Chomsky: We Shouldn't Ridicule Tea Party Protesters

Instead, those on the Left are to blame for letting right-wing ideologues organize and manipulate them.

Noam Chomsky interviewed 2 Dec 2009 by Allison Kilkenny & Jamie Kilstein of Citizen Radio, http://wearecitizenradio.com
Listen to the full interview: http://www.breakthruradio.com/index.php?show=8652

Here is the BusinessWeek article that Chomsky mentions:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_48/b4157034230199.htm
For some reason, the online version of the article has a different title ("Wall St Plays Hardball") than the print version ("Wall St vs America"), but both have the same content.

For a free copy of Dean Baker's book "The Conservative Nanny State", go to http://www.conservativenannystate.org/
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Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Noam
• Chomsky
• Tea
• Party
• Protests
• Protesters
• Rush
• Limbaugh
• Sarah
• Palin
• Conservatives
• Big
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• Libertarian
• Propaganda

[yrrmom]

The following points, which Re5Publica seems to accept, aren't lessons of history, but rather ALL PART OF CORPORATE PROPAGANDA:

- Americans are better off than most others in the world.

- The US economy is a free market system.

- Corporations owe their success to free market & innovation rather than govt support & subsidy.

- What happiness we have is thanks to big business & free markets.

- For our ills, the govt is to blame, rather than big business.

[nakedpower]

because alex jones has ntohing to do to the proletarian and his language is irrational conspiracy theories

[mcallistermd]

Ug...Mr. Chomsky is the messiah for the impotent 'new left'... Give me the hard-nosed fighting spirit of the old Popular Fronts and labour unions any day. The Spanish Civil War could've been the tomb of Fascism if they had had their way...

[FRTothus]

@IggyHazard The problem with your argument is that putting our trust into corporations is, by definition, putting trust into unaccountable, private tyrannies (top-down rule).The corporations consider it a sacred duty to their stock-holders to exploit the poor and needy. Government, on the other hand, IS accountable, its programs and policies subject to citizen scrutiny & control (democratic rule).The 2% w/ $ prefer tyranny of wealth, the 98% without prefer democracy to protect them from the 2%.

[imadizzy1]

@IggyHazard to start off, I think Chomsky is an idealist and am not a mutualist socialist, but he brings up good points and I think I understand his perspective on this. The idea is that we need to have a fully activated citizenry who truly participate fully in the democratic process, from voting to civil disobedience. In this way, the people can control governments to ensure that they do what is best for them. Its about as idealistic as smith's idea of a market which corrects itself.

[hathigmonorow]

When things go badly it is always tempting to look for a scape-goat. But that still does not excuse lambasting everything that moves as being socialist or communist. The crisis that America finds itself is neither due to the left or the right. The way I see it is due to several generations left and right with a sense of entitlement, changing global economic environment. Also, the belief that half of America can sit back and play with money while they outsource jobs overseas.

[ebkurd]

Great interview and information---THANKS!

[StraussBR]

@Re5Publica

that is not true

Bolivia was in big debt with the IMF and privatized it's water company and it got bad,

i live in brazil and know a lot of more examples in my country

[IxAMxERROR]

@Re5Publica, quality of life has improved because of scientific innovations. Any socioeconomic system which impliments scientific theory into application will experience benefits, but this is not to say that capitalsm or the free market system is the system which impliments science best. In fact, to think that ANY system impliments it "best" is to be ignorant to the emergent nature of scientific progress, rather, we can only know what works better.

[nevetstdlob]

Teabaggers want to lead a tax revolt but the people who started the Teabaggers-military officers- are trying to divert all our tax dollars into the military.

The baggers are getting played.

[majikninja07]

if you do not think Reagan's presidency was the start of the neocon's strangle hold on both parties your insane, and im not saying that was the start of the neocons it was just the 1st time they controlled both parties and the presidents, and now the supreme court after 30 years of apointments

[smujismuj]

@Re5Publica

Ask people in Central and South America about being better off.

Have you ever heard of the United Fruit Company?

Have you ever heard about the legacy of the oil industry in places where there are no environmental laws?

You are either wearing industrial strength blinders, or you're in on the plundering.