Noam Chomsky Mocks Intellectuals as 'Independent Minds'

Professor Noam Chomsky talks about intellectuals who were supporting the bombing campaign against Yugoslavia and comes to the conclusion that they are far from 'the herd of independent minds' as critic Harold Rosenberg once described them. All they really do is follow the party lines within some more or less definied boundaries.

This is an extract from an interview by Serbian journalist Danilo Mandić made in 2006 in Massachusetts, Boston. It along with much more interesting videos can be found by browsing my channel.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Noam Chomsky
• Slobodan Milošević
• Kosovo
• Genocide
• Intellectuals
• Harold Rosenberg
• Iraq War
• Pravda
• Afghanistan
• Imperialism
• John Stuart Mill
• Britain
• India
• Japan
• Chinese

[1844Freddy]

The herd of independent minds!

[munkdo3]

MORE!

[suddenlyitsobvious]

(13)

...of understanding and insight opening up before you.

Such insights might not be very rosy, but at least they'll be TRUE, and you'll know that you are being honest with yourself and reality, and it is only through bringing this kind of truth into being that the world can change for the better, when enough people will master the courage to take an honest look at reality...

[suddenlyitsobvious]

(12)

...developing your understanding of society, you can't think with your emotional investments, national pride or whatever. You have to simply take these priorities out of your thinking, that is, if you want to make a claim to honesty. You should really be investigating how come the War with Irak could be sold to the world based on a blatant lie (WMD) and what this says about the entire system.

As you honestly look into these things, you'll find an entire new world...

[suddenlyitsobvious]

(11)

...to you. It is already established that you'll side with your authorities, and your reasonings subsequently become distorted in increasingly painful efforts to rape truth. Face it: the US government and it can be said, basically the entire West LIED about the reason for attacking Irak. They lied to US, to its own citizens, scaring its own citizens with a FAKE THREAT. How is it possible that you actually keep on buying into these lies?

 If you are interested in TRUTH, in...

[suddenlyitsobvious]

(9)

...get an actual balanced picture of the embarassing reality of how small & insignificant these MAAAAASSIVE threats to the West really were.

'Also, just out of curiosity, what would you have done put in the position to remove the Baathist, Taliban, or indeed any horrible regime run by dictators or extremists?' I would first of all investigate who put such dictators in charge and why,

and make sure these people (people like your national security advisors, members of...

[suddenlyitsobvious]

(8)

...foreign intervention of Iraq and Afghanistan saved lives for the greater good, the action itself was justified, the motives suspect.'

Oh really? Have you kept track of the civilian death toll in Irak? At least in the hundreds of thousands if not well over a million. The country is completely destroyed, and again, evil puppet Sadam was put in charge by the West of course.

He was quickly eliminated -kind of like Ben Laden who apparently is suddenly dead-

so the public can't...

[suddenlyitsobvious]

(7)

... to justify what you have already decided is right? How remarkable to speak of Islamic imperialism when all arabic states have since well over a century been completely controlled by the West, & when Western imperialism has ruthlessly exploited the ENTIRE WORLD -Asia, Africa, South-America-

like a factory since centuries, exterminating all native cultures, massacring millions of

people and creating a soulles master-slave global society.

You state:

'Nonetheless...

[suddenlyitsobvious]

(5)

... control; in reality the entire cold war was set up & both parties playing the game, the logistic infrastructure of ACTUAL US-USSR relations during the cold war being documented eloquently by f.i. Anthony Sutton in a manner that leaves no doubt that the USSR was basically funded all along by Wall Street and the US government, pretty much since its incipience. A reality that certainly deserves some very serious meditation! So, the system gives you a good reason for a bad thing,...

[suddenlyitsobvious]

(4) ...but what if you're being very naive about this & it was, and always is, PRECISELY the objective to create messes, since ONLY MESSES, only CHAOS justify

military interventions and a constant expansion of authority's control as the public is submerged by emergencies and drama. What's even more, but this may be way over your head, the conflict in the 80s ITSELF was of course an orchestrated conflict, the entire 'cold war' being in reality just a ploy to advance global...