[Peace-discuss] Chomsky arguments.

[Morton K.Brussel]

No real disagreement here, but one should not be too sanguine, as 
Chomsky tends to be, about the American people. After all a majority 
does, mindlessly, accept what the administration has been parroting. 
About 40% (a large proportion in any case) or more still believe that 
WMD's existed in Iraq in 2003 and that Iraq WAS a real threat to the 
U.S. ; moreover that Saddam was behind the 9/11 attacks, and that the 
USA is trying to bring "democracy" to Iraq. So, despite reservations 
about the Iraq disaster, a majority are still not ready to resist 
current policies.

The Germans in WWII also had their reservations about Hitler and his 
policies, but went along. In a sense, living under a dictatorship, they 
had more excuse.

The world wanted a repudiation of the Bush cabal in the election, and 
can't comprehend that it didn't happen, no matter how bad/wimpy/haughty 
was Kerry. They saw the issues clearly, yet Americans couldn't. Why? 
Ignorance? Indifference? Misguided sense of nationalism/patriotism? 
Insecurity? …? Their mass news sources were almost as bad as ours. As 
several have remarked, for the first time majorities around the world 
are now assimilating Bush government attitudes and actions with 
American attitudes. Simplistic of course, but understandable.

mkb

On Jan 31, 2005, at 10:06 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:

> On Mon, 31 Jan 2005, jencart wrote:
>
>> Yow, what an interview.  I feel like every brain cell in my head has
>> been rearranged.  Jenifer
>
> I agree entirely.  I think the following paragraph from the interview 
> sets
> out quite clearly what AWARE should be doing;
>
> "9/11 had a complex effect on the US which I don't think is appreciated
> abroad. The picture abroad is that it turned everyone into a raving
> jingoist and that is absolutely not true. It opened people's minds. 
> This
> is a very insular society. People in the US don't know anything about 
> the
> outside world. They may not know where France is, literally. [That's 
> true:
> a friend of mine was recently teaching a graduate acting class in 
> which a
> perfectly intelligent member of that class said, "France? That's in
> Europe? Right?" --CGE] It's a huge country, everything has been focused
> internally. 9/11 made a lot of people think: 'We'd better figure out 
> what
> is going on in the world. We'd better figure out what our role is and 
> why
> things like that are happening. And the result was a huge increase in
> interest and concern. Huge audiences. I spend probably an hour a night
> just turning down requests for interviews from all over the place. 
> They're
> not necessarily agreeing but they're thinking about what is going on. 
> This
> is a very polled society and right before the November elections two of
> the major polling institutions, Program on International Policy 
> Attitudes
> in Maryland and the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, both 
> published
> major studies of popular attitudes and they were extremely interesting.
> What they showed is that the two political parties are far to the 
> right of
> the population on issue after issue. What's happened is that the 
> public is
> far removed from the bipartisan political system and intellectual 
> culture
> and that is a reflection of changes that have taken place for many 
> years."
>
> Note that: both political parties are far to the RIGHT of the 
> population
> on issue after issue.  It's our job to make that clear. (I've often had
> people call our "left-wing radio program" and say, "Look, I agree with 
> you
> guys, but I thought I was the only one who thought that way!") --CGE