Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky on Iraq Troop Withdrawal, Haiti, Democracy in Latin America and the Israeli Elections


There are so few examples of minds with enough potent recall of history to succinctly make political points clear to me. Of course one has to retain a mind that is open to challenge in order to benefit from any change that might offer. I'm convinced that genetics play a big role in how many of us retain the ability to change views. It's so obvious to me through those differences that we are very much animals first and humans second. Bound by our instincts, in this case, to make decisions that support and adhere to what's perceived as a majority.



Noam Chomsky came to my attention early in life. I had the luxury of some powerful thinking friends from the time I was very young. Ruth was the first one to mention Chomsky to me before I was a teen. Her sister introduced me to the political nature of music before I turned twelve I think. It makes me smile to recall the vitality of those amazing family dinners at their place. John and I smoked grass and Ruth, the cerebral one, opened the door for my own development in thinking about the bigger picture. I'm forever grateful for that whole family's input to an otherwise problematic home life.


I went a long time before I actually read anything of Chomsky's. As a cedar top guitar came to the end of it's life, Daryl provided a wonderful winter of conversation in 1987/88, at the end of which was delivered a beautiful instrument. Along the way, I learnt about Chomsky through books of Daryl's and his experiences studying with Carl Ridd at the University of Winnipeg.


Chomsky's writing leaves a lot to be desired for the undisciplined like me. It's often cumbersome and convoluted, leaving me at sea as to what the threads that bind it all together might be. I don't have that experience with his spoken presentations thankfully. Like the link above, the oral tradition works well for me. Some of my earliest memories are of begging Mum to read to me. I love being read to and I learn well when the information is offered for my ears. That's likely why I'm such a strong supporter of our national treasure, CBC Radio One. My flag ship there is The Current. It makes it's U.S. counterpart NPR look like National Geographic to me, dummied down. I know that's harsh, but the Canadian skills with the documentary format, whether in film, radio or elsewhere throughout the arts, is the envy of the world, or at worst, should be. We kick butt on children's literature too, but that's another rant for another day. I'm not proud of where Canada seems to be going and I'm not proud of much of the ignorance that lives and breathes in the U.S., but there are people in both countries that are gathering their energies together in intelligent ways now. I thank the stars for the Internet.





Oops. How did that slip in there?


Other than clips like is linked at the top of this page, Power and Terror was good for me and a confirmation of the wisdom Chomsky offers. A Japanese film crew followed Chomsky around for a bit and called the resulting footage, Power and Terror. It's a close look at some amazingly clear, simple revelations about how history plays itself out in predictable ways and how so few are capable of, or maybe willing to is closer to the point of recognising the patterns. With all our so called culture, we fail to be empathetic. Humility, empathy, compassion would be the hall marks of culture to my mind. As it is, I see fruit flies, me included most days. Despair is never far off. Fortunately I have sharp kids and several wonderful friends to keep me on my toes.


Robert Fisk is another that seems to be emerging for me as a keen observer.


It's comical to me that there is even a contest in peoples minds between which is more enlightened writing generally, the left leaning reporters or the right wing advocates. The right is so predictable that it bores the hell out of me. It's true that I bore easily. I think that only servers to make my point stronger about the hard wiring of genetics haling back to a time where a cohesive community meant survival. Now it just means that the ever shrinking resources of this planet are being misused at an increasing rate with that formula.


Today's entry from left field = We all see what we want to see. I don't agree that equal is fair and fair is equal, never have done.