Introduction (jJ]oam
Chomsky i s one o f the t e n most-quoted writers of a l l time. The Chicago Tribune has
called ...
168 downloads
1760 Views
14MB Size
Report
This content was uploaded by our users and we assume good faith they have the permission to share this book. If you own the copyright to this book and it is wrongfully on our website, we offer a simple DMCA procedure to remove your content from our site. Start by pressing the button below!
Report copyright / DMCA form
Introduction (jJ]oam
Chomsky i s one o f the t e n most-quoted writers of a l l time. The Chicago Tribune has
called Frofeseor most
cited
adding that
Chomsky " t h e living
author,"
arr\onq intellectual
luminaries of all eras, he ranks eighth, j u s t
behind Plato and
Sigmund Freud.
"To c o n f r o n t a mind that r a d i c a l l y a l t e r s our p e r c e p t i o n o f t h e w o r l d i s one o f l i f e s most u n s e t t l i n g , yet l i b e r a t i n g experiences, T
...writes
James
in
Feck
i n t r o d u c t i o n t o The Chomsky "In ail American writings Noam
Chomsky's.^?
party
spokesman
quite
No
captures
claims
him;
Reader.
no one's
are n^ore^nsettling
tradition No
history,
the
than intellectual
his voice.,.. he is a
for no ideology."
And the Mother of American neü§jp0f$t
The New York Times, called Noam
Chomsky ^arguably the most important I
1
f
1
"
" " " " '
in t h e 1 9 9 0 s , t h i s is still t h e m o s t frequent response t o t h e mention of t h e name of Noam Chomsky, a mild-mannered professor of linguistics a t t h e M a s s a c h u s e t t s i n s t i t u t e of Technology. 2
(Why, you might wonder, have so many of us never heard of someone so "famous?" is t h i s t h e ultimate Yogi-BerraHsm—He's so famous no one's ever heard of him?)
The reason you haven't heard much about Noam Chomsky (which, by t h e way, is a demonstration in action o f his thesis t h a t t h e Media manipulates /distorts/withholds information to s u i t their er t h e gentle vv Major Medi^N don't w a n t " y o q t o know Noam Chords ky.
if t o o many people listen open-mindedly t o what Chomsky has t o say about huge corporations running the country, the world, both political parties, and t h e Major Media...why, le ii lu'li jjgîrïji i fantasy fed America like Emperor's clothesr
a
-One pf;the iwndcrful tilings about Chomsky is that he makes us feel smart. iThough our leaders have Wed to us and :lip\£$^j4& ftr fppt&.and the MiMta has parroted their lies, even [the rrtc-st naive of Us haws known that we were not being given "the . l'fl^%^^Mo,y^\e tptk\ ahd nothing but the t r u t h " We have even Intuitively grasped the basic principles underling many of , ChqmsiQ/s views»,even if we couldn't quite explain them. We may not understand the subtleties of the aysl^msth^tcon-' , j troi our Jjwaa' k i t many, of us have noticed a t r ; least in part, several i m p r t a n t ; . truths: :
:
1
! ,K
Our government often Wee to us. Our government s e r v e s the needs of some and ignores the needs of o t h e r s . O u r e c o n o m i c s y s t e m is r i g g e d .
With regard to most of the ieeuee that affect most of the people, the major political parties are virtually identical. The news media do n o t g i v e a f u l l , balanced p i c t u r e of p o l i t i c a l events. Though «he United Slates is called a democracy, most of us are locked out of any meaningful participation in the decision-making process of our own country. Above cians, needs needs
aii our government, our politiand our media, ignore the of the majority and serve the of the rich.
Things seem t o be g e t t i n g worse. Note; These are not Chomsky's words, nor are they paraphrases they are the author's interpretations.
4t-
-h>
d
f
Noam Chomsky has articulated a system of ideas t h a t can help us make sense of our intuitions and misgivings— and t o know which are justified
and which are not.
because
Chomsky's ideas about polit i c s are antithetical to t h e
purposes
of
the
mass
media—and t o t h e rich gentlemen who own t h e m — h i s ideas are rarely encountered In the mainstream. ("These i n s t i t u t i o n s are n o t selfd e s t r u c t i v e , a f t e r all," he says.) This documentary comic book is an a t t e m p t t o help remedy t h a t situation by presenting Chomsky's ideas t o people who have not been exposed t o them. It does not presume t o sum up t h e work of Noam Chomslo/. It is meant as a general introduction, an attempt t o begin t o answer the question "Who? and an invitation t o those who are unfamiliar with his ideas t o look for themselves into the very pressing issues t h a t he raises. 1
I
6
For t h o s e who may be completely unfamiliar with Noam Chomsky, let
u s begin
by n o t i n g
Like
Einstein's
Relativity,
that
theory
Chomsky's
of ideas
a b o u t linguistics have spread in
Chomsky is known to t h e world
t h e i r influence, and their effects
for his work
are gradually filter-
b e c a m e f a m o u s
ing
down
to
t h e
lives
^^P^V^P^Vfl ^R^^^^^^^H
of
ordinary people. 5ut
study
the K ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ U K l o f la n - B^^PSV^^V/
his
work a s a social and political theorist
Ch o m s k y ' s s e c o n d
as
^^r^^^^^^^^
•^^^B^Hi
1
and as
' 1
"media critic"
^0^2wL^B9
political a n d
of
^ f t ^ u A ^ f
a is
press-
ing impor¬ t a n c e r i g h t now
harder
to
to
^^^^^LV^^^H
every-
one who is concerned
before
long
^^^^^B^^^H
about t h e
he
^^^^^^^k^^f
democrat-
survival of ic i n s t i t u -
linguistics, and i t is w h a t he has w r i t t e n m o s t o f his many books about. B u t if Chomsky had n o t f i r s t established such a distinguished reputation a s a s c i e n t i s t , his radical political ideas would probably be even less heard o f in t h e mainstream t h a n they are.
tions, t h e protection of human rights
a n d freedom,
preservation
and
the
of a habitable envi-
ronment. I t is t h i s work t h a t is of m o s t pressing relevance to
the
general public. Chomsky is n o t a philosopher classroom;
you leave
in t h e
he helps you live your
life.
7
First, a l i t t l e background: How did Noam Chomsky come t o be one of t h i t e n m o s t - q u o t e d a u t h o r s o f all t i m e , "arguably t h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t intellectual alive"? Well, among other things, he was a'college drop-out..
The File on Chomsk! A Biographical Sketc
i
msky is r e l u c t a n t t o t a l k V _ 2 a bi boo u t h i s life. "I'm rather
against
t h e whole notion o f making public personalities, of having some people be s t a r s and all t h a t , " he says. Cults of personality d i s t r a c t people from real issues. The media are so absorbed with these public personalities, t h a t "air time" is almost t o t a l l y dominated with gossip, t h e details of hideous violent crimes, or sports. There is little information about anything you can do anything constructive about, including most of what your government is doing.
But though Chomsky ^ j j ^ ^ f e e l that the M^raphIaa§^ details A..of his life;are a , d i s t r a c t i o n from the p r e s s i n g i s s u e s that he wants t o d i s c u s s , H
sis^l^niw« % f ftrs
of
great ideas. Therefore we w i l l take a quick look. But i n deference t o the man, we won't spend very long on the s u b j e c t .
/ i \ v r a m N o a m Chomsky w a s b o r n in P h i l a d e l p h i a , Pennsylvania, L*+~
USA, on December 7,192Ö. One of t w o sons, Chomsky was a child
during t h e Great Depression, which began with t h e s t o c k market crash in 1 9 2 9 a n d l a s t e d
until World War II. The
Chomsky family was spared t h e w o r s t a s p e c t s of t h e Depression because both parents had jobs. The effects of t h e crisis were still profound, however, and Chomsky says t h a t some of his earliest memories are Depression scenes: people selling rags a t t h e door, police violently breaking strikes, and so on.
lis N r e n t s both worked aeMe\mew t e a c h e r s . Noam's f a t h e r v i^homsky^was luthor o f Hebrew, the
a
noted
Eternal
Hebrew^ scholar and t h e Language, one of t h e m o s t
lar books a b o u t t h e Hebrew language, published in
The family was deeply movement and th
wish culture, the Zionist the Hebrew language.
From age ^ o W a ^ e l
experimental
progressive school where there were no grades, where there ^msmiw ^fefe t h f t ^ as competition, and no such t h i n g a s a
:
• •
His family was practically t h e only Jewish family in a bitterly anti-Semitic Irish and German Catholic neighborhood where there was open support for t h e Nazis until t h e U.S. entered World War II. Chomsky was exposed t o a n t i - S e m i t i s m on t h e s t r e e t s and profoundly affected by t h e rise of fascism in Europe during t h e ' 3 0 s . All right, class, it's time to ^
attendance...
Billy
Himmler?
take
£ HEIL!
^
His f i r s t published piece of writing was an editorial for his school newspaper a b o u t t h e fall of Barcelona. A t t h e age of 12 he wrote a history of t h e Spanish Civil War.
"it was really a lament about the rise of fascism."
11
He often visited an uncle in New York City who operated a magazine kiosk at the subway exit a t 72nd and Broadway. Chomsky says his uncle was a hunchback with a background in "crime and left-wing politics." Because of his disability, he qualified t o operate a kiosk. It was a t t h e less trafficked exit of t h e subway entrance and did poorly as a business, but in t h e late ' 3 0 s i t became a hangout for European emigres, Young Chomsky spent many hours there participating In lively discussions of issues and ideas t h a t took place on an almost ongoing basis. Chomsky says t h e kiosk was where he received his political education. His uncle was also well-versed in t h e work of Sigmund Freud, and Chomsky developed a broad understanding of Freudian theory while still a teenager.
In New York he was exposed to the Jewish worting class Intellectual culture with Its concernforsolidarity anal sbclaHst values. His aunts and uncles were material^ poor but intellectually rich and maintained a tradition of lively discussion and penetrating Inquiry aocfat and political processes. 12
I n New York he d i s c o v e r e d the a n a r c h i s t book shops on Fourth Avenue where he would o f t e n browse and r e a d .
Chomsky has described an experience t h a t affected him deeply \\ which a bully was picking on "the standard fat kid," and everyone supported t h e bully while no one came t o t h e aid of the victim.
"I stood up for him f o r a while," he says. "Then I g o t scared" Afterwards he was ashamed and resolved t h a t in-the future he would support t h e underdog, those unjustly oppressed. "I was always on t h e side of t h e losers, ' he said, "like t h e Spanish anarchists! 1
1
13
Though Chomsky is known for his intellect, his political ideas are driven more by moral principles. He was appalled by t h e way people taunted German prisoners through t h e barbed wire at a prison camp near his high school as though i t was t h e patriotic thing t o do t o . A t t h e same time, Chomsky was much more passionately opposed to Nazism than t h e people who were taunting t h e soldiers.
On t h e d a y o f the Hiroshima bombing, s a y s Chomsky, " I literally couldn't talk to any one. T h e r e was nobody. I j u s t w a l k e d o f f by myself... I could never t a l k t o anyone about i t and never understood anyone's reaction." ICR]
14
That's a pretty big cloud \ hanging over your head... J ^—^
To rmu^nje eol&V.
t h e expense of
hr.
j-rfrmulftj w - r r a l
tow j> t r r j u i n g he t H j In the M J o f i i r v i u * ^ : * w A e U u j m p f * n f p
I rflrnfl' Kfcrhcdz af.Siwtrrtoirrf
Un^ul'jUcn. wfil&h w s j puHfahtd Sever-
al V * T 3 Ifl^BN ID
• ' A t Harris'' &u0g«©t^on» Chomsky began-takm^
Under Harris'
influence, Chomsky
returned to college and studied linguistics.
He calls his university
experience
"unconventional." The
linguistics department group o f graduate
was a small
s t u d e n t s who
political and other
shared
inter-
e s t s and m e t in restaurants Harris apartment
for all-day dis-
1
cussion
or in
sessions.
Chomsky
Immersed himself in linguistics, philosophy, and logic. He was awarded &A and MA degrees though he had •ery little contact
with the univer-
s i t y s y s t e m . He married
linguist
Carol Schaz in 1949. They were to have a son and two One
of
daughters.
Chomsky's
t e a c h e r s was Nelson
philosophy Goodman,
who Introduced him t o t h e 5ociety
\e
of
courses
in philoso-
Fellows a t Harvard. He was in 1951 and awarded a
admitted stipend,
which freed him f o r t h e
f i r s t t i m e in his life from t h e necessity
to
work
outside
of
his
research. Here you go, kid... Ym off to research.
do\
In
1153, w h i l e a member o f t h e Society of Fellows, Chomsky went t o I s r a e l and l i v e d on a k i b b u t z f o r a few months. T h e r e was l i t t l e food and t h e work was h a r d , b u t Chomsky e n j o y e d i t . He saw t h e k i b b u t z a s a f u n c t i o n i n g and successful libertarian community. «1
9
ij
Chomsky and his wife considered
s e t t l e m e n t in Palestine would n o t
going back t o live on t h e kibbutz.
survive t h e s t a t e s y s t e m .
He had no hopes or i n t e r e s t in an academic
career
and
nothing
When his t e r m a t Society of Fellows
holding him in t h e United S t a t e s .
was scheduled t o end in 1954 he had
But he was uncomfortable with
no job prospects, so he asked for an
the conformism and t h e r a c i s t
extension. His wife had gone back t o
principles the
underlying
institution.
Chomsky
had
been opposed to t h e for-
in
position a t M.l.T.
because he
and
b e c a m e
the
socialist i n s t i of t h e
pre-state
a
research
1947-40
tutions
planned to return to stay. Instead received
J e w i s h
felt
visit and the t w o
Chomsky
mation of a state
t h e kibbutz f o r a longer
immersed in linguistics.
Jewish
17
In 1TSS he received a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania on the basis of h i s submission of a chapter of a book he was working on. Though the book was v i r t u a l l y complete i n 115 b, i t was so unconventional a t the time that i t was not published u n t i l 1*175, and then only i n part, as Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory. y enough t o imagine ways we could violate t h e m . Applying purely m a t h e m a t i c a l operj a t i o n s t o sentences, we coulkLcome up with any number o f pos¬ ' sibilities, like reversing t h e word-order o f an entire sentence,
or
• s w i t c h i n g t h e l a s t w o r 4 t - ^ ^ ; t h ^ ' i f i r s t , which would n o t yield ;
' ' g r a m m a t i c a l sentences. languages.
3ffl*$i&^4pes
No language c o f t s t r u c t s
reversing t ^ e order o f a declarative
not occur in natural a question
by simply
sentence,
bijfcjvhy f*Ot? i t would seem %$'be
.
a simple and
obvious^: s o l u t i o n t o t h e problem, much simpler t h a n t h e s y s t e m s t h a t are a c t u a l l y used.
O
O
© u
^fosG
fig taKDsm
DDQGGQDX^
A bird does n o t have t o
ties
be t a u g h t t o sing a
within t h e f i r s t t w o
appropriate.
specific kind of call, or
years of their lives.
5 ex ua
t o know when i t is t i m e
The way t h i s behavior is
behavior also plays o u t
t o migrate f o r t h e win-
acquired also plays o u t
i t s development in fair-
ter.
There
specific
are many behaviors
which emerge developmentally'but cannot be a t t r i b u t e d t o learning in t h e sense t h a t we usually use t h e t e r m . Walking is an example. A l m o s t all human children w i t h o u t
certain
relatively rare disabili-
learn t o walk
dard ways, from moving
ly standard and predictable patterns. I t is
t h e limbs t o slithering
n o t observable a t birth,
in familiar and s t a n -
t o crawling t o standing
but
unfolds
while holding a n d so
appropriate
a t the time
forth.
according
Human beings do n o t
mined plan t h a t exists
have t o be t a u g h t t o
to
what
m u s t . b e a pre-deterwithin
the
organism
cry when they are s a d from birth. or t o laugh when i t is
63
Mnrt would agree that the capacity for language is Innate t o some degree In humans. Chomsky believes that the bask grammar itself Is Innate, b o m in us, part of our genetic material. He believes
flirt
language has a center in the brain that is separate unto itself
In t h i s con-
t h a t the activity of
nettlci, ^ie
cam p i i t f l rr>
wnrd
gra-ıırr.cd" often 'napr?
is
"orn-
funJj-
rricn t a l l y
le prr-
and qiiflll-
mislead i r.gly.
t a t i v d y dif
applied
Programmer" le sn
férant
active Vtirb aiirJ raie
t h e bchaiflor of sen
1
frum
ra tho quoHClon ıtho
tleflt
Acinus.
or n^ıat Is t a t r i g rlne
iMthout
dfllvlng
nto t h e source
actiun; who has itorie
Dl
t h e p-ngrnmrnlrg. ThrB l& snDthnr tual
ChomeKjfa ttecutelctt, It is alsı; a parallels
between
programs
thft
p l j y t t K n o f l ^ n ) u u t in
pirtifiularlv c;jnr.emp,orc:'y mfltarvlirtr draws
gtristlc
mflî^rlfll, the Irrvtlnâ-
realm entirely arid: n o t p a r t of
that
this
the
dc/fl^mcnt
of
t h e child,
human* and computers whiuh may
Qiotnsfy a t t e m p t * t c establish by
or may not. bfl valid and msjv bo
iîfllfi that: tiflisrt bihavtorr,. n humans
objectionable t o seme
J I Ï -1er- learned hut are Inmrt*.
L cwi.
Goncludfis,
science
protjrre-4 people
the
of
onJy when ft stop* and
avoid*
ftra/tforv. behavior
/o a factor
fccihe will
ps.rnmrryinq
npfWvHM Co w l ( i m * l
s t f l t a . i ' No J n u b t phyaJco advanced 'ejecting
and
by
the view t h a t a rack'* wfflh Gfl fflW In it*
behavior.' tarcau** In fact
tt rock has no eunh wtah"
Vtt 'inn r i g h t hist*, t h a n k y o u .
..and terminates Skinner in the Imaginable English: "For Skinner's must
show
feelings, rocks
argument that
do. If people
respect,
then
have to take
to have any force,
people
purposes,
and differ
a science account
plainest
have will, the
rocks
of human of this
impulses,
like no more
from
fact."
he
in
than this
behavior [
will
FPS1
Chomsky has c o n t r i b u t e d greatly to refuting Behaviorism's ugly a s s e r t i o n t h a t we a r e merely d u l l machines shaped by a ^ h i s t o r y of r e i n f o r c e m e n t , e x a c t l y as f r e e a s r a t s i n a maze, w i t h no i n t r i n s i c needs o t h e r than p h y s i o l o g i c a l s a t i a tion. Chomsky l e a n s strongly toward t h e b e l i e f t h a t human b e i n g s a r e not o n l y born w i t h an i n n a t e knowledge of grammar, but t h a t we a r e a l s o i n c l i n e d by n a t u r e toward f r e e c r e a t i v e i n q u i r y and p r o d u c t i v e work.
Whether we live up t o Chomsky's view of ourselves or down t o Skinner's depends largely on whether we believe t h e lies we are t o l d , or find ways t o see through t h e m . If we don't see through t h e m , we will be exactly as free as r a t s in a maze. Which brings us t o Chomsky's s t u d y of t h e media...
Noam Chomsky and the Media In order for democracy t o be "democratic," the media has t o fulfill two functions:
-The media, must . report^ the news fairly, completely,;; and . without : : b i a s •«
•The media~ must funct i o n &s a watchdog for the public against abuses o f pcwejc*' :
Noam ChomskyfaeWeveethat t h e media fails miserably o r bt/&\ ixp'f^ In Chomsky's view—which many of us feel instinctively—the mass media i s little more than a public relations industry f o r the rich and poWerfuk I t s function is t o sell t o t h e public'fcttar t & m t o ' Inform them. Looking a t i t t h i s way creates a more accurate picture of how t h e media work. 4
i n
B u t what is i t trying t o sell us?
In his book Necessary
If fusions,
"equality," we rarely hear any discus-
Chomsky documents the history of
sion of what these words really mean
public relations, and
or how they play o u t in our real lives
other strategies of t h o s e who desig-
Chomsky n o t only takes us beyond
propaganda, nate
them-
t h e veil of propa-
selves a s having
ganda, he also
t h e right t o con-
helps us see the
trol
our
flaws in our own
thoughts
and
thinking
habits
opinions without
so t h a t we can
our
find t h e t r u t h on
conscious
assent.
He
our
own. He
reminds us t h a t
does t h i s with
although TV and
t h e rational pre-
print journalists
cision of a great
c o n s t a n t l y use
scientific
buzzwords
and
like
mind
with the
"democracy,"
moral authority
"capitalism,"
of
"freedom
leader.
speech,"
of
a
spiritual
and
The s u b t i t l e of thè book, "Thought Control i n Democratic S o c i e t i e s , " i s a -H t y p i c a l l y explosive Chomskyan phrase, a c o l l i s i o n of two concepts that a r e not normally encountered together i n America; "Thought c o n t r o l " i s something we a s s o c i a t e with t o t a l i t a r i a n countries* the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Cuba, e t c . We c a l l the United S t a t e s a democracy, and i n democracies everybody i s f r e e and equal. 70
PUR We a r e f r e e t o t h i n k whatever we want and t o read o r watch o r l i s t e n t o whatever we want. To see the words "thought control" i n connect i o n w i t h a democratic s o c i e t y seems strange. L i k e any good s c i e n t i s t , Chomsky takes nothing f o r granted. He questions everything.
To answer these questions, Chomsky goes back t o t h e founding of t h e American republic. There are t w o fundamentally opposing views in America of what democracy is, and of what freedom of the press is. One notion of t h e role of media in a democracy is typified by t h e view of Supreme
Court
Justice
William
Powell who wrote t h a t democracy requires free access t o information.
"No
individual
himself
can obtain
the information
for
the intelligent
hie
poiitical
for
needed
discharge
of
responsibilities..."
said Powell. "3y enabling the public to assert over press function etal
meaningful
the political
process,
performs
a
in effecting purpose
of
control the crucial
the
soci-
the
first
Amendment."
Within that d e f i n i t i o n of democracy c i t i z e n s should "have t h e o p p o r t u n i t y t o inform themselves, t o take p a r t i n i n q u i r y and d i s c u s s i o n and p o l i c y format i o n , and t o advance t h e i r programs through p o l i t i cal action." T h i s v i e w i s t h e s t a n d a r d b e l i e f i n America. But, u n f o r t u n a t e l y — a c c o r d i n g t o C h o m s k y — i t i s n o t t h e way i t r e a l l y works.
The a l t e r n a t i v e view o f t h e purpose o f t h e media was expressed
nicely by
J a m e s Mill: The media's role is t o " t r a i n t h e minds o f t h e people to a v i r t u o u s attachment
to their govern-
ment." (That is so s i n i s t e r t h a t i t bears repeating.) ... t o " t r a i n t h e m i n d s o f t h e people t o a v i r t u o u s a t t a c h m e n t to t h e i r government." (... a n d , a d d s Chomsky, " t o t h e arrangements
of
the social, economic, and political order more generally." [ N I ] )
In t h i s view, democracy is only f o r an elite—and t h e media's job is t o " t r a i n t h e minds of t h e people" t o believe in t h e virtue o f t h e e l i t i s t goons who rule them. This, says Chomsky, is more cons i s t e n t with t h e ideas of t h e founding fathers
as
stated
by John J a y who said t h a t
"tho&e
who own the country should
run it"
"John Jay's maxim is, in f a c t , t h e principle on which t h e Republic was founded
and
maintained," says Chomsky, "and in i t s very nature
capitalist
democracy
cannot
stray far from t h i s pattern...." [Hi]
73
With this principle in operation, s a y s Chomsky, politics becomes a n interaction among groups of investors w h o compete for control of the state.
Edward &ernay&, a leading fig-
ure in the nee of t h e public rii&tlom industry, &md that persuasion is the very
essence of tke d e g ^ i a t i i . process. "A leader frequently cannot wait for the people to 5
74
arrive at even general understanding ... Democratic leaders must play their part in... engineering ... consent to socially constructive goals." ("... engineering... consent... ?) 1
Journalist W a l t e r L ippman wrote
in
P u b l i c in
Opinion 1921
that
"the manufacture
of
consent" constituted a
"revolu-
tion
in t h e of
practice
democracy" and
has
become self
"a con-
scious and
art
regular of
organ
popular government."
("... m a n u f a c t u r i n g ] ... consent..."?)
against believing "democratic dogmatisms
best judges ests."
"The
common
interests,"
said
about
men being
the
of their own Inter-
The elite who
designate
themselves a s rulers m u s t be in a
Lippman, "largely elude public opin-
position t o impose their will and if
ion entirely, and can be managed
social conditions do n o t permit
only by a specialized
sufficient force t o ensure obedi-
personal
class
whose
i n t e r e s t s reach beyond
ence, then "a whole new technique of control, largely through propa-
t h e locality."
ganda," is necessary because of in
The Encyclopedia
of
Social
Science, Harold Laswell cautioned
t h e "ignorance and
superstition
[of] t h e masses."
75 6
K e i n h o Id Niebuhr, whom Jimmy
Carter
cited as one of his main influences, was t h e source o f t h e quote
that
C h o m s k y chose title,
a s his because
of t h e " s t u p i d i t y of t h e average
m a n , " he
m u s t be given "necessary illusions" and "emotionally potent overslm c a t i o n s " instead of t h e t r u t h . Historian Thomas Bailey, looks like smooth sailing...
arguing to avoid demilitarization
after
World
War II, said, "because the masses are notoriously short-sighted
and gen-
erally cannot see danger until
It
throats,
is
at
our statesmen
are forced
to
them Into an of
their
Interests. the
their deceive
awareness
own
long-run
Deception of
people may in f a c t
become increasingly necessary
unless
we are
willing t o give our leaders in Washington hand."
a freer
Our leaders consider us too stupid t o be the judges; of our own best interests. They believe that Democracy is only for the elite—the rich and powerful. They believe that "those who own the country should run it."
• Politics is not about elections or democracy. « Politics is an interaction among groups of investors who compete for control of the state (country, earth...universe).
• The mass media is little more than a public relations industry for the rich and powerful. The media's job is to "train the minds of the people" t o believe in the virtue of the powerful goons who rule them.
77
According t o O ••r. fe| • • General Corp. ;:
. . • jaft • Storer ;
t^5 •
.
J
l
• GroupW(WestinghCwuse).
These 2 4 companies are owned by even larger
corporations.
Their main purpose is t o maximize profits. They are owned by very wealthy people. All b u t one o f t h e t o p companies have assets
in excess o f $1 billion.
Centralization
o f ownership o f
t h e t o p t i e r of media
increased
substantially a f t e r World War II, with t h e rise o f television and i t s national
networking. Before TV, news
m a r k e t s were local, though t h e y depended on the top tiers for national and International news. Television is now t h e main source of news f o r t h e public.
B u t with t h e nee of cable TV, the market has fragmented
somewhat, creating a trend
toward decentralization. New electronic media, from on-line services t o faxes and modems, may continue the trend toward decentralization,
but the
monopolists are hard a t work finding ways t o t i e up t h e new media a s they develop. A s we approach t h e end of t h e 2 0 t h Century, money still rules t h e media.
FILTER
ADVERTISING, THE LICENSE TO DO BUSINESS Not
another
2 .
advertiser?!?
e>7
before the rise o f a d v e r t i s i n g , t h e price o f a newspaper had t o cover i t s c o s t o f p r o d u c t i o n . B u t w i t h a d v e r t i s e r s t o pay t h e bills, a public a t i o n could be marketed a t less t h a n t h e c o s t t o make i t . This p u t papers t h a t d o n o t sell a d v e r t i s i n g o u t o f t h e m a r k e t .
Qt HOW / WHY DOES THAT DISTORT THE NEWS? A d v e r t i s i n g d i s t o r t s t h e news because i t makes a publication a c c o u n t a b l e t o i t s a d v e r t i s e r s more t h a n t o i t s readers. Media with an a d v e r t i s i n g s u b s i d y can u n d e r c u t t h e prices o f media w i t h o u t and can t h e n pick up t h e m a r k e t o f t h e low income readers a s well. More revenue increases t h e ability t o c o m p e t e , t o produce, to promote. Advertisers learned early on t h a t advertising In publications t h a t c a t e r t o t h e affluent will make t h e m more money because t h e affluent have money t o spend. Publications t h a t represent t h e i n t e r e s t s and s u p p o r t t h e world view o f t h e working class are a t a disadvantage in t h e advertising c o m p e t i t i o n because t h e i r readers are o f m o d e s t means, When the British social-democratic
than readers of the other papers.
business in the 1960s, i t actual.ly
Miatft lacked m$ advertfe^. Some analysts believe t h e death of
had almost double t h e readership of The Times, the Financial Times and the Guardian combined. Its readers, according t o surveys, were more loyal t o i t and read more of i t
3d
the Herald contributed to the diminishing fortunes of t h e Labor Party because there was no longer an alternative frame of reference by which t o analyze events.
American broadcast media programming, as w e l l a s print media, i s bought and s o l d by t h e advertisers• And t h e y are not shy about controlling it.
Example: Gulf and Western
pulled i t s
funding from public TV s t a t i o n WNET in 196>5 when i t ran a documentary
called
"Hungry
For Profit," which criticized t h e activities of multinational corporations in t h e t h i r d world. A source a t WNET said t h e y a n t i c i p a t e d a negative
reaction to the pro¬ gram, and "did all we could t o . g e t
t h e program sanitized." Apparently, they
didn't
"sanitize" enough: Western's
Gulf
it and
GEO c o m -
plained t o t h e s t a t i o n t h a t
t h e program was "virulently a n t i business if n o t a n t i - A m e r i c a n , " and said t h a t WNET's behavior was not
that
of
"a friend."
According t o t h e London "Most
Economist, people WNET
believe
that
would
not
make t h e same mist a k e again." (One of t h e g r e a t " f i l t e r s " in corporations
of every
kind is, either you learn t o read your boss's mind or you're o u t o f a job.)
89
Programs t h a t raise concerns issues tfiat are
over environmental or human rights
consequences'afCfeccrrfa&te
be well-received a t any network, even on public TV Television networks know w h a t will sell t o their advertisers and w h a t won't. You- don't have t o be a rocket s c i e n t i s t t o figure o u t t h a t programs
that
create
doubt
over t h e way big business
oper-
ates
probably
won't
sell
your
large
porate
corspon-
sors. also
to
Sponsors object
to
programming that
discusses
disturbing complex
and
issues
t h a t may disrupt the "buying mood." TV audiences are not t h o u g h t of a s "citizens" b u t as "consumers." Sponsors offend the fewest possible and create no
want " e n t e r t a i n m e n t " t h a t will disturbance.
The primary purpose o f t h e media f r o m t h e standpoint o f those w h o o w n i t is t o sell—and a t the same t i m e t o protect interests.
90
FILTER 3-
WHERE THE NEWS COMES FROM. RELIANCE ON INFORMATION PROVIDED BY GOVERNMENT, BUSINESS, AND "EXPERTS." In order to fill daily
quotas for material, institutions
news the of
news media need
r
steady reliable sources of news Information. Reporters cannot be everywhere a t once waiting f o r news s t o r i e s t o break so they concentrate their activities in places where news is breaking every day routinely, places like the White House, the Pentagon, the halls of Congress. Big business leaders are also credible sources f o r news stories. Information from these sources does not have to be checked or backed up, It Is deemed credible by virtue of who i t comes from.
91
This saves a l o t of t i m e , c o s t l y research and factchecking. The news bureaucracies have an affinity with governmental and business bureaucracies and rely on them to satisfy their needs for a s t e a d y flow of news a t low c o s t .
Many
government
agencies
t e r r i f y i n g l y helpful when i t to
supplying
are comes
u s w i t h news: The
Pentagon has a public i n f o r m a t i o n operation
that
employs
thou-
s a n d s o f people and s p e n d s hund r e d s o f millions o f d o l l a r s a year. I t is much larger t h a n all t h e dissenting information sources p u t together.
S i m i l a r f o r c e s a r e i n operation on l o c a l l e v e l s , with c i t y h a l l and the p o l i c e department a s r e g u l a r r e p o r t e r beats. Government bureaucracies cater t o the needs of news organizations , creating symbiotic relations h i p s by making the work of gathering news easier, less expensive, government -sanctioned, and corporate-blessed. Who c a r e s i f i t ' s been " s a n i t i z e d " t o g e t through a l l those f i l t e r s ? 92
besides, if you doubt t h e "official government version" of the news, you can always consult t h e experts. Of course, experts can be co-opted by big corporate or government Interests, by funding them, sponsoring them, putting them on payrolls.
FILTER 4. FLAK Ylak' is a cute welders word for neg-
from the FCC t o produce documents
ative reactions t o media statements
related to a specific program, or
In the form of letters, phone calls,
t h r e a t s from ad agen¬
petitions, lawsuits, speeches, con-
C
gressional
bills, and other
forms of punitive action.
•
•*
'
e S 0
r
^
e
P
o n e o r e
to pull advertising or
to sue. The powerful can
A t a certain point, flak
create flak indirectly by com-
can make i t very diffi-
plaining against,the media t o
cult f o r an organ of
its employees and stockholders, gen-
media t o function.
erating advertising or press
The capacity to gener-
denigrates the media, funding right
ate
flak that
Is truly
'threatening is proportional t o
that
wing monitoring or think tank operations
that
attack
the
power. The powerful can generate flak
media, or funding political cam-
directly, such as letters or phone
paigns of candidates who support
calls from t h e White House t o
tHeir policies and will take a hard
anchormen or producers, demands
line toward media deviation.
94
In the 7 0 s and '80s the corporate c o m m u n i t y
sponsored
t h e American Legal the Capital Legat
foundation, Foundation,
the Media Institute, the Center for Media and Public Affairs, and Accuracy
in Media
(AIM), ail
institutions whose basic purpose is t o produce flak against disobedient media.
The
Media
Institute
sponsors
Corporation. The Center for Media
media monitoring projects, confer-
and Public Affairs was created in t h e
ences, and studies of t h e media which focus primarily on t h e failure of t h e media t o accurately
portray
business and t o give sufficient weight t o
mld-'£>Oe as a "nonprofit, non partisan" research institute and
was praised
by
Patrick Buchanan, Faith , Whittlesey President
and Reagan.
t h e business point
The Center's journal
of view. I t under-
The Media Monitor
writes such works
keeps an eye on
as John
the alleged liberal
Corrjs
anti-busi-
expose of alleged
and
left-wing bias of
ness bias of t h e
t h e media. The
media. (One of
chairman of t h e
t h e great ironies
in 19S>5
I of t h e media is
board was
Steven V.
t h a t despite t h e
Seekins, the top
fact t h a t
public
pro-business, pro-
relations
official American
of
the
chairman National Council
The
of
the
Advisory was
government, pro-
(
Medical
Association.
Herbert
Schmertz of t h e Mobil Oil
these
status-'quo
"fil-
t e r s " give t h e media a frighteningly rightwing bias, i t is cons t a n t l y accused of leftwingery.) 95
uracy fei Madia (AIM)'e income grew from $5,< n in the early &0&, mostly donatione from large cor¬ one and heir© t o the wealth of t h e corporate eyeare a wide range of large corporations including a t antes, AIM puts pressure on the media t o follow the; nd a right-wing foreign policy. x
FILTER 5. ANTI-COMMUNISM !n 19&&, the Soviet Union fell, forcing a
rewrite of America's national
obsession
w i t h a n t i - c o m m u n i s m as t h e central noble cause, t h e one unquestioned value in our culture other than making money.
Though the United States was founded on revolution, i n our time the word revolution has become identified with an-evil menace. The revolutions of Russia, China, and Cuba were extremely threatening t o the ruling e l i t e s because communism would undermine t h e i r superior c l a s s status. I t became the malevolent presence by which everything was j u s t i f i e d . Communism gave the popul a t i o n an enemy against which to mobilize. Richard Nixon's f i r s t two p o l i t i c a l o f f i c e s , a s congressman and senator were gained by defeat96
ing incumbents who were taken by surprise and unable to defend themselves against" his false accusations that they were communists. Though the charges were never substantiated, the fear and doubt created by Nixon's smear campaigns lasted long enough to get him into office. Eventually that tactic ran dry, but anti-canmunism remained the center of American political ideology until the f a l l of the Soviet Union. After the fall of the Soviet Union there was some confusion from the propaganda experts on what enemy would be worthy of taking the place of the Evil Empire. Saddam Hussein served the purpose briefly, but a more reliable and malleable image has been that of Islamic fundamentalists, Muslims or Middle Easterners In general, who are portrayed as rabid extremists and terrorists as a genera cultural trait.
CONCISION — THE STATE OR QUALITY OF BEING CONCISE. "Concision" Is the name news media professionals give to the principle of cutting everything t o a bare minimum in order to
make i t f i t within t h e f o r m a t of
"news" The Idea that all news has to f i t into t h i s kind of f o r m a t is an unquestioned assumption.
The f o r m a t was estab-
lished in t h e early days of American television. I t is s t r u c t u r e d around "commercial breaks" every few minutes a s required by "our sponsors" who pay for t h e programming.
97
• " the commercial breaks are about a third of a\\ viewing time; it is impossible for fcflj?^ length/According l y Jeff
In the wave of economic prosperity following World War 11,
it looked as though the United States was moving toward that Ideal of a classless society.
3
Though there was poverty, within the United States, prosperity was remarkably widespread.
The middle class was growing, and average Americans were affluent by practically any historical standard.
But that
is no
longer the
trend
in the United
States.
.1
In the U.S. since the '60s, the trend has been a shrinking middle class, wealth concentrated into fewer and-fewer hands, and a general decrease in economic prosperity and quality of life f o r t h e v a s t majority. Those who drop from t h e middle class are forced to t i g h t e n t h e i r belts drastically,
b u t for t h e growing underclass of people who are no longer participants In the economic s y s t e m , i t means a brutal struggle for d a y - t o - d a y survival.
It is n o longer possible t o pretend w e area classless society. H o l d i n g o n t o such symbols is choosing t o be blind. 107
So what do we call today's rulers? They may not be genealogical heirs to yesterday's
aris-
tocracy (though in many cases t h e y are), b u t t h e y are certainly t h e historical heirs o f t h e aristocracies.
And they intend t o rule.
To many, t h e
phrase
"ruling
would
class"
s o u n d t o o much
like
Marxism or, G o d forbid, communism. Whatever you call t h e m , t o d a y ' s rulers g e t very nervous when you shine a flashlight on t h e m . They know t h e power of t h e media. Some people "prefer t o think there are no rulers and to put the question o u t o f t h e i r minds. B u t if i t has crossed your mind t h a t perhaps all Americans are not equal - not before t h e law and certainly n o t in t e r m s of t h e benefits
we receive from t h e government -- then you have already
recognized t h a t there are ranks in society.
They a r e i n v e s t m e n t b a n k e r s , b o a r d s o f d i r e c t o r s , g o v e r n m e n t officeholders.
The center
of w o r l d power i s in
A m e r i c a , b u t i t i s n o t by a n y m e a n s exclusively A m e r i c a n . It is an i n t e r n a t i o n a l elite. I t is t h e a r i s t o c r a c y o f t h e m o d e r n w o r l d . The i n s i d e r s o p e r a t e m o s t l y in s e c r e t while o r c h e s t r a t i n g d i s t r a c t i n g movements on t h e s t a g e of p o l i t i c s . They are e x t r e m e l y p o w e r f u l a n d e x t r e m e l y skilled a t what they do.
But they are not all-powerful. They are only human. In t h e d i c t a t o r s h i p s o f t h e t h i r d world, the rulers can do practically whatever t h e y please. B u t inside t h e U.5. there is still a large measure of per-
sonal
freedom.
The
rulers are a t i n y minority. W h a t
they
fear
most
that
the
giant,
the
is
sleeping
public—the
people—
will wake up and t a k e control of what Orwell called
"the
space
between the ears" and actually use t h e power i t doesn't know i t has. That's why t h e rulers p u t so much e f f o r t and money into propaganda.
They k n o w i f t h e public ever gets h i p t o their game, they are finished. 109
As l a r g e a n d overwhelming as t h e system o f c o n t r o l is, i t is c r e a t e d b y human beings a n d is n o t o m n i p o tent. I t grows naturally f r o m the
logic o f history, f r o m t h e t i m e w h e n aristocracies d o m i n a t e d , and f r o m t h e state/business partnerships o f colonialism. F&rtty out fear, part*/ out of
And from greed.
out a * * * " *
i^Dfet?® {foe ßfö© G&fö The Hoax Of The Free Market System in America "The Free Market ö y s t e m " Is t r e a t e d as a sacred principle. All economic problems are said t o be cured by t h e functioning of t h e "free market" which, through natural competition, will cause t h e best products and t h e best prices t o prevail for t h e b e t t e r m e n t of all. The free market
always
makes
t h e best
choices and will fashion t h e most perfect society. B u t a closer look a t how t h e economic s y s t e m functions, who pays t h e taxes and how t a x money is spent, who g e t s subsidized and who doesn't, reveals t h a t t h e free market system is only a t h e o r y — i t does n o t exist in reality.
In i t s p\act. J 6iwlipl£x\jy5tfTn uT tan \am. ^ A u M r t V r t l tumiputatiGn of pufafic money, n ^ u l a i l n n n , o M various other tnmqlc tricks Insure t h a t oerrj*in husince^e* will thrive i B g a i d '
le$e of whether the Hrsa nwkat will support tram f>r lOT.
I n other words, the f r e e market system . i n a hoax. The U.S. economy, to put i t b l u n t l y , i s rigged. T>vi
rumics
of U » f m n m a r k e t Ed fine for eco
taxttooto
o n d t o r hyping the maeeee, b u t
resl planners hsve n o t •taken i t seriously f o a long time, Ttnat'a wiiy the $Ovflrfimsnt rnuivf'siiJizfld certain InrfUfltrios, S l i t i t io net done openly The subsidies, often rrjisslve. are .dl#^ui&sd in fL
various
"tays,
mostly
through
"dnfenyfl"
pro-
grams. A^ilch tflkc hatf of
every t a x dollar; a 100 through subtle tlfl* in t h e tax striicturet t h a t channel the tax money where the maetare w^nt i t t o go:
Welfare f o rt h eRich—How f t Works During hli> -pIrçit. yaflr ¡11 •rifflca. CUnton apakti to warkeis a t t h e Basing Company, telling t h i "cheering t h m n g " t h p t Buying 'is a rrudftMbr turn pari I t s
screw
A n i f H t i " a n d t h e p r i n i i example of U10 "hiîw v l ^ n n of Arneiican relations with Aela," where "China atone now buys drifl of wftry
r^Fx i?f [Bnfslng';?] planas." A t this
aaititf t i m e Clinton announced Cray
i^jpcrfjornputcjS'
to
fl-^sci^lan
China
ta
sell
In violation of
congressional l i ^ l s i f l t l o n . fNCZhfl
The examples Cflnton used t o celebrate the success of the free market system are laughable, f h e aircraft and
computer
Industries
were
founded (and still rely) en huge taxpayer subsidies—Welfare l o r Hie Rich. Boeing and Cray supercomputers wuuld he ludcy to survive if it weren't for enormous government subsidies. Agriculture is also protected and subsidized. High technology industries have been funded through me
Pentagon's generous Welfare
System since the late 1940s.
Since World War Two, [here has been a program c f suburban Izir.g America t h a t , says
Chomsky,
SJn^er the cover of defenoa, attÉbHahad modern
meter
and air t r a n s p o r t
xtr corn Blâmante
the
Industries
o f the economy.
with
a
cost to th& public t h a t qoea far beyonà the tetie
of billion*
of taxpayer
this
maaalva govamtnant
^ p ^ J > t f C . . . ^ ' [NCZM]
Il È
dollars
social
u e & i iri
engineering
/ J
The Federal Highway A c t s of 1944, 1956, and 1965, funneled billions of taxpayer dollars Into a national highway system t h a t was t h e brainchild of Alfred Sloan, chairman of GM. I t made the American economy dependent
on gasoline-powered
t r a n s p o r t a t i o n and gave t h e oil industry a virtual energy monopoly. This dependency would lead eventually t o events like t h e Gulf War, in which hundreds of t h o u s a n d s of Iraqis were killed t o ensure U.S. control of Middle Eastern oil. The suburbanization of America
buses. In 1949, G M and i t s
was n o t t h e result of free mar-
partners
ket forces producing the- most
Federal
were
convicted
District
In
Court
in
competitive
Chicago of
products.
It
criminal
was engineered
conspira-
by t h e corpora-
cy f o r this
tions that run
project
our
country.
and
For
example,
$5,000—
between 1 9 3 6
not even a
and
1949,
National
slap
—
City
the
fined
on hub-
Lines, a holding company spon-
cap f o r General Motors!—but
sored and funded \?y General
t h e effect was irreversible. The
Motors,
GM
Firestone
Rubber
buses
stayed
and the
Oil of
electric s t r e e t cars were histo-
California, bought out more than
ry. (To g e t t h e full measure of
1 0 0 electric
t h e brutal irony of t h a t slippery
Company and Standard surface
transit
systems in 4 6 cities including
maneuver, virtually every GM
New York, FT-iiladelphia, and Los
a u t o show of t h e l a s t 2 0 has
Angeles and dismantled
featured
them:
They were replaced with G M
electric
cars—"the
wave of t h e future.") 113
A r m s sales t o oil producing countries are a device used t o s u s t a i n Boeing, a publicly-subsidized privately-run corporation that Clinton called t h e "model of t h e free market vision."
" P u b l i c l y s u b s i d i z e d . " " g o v e r n m e n t subsidy"..•? What exactly d o those terms
mean?
I f s simple, really.
The w o r d "subsidy," tacked o n t o the name o f a large corporation, is a e u p h e m i s m f o r W e l f a r e f o r t h e Rich-
These "government subsidies" maintain t h e system by which profits from oil production go t o t h e U.S. and Britain, n o t t o t h e people of t h e oil-producing region. Referring t o t h e April 1977-efforts t o Sell Iran advanced armaments,
The New York Times said that "one of t h e principal
reasons
behind t h e Pentagon pressure for the offer to Iran was to keep t h e Boeing production line open." 114
When Secretary of State James Baker and President George Bush intervened in a secret meeting in October 1989 to ensure Saddam Hussein another $1 billion in loan guarantees (though the Treasury and Commerce departments had said that Iraq was not creditworthy), it was for the same purpose. Gassing of Kurds and torture of dissidents were non-issues. The State Department insisted that the additional billion for Saddam was justified because Iraq was "very important to U.S. interests in the Middle East," was "influential in the peace process/' and "a key to maintaining stability in the region, offering great trade opportunities for U.S. companies."
You've been a very bad boy, Saddam... here's a billion dollars... now go play.
ox stability' in t h e
period, when t h e -business world recognized that the aircraft
interests
«
" A p a r t from maintaining a particular form of
the
industry,
estab-
world rulers, the Pentagon m u s t
ished
public
continue
wartime
:
funds
to
provide lavishiy for
and
his
con-
rich
stituents
profi-
teering, cannot satisfactorily exist in a pure, uncompetitive,
by
u nsu bsid ized,
means of a t a x -
"free
payer subsidy t o
[Fortune]
hat
changed in t h i s regain since t h e early post-war
enterprise"
e c o n o m y '
advanced industry. Nothing
and s
Newt
Gingrich
by
'the ï
and
that
government
is
t h e i r only possible sav-
ior' [business [NCZM]
Week].
2
Newt Gingrich's " C o n t r a c t with America" is a t o t a k e advantage
program designed
of the
of the "free market": public
double-standard
subsidy f o r t h e r i c h — f r e e m a r k e t discipline >S
f°
r t
n
e
P
0 0 r
- U
n c
'
e
Newt's agenda
c u t s in social spending,
Including
low Income housing, r e n t
tion,
seeks educa-
subsidies
( w h a t t h e y sneeringly call " e n t i t l e m e n t s " ) , denying aid t o children of "minor m o t h e r s " and
those
on
welfare—while
increasing
Welfare f o r t h e Rich.
"The principles for
the third
are clear world
and explicit.
and its growing
Mothers
with
sternly
counterpart
dependent lectured
reliance, and
Free markets
at
children
on the
need
but not dependent
investors,
welfare
state
flourish."
3
please.
are fine home.
can be for
self-
executives
For them,
the
must
[my
emphaeie]
Welfare f o r t h e Rich comes in an endless variety o f forms, including "entit l e m e n t s " like capital investment
subsidies,
gains
cuts,
increased
tax,
exemptions f o r e s t a t e s , reduced safety
regulations, allow-
larger
ances f o r depreciation and, of course, the Mother of All Entitlements,
"increased
expenditures"—already
military
t h e largest
item on the budget fry far. "The C l i n t o n Vision: A n U p d a t e , " Z magazine, 1 9 9 4
116
health a n d
"National Defense" says Chomsky, "is a sick joke. The U.S. faces no threats, and already spends more on defense' than the entire world combined." 4
Hey there big fella,,, ever think about back a little...?
"The United behind mous
States
developed
its own economy
very high protectionist state
intervention
that
way. The Pentagon
itself
a huge government
a taxpayer
subsidy
imagine anything free market."
cutting
walls with
enor-
and it maintains system,
it
for example, is
program
arranged
for
to advanced
industry.
I can't
more radically
opposed
to the
[INT]
I f the U.S. faces no threats
yet spends more on "defense" than the entire world combined
what, you may wonder,
does the Pentagon spend all that friggin' money on? ••"Rollback F a r t 1" a report on t h e ' 9 4 election&," by N.C. in Z magazine, J a n . 1 9 9 5
117
1
it!
1
F r i e n d l y
D i c t a t o r s . . .
Client States... Other
w o r d s
We Spread Democracy! • 1 . '.Vi..
(^©mtoOGsm^lFGEGS ©Dad] G3©\£7 country into submission, colonialThe s t r u c t u r e of power t h a t operism, and slavery. a t e s in t h e world t o d a y is a direct descend a n t of h i s t o r i Economist Adam I'll take "Historical cal colonialism. Smith, the patron Colonialism" for The systems saint of t h e free one hundred, Alex... t h a t control us market ideology, t o d a y are merely wrote in 1776 t h a t refined versions of t h e "the discovery of America control s y s t e m s t h a t and t h a t of the passage forced colonial natives t o the East Indies by the i n t o submission 5 0 0 Cape of Good Hope are years ago. Or, t o be the two greatest and more precise—since most Important events in t h e ruling elite never do the history of mankind..." t h e i r own d i r t y work— t h e systems that conSmith honestly believed trol us today, are t h e t h a t t h e "new s e t of s y s t e m s t h a t manipuexchanges"—of ideas, of lated, conned, or culture, of trade, of coerced the powerless human energy and ingenucitizens of one country t o force ity—would benefit both t h e Old t h e powerless citizens of another World and the New.
I t didn't t a k e hjm long t o realize t h a t he was very wrong:
"The savage injustice of the Europeans rendered an event, which ought t o have been beneficial t o a l l , ruinous and destructive t o several of those unfortunate countries, l b the natives .., both of the East and West Indies, a l l the commercial benefits which can have resulted fran those events have been sunk and lost i n the dreadful misfortunes which they have occasioned." What was i t t h a t gave t h e Europeans t h e better end of t h e deal?
"Superiority of
force" said Smith, with which "they were able to commit of injustice
with impunity
in those remote
every sort countries,"
Who was calling whom "savages"? f3ut t h o s e were t h e bad old days. in those days, even t h e good guys were rotten. People weren't civilized like we are now, right?
119
P®EED(B[fl &