, Noam
said
"For years, every time I came to Washington, the first thought that came
to mind was the smell of teargas, I was in and out of demonstrations, in and
out of jail a number of times’’.
As
a prolific writer and presenter on American political issues, Noam used his
aptitude and language skills to confront the corrupt nature of political
history and was able to connect audiences with past and present injustices. Much
like a human encyclopaedia, he captivated listeners with his humility, depth of
knowledge and ability to recite and recall detailed information. Passionate
about social and environmental justice, Noam attended numerous interviews and
talks. In a calm and caring way, he delivered numerous presentations on subjects
such as: Free Market Fantasies - capitalism in the real world, Prospects
for Peace in the Middle East, A World Without War, Biolinguistics
and the Human Capacity, Elections Run by Same Guys Who Sell Toothpaste, Human
Rights in the New Millennium, Power Hunger Tempered by Self-Deception, and Who
Owns the World?
Mainstream media and public relations were
topics Noam payed much attention to in his writings, interviews and
presentations. He often investigated and conveyed the notion that corporate
sponsored governance was manufacturing consent through various channels,
especially mainstream media. In fact, Noam teamed up with Edward Herman in 1988
to co-author a book titled Manufacturing Consent. Below the Propaganda
Model shows various sources, filters and commercial factors which flow into
societies awareness and attitudes.
The Propaganda Model. Source: Herman
Donk (2019).
The
model’s first input 'Raw News' could be scientific reports, factual accounts or
fake information. The 5th filter could be replaced with any subject, e.g. continuous
economic growth, climate change or free trade agreements. Regarding the
Propaganda Model, the Monthly
Review (2018) states,
“The model does suggest that the
mainstream media, as elite institutions, commonly frame news and allow debate
only within the parameters of elite interests; and that where the elite is
really concerned and unified, and/or where ordinary citizens are not aware of
their own stake in an issue or are immobilized by effective propaganda, the
media will serve elite interests uncompromisingly”.
Much
of Noam’s critique of mainstream media revolves around how corporate owned
media works to serve the interests of corpocratic agendas. He suggests that the
mainstream media as ‘agenda
setters’ act to determine, select, shape, control, deflect,
distract, distort and restrict alternative input to manage public perceptions. While
these views may seem radical to many, to others, Manufacturing Consent became
a valuable resource for those seeking alternative perspectives on corpocratic
influences.
With
such critical views and examples of mainstream media and governance, Noam has
faced much criticism on his perceptions of events. Holding others to account
has many challenges; backlash is merely one of them. For instance, he faced
flack for his stance on the happenings in Cambodia with the Communist Khmer
Rouge. Instead of focusing on the Khmer Rouge, he highlighted the American CIA
connection to the unrest and stated, "What filters through to the American
public is a seriously distorted version of the evidence available, [emphasising]
alleged Khmer Rouge atrocities and downplaying or ignoring the crucial US role,
direct and indirect". Mainstream media have been active about the rise of
communism hence, it makes sense that when an intellectual turns the table, news
media frame it as being ‘Procommunism’. Again, there was backlash for his
stance on the 1995 massacres in Bosnia, were Noam chose to focus attention on American
war crimes.
Sadly,
in 2008 Noam’s wife and partner Carol contracted cancer and died at the age of
78. The loss of Carol would have been massive for him and when prompted to talk
about the loss of Carol, and his new partner Valeria Wassermann when
interviewed by Democracy
Now
host Amy Goodman, Noam appears unsettled and seems to struggle with the
questions. He makes generalised comments and tries to deflect attention from
himself. As important the public may think his personal life is, Noam prefers
to stick to the issues affecting society on a grander scale.
This
stance is reflected in his comments about news media making a ‘big deal’ about
sporting events. On this topic, Noam claims that sports and celebrity news is
merely an attempt distract us from more important issues, and that it reduces
our capacity to think. Moreover, indoctrinating society to worship sports and
sports stars, effectively conditions an audience to have irrational attitudes
and to be submissive towards authority. The themes and rituals within sports culture
such as pack mentality, winners and losers and striving to ‘be better than’ combine
to reinforce how people should feel about winning and losing games. Noam calls this
‘’training in irrational jingoism’’ and advertisers, sponsors, merchandisers,
event organisers, stadium owners, and news corporations generate hype to make
big profits from it.
Master
of media hype and mass confusion, Donald Trump has been a popular topic for
discussion. Noam has strong concerns about Trump’s mental state and intentions
as a leader of America. He points out that Trump has been dismantling various
social and environmental institutions to reduce benefits to the people of
America while serving the interests of the super wealthy. Further to this, Noam
connects media and advertising investment into the mix and conveys that populist
politics seek attention to remain relevant whether they’re making sense or
conveying falsehoods. The recent events surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic have
provided extreme examples of flip-flop commentary from Trump. Noam suggests the
importance of not being distracted by Trump and Co’s whimsies ,
instead he compels society to focus on likely causal factors such as neoliberal
economic doctrine and climate change. Noam also highlights the need to take
swift action on climate change as he believes (backed by science) this
will be a threat in order of magnitude, far greater for life in its many forms to
continue functioning. For many, such comments may seem like farfetched ravings
of an aged anarchist, conversely, it could also be that Professor Noam Chomsky
has done his research and is conveying his analysis for the greater good of
society.
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