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Loading... Pirates and Emperors, Old and New: International Terrorism in the Real…by Noam Chomsky
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. Samjoseph | Feb 5, 2009 |   Devastating chapters detailing thought control by the establishment and media, US-backed Israeli terrorism and atrocities over the decades, the demonization and bombing of Libya, Iran-Contra, the US as a terrorist (or outright aggressor) state, criminality of the response to the Sep11 crime. Chomsky is widely viewed as a lunatic politically, but I'll be danged if he isn't mostly right. "It is only in folk-tales, children's stories, and the journals of intellectual opinion that power is used wisely and well to destroy evil." -- p 144. fpagan | Dec 16, 2006 | 1  0.030 seconds to build listing
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0896086852, Paperback)This updated edition of Noam Chomsky's classic dis-section of terrorism explores the role of the U.S. in the Middle East, and reveals how the media manipulates -public opinion about what constitutes "terrorism." This edition includes new chapters covering the second Palestinian intifada that began in October 2000; an analysis of the impact of September 11 on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East; a deconstruction of depictions and perceptions of terrorism since that date; as well as the original sections on Iran and the U.S. bombing of Libya. Chomsky starts by tracing the changing meaning of "terrorism," examining how it originally referred to violent acts by "governments designed to ensure popular submission." He calls its current application "retail terrorism," practiced by "thieves who molest the powerful." Chomsky argues that appreciating the differences between state terror and nongovernmental terror is crucial to stopping terrorism, and understanding why atrocities like the bombing of the World Trade Center happen. In comparing the "war on terror" launched by George W. Bush to that of his father and Ronald Reagan's administrations, Chomsky recalls Winston Churchill's summation of the terror by the powerful: "The rich and powerful have every right to demand that they be left in peace to enjoy what they have gained, often by violence and terror; the rest can be ignored as long as they suffer in silence, but if they interfere with the lives of those who rule the world by right, the terrors of the earth' will be visited upon them with righteous wrath, unless power is constrained from within." Pirates and Emperors is a brilliant account of the workings of state terrorism by the world's foremost critic of U.S. imperialism. An internationally acclaimed philosopher, linguist, and political activist, Noam Chomsky teaches at MIT. (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:24 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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What he examines mostly is the very Orwellian nature of terrorism in the media and academic discourse, where (he maintains) it is taken to mean
"the calculated use of violence or threat of violence to attain goals that are political, religious, or ideological in nature," (quoted on 121) if perpetrated by the other guy.
In support of this, Chomsky goes on to submit case upon case of acts that fall under this definition of terrorism with the exception that the perpetrators were backed (with some combination of arms, training, tactical support, etc.) by the United States.
Also of no little importance to Chompsky's main assertions is what he describes as "thought control". As silly as this sounds, the picture he paints is reminiscent of Orwell's Newspeak, and certainly not without merit.
The tone of the book sounds bitter at best. It's also pretty academic most of the time, which isn't surprising, but it detracts from what I assume is Chompsky's purpose, the dissemination of ideas. Accessibility is important, but something that Chompsky doesn't seem to have given much thought to. (