Noam Chomsky - Distorted Morality: America's War on Terror?

Rating:
Summary: Dry, but he sure raises interesting issues
Review: "Distorted Morality" consists of a "talk" Noam Chomsky gave at Harvard a couple of years ago and a series of question and answer sessions that took place at MIT. Chomsky, if you aren't familiar with him, is a linguistics professor at MIT who sidelines as a critic of American foreign policy. He's considered one of the brightest linguistic theorists in the world, a man who formulated a theory about language several decades ago that's still talked about today. It's sad to say, but the general public probably won't remember him for his scholarly work. Chomsky has written dozens of books about the scurrilous behavior of our elected officials and their actions taken against foreign nations, from the Vietnam War to activities in East Timor to the current war on terrorism. He attacks the media for serving as an instrument of American hegemony. One day, Chomsky hopes to replace capitalism with a system of government referred to as anarcho-syndicalism. He also unwaveringly supports the United Nations and the World Court, hoping that the United States will toss its sovereignty aside and merge with those two international bodies. I didn't get all of this detail from "Distorted Morality," but from another, longer DVD about Chomsky's background and intellectual underpinnings called "Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media."

Chomsky's lecture at Harvard-which he calls a "talk" because it sounds more informal-deals with the Bush administration's efforts to combat international terrorism. Beginning with a premise about terrorism taken from an old American military handbook, he attempts to prove that a war on terrorism is an impossibility, an illogical idea completely inconsistent with our nation's prior actions in Central America and the Middle East. The United States consistently supports and works closely with terroristic regimes, argues the professor, which means that we are in fact and in action a terroristic regime. A war on terrorism, therefore, would mean that we must fight ourselves. Chomsky doesn't go so far as to condone the September 11, 2001 nightmare; he accepts that it is a horrific incident worthy of retaliation, but he wants the United States to do so through the umbrella of the United Nations and the World Court. The lecture only runs for an hour or so. The question and answer session at MIT covers a whole host of foreign policy issues-guerilla warfare, 9/11-with some of the answers from Chomsky varying from a few sentences to five minutes or more.

Noam Chomsky is an acquired taste. While I disagree strenuously with him concerning American involvement in the UN and the World Court, I usually agree with many of the issues he raises about our foreign relations. I'm more at home with him when he attacks the concentrated media systems in the United States and calls for a breakup of the big corporations that control what we see and hear. Critics routinely blast Chomsky by labeling him as either pro-communist or a literal communist. Well, he's not, but tossing a label like this one around obscures many of the pertinent issues he raises. America has acted to support tyrants in the past. American companies have exploited third world countries and citizens of those countries (Nike and the United Fruit Company, anyone?). A nation cannot indulge in exploitative practices for decades and expect there won't be reprisals.

Here's a good question that Chomsky would probably love-and one that ties into the lecture he gives on this disc: why, when we expelled the Taliban from Afghanistan and still have troops on the ground over there, are the poppy fields pumping out raw opium as never before? The heroin derived from those fields ends up in the United States, does it not? Why don't we stop it? Perhaps the government wants a certain segment of the American population to use narcotics because it's easier to control a docile citizenry. Too, it allows the federal government to continue to wage yet another one of their great wars, the ever reliable "War on Drugs." I just can't believe our government didn't shut down those poppy fields. Doing so could save thousands, if not tens of thousands, of our citizens from a life of addiction, despair, and death. While you don't hear the media raising issues such as this one, you will here people like Noam Chomsky asking about it. For that, I do respect his insights and ability to increase awareness.

"Distorted Morality" isn't the best available information on Chomsky floating around. In fact, I found the lecture and Q&A on this disc a little dry. I keep planning on checking out a few of his books so I can get a better take on the man. While I find some of his solutions to our problems unacceptable, the questions he asks and the issues he raises continue to challenge what our government is doing and the reasons behind it.

Rating:
Summary: A feeling of relief.....
Review: I first heard of Noam Chomsky when I was a late teenager in the late eighties while living in Oxford, UK and frequenting typical student haunts. A sign of my ignornance was that I did not pick up a book by the man till I was 33, and was shocked by what he said. It was if a weight was lifted. This man has consistently and lucidly critiqued our system. He makes it quite simple, and I will put it simply for you, you are either part of the problem or part of the solution, and as free educated westerners we have an obligation to repay our fellow man for our privelidges. To compare anything Jones says with Chomsky is plainly insulting. To call him a liar or to think he is part of a conspiracy well hey, if its a conspiracy for two or more people to want to change the inequality and hurt in the world, then count me in, except sinister conspiracy is by nature secret and theres not much that is buried so deep as not to be known. The people I'm worried about are those who only just found out!!! What were they doing for all of their life. Watch this movie, thank the man that he has been talking to people for 40 odd years, and know that the acorns he has planted may grow into strong oaks.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent DVD. I learned so much!
Review: I have not read much by Noam Chomsky but this DVD makes me want to. In-depth thought and analysis of our War on Terror in two lectures. The first one delivered shortly after 911 at MIT and the other at Harvard. Most of us have little historical understanding and perspective of world events since 911. This very good DVD title was an eye opener for me. It introduced issues that are so easily (and more comfortably) overlooked. Most importantly, Professor Chomsky addresses the possible reasons why America is disliked by many abroad - a question that most of us would rather ignore. I've learned that history and knowledge are not anti-American. Knowledge has the power to make us better people. Buy this now and really learn something.

Rating:
Summary: Another great work presented from a speech at Harvard.
Review: This DVD is a new release from Chomsky about how it is impossible for the war on terrorism to be happening. It includes a Q and A session that is very interesting and will further advance insight into what is happening behind the news headlines. Nice clean picture, audio mix, good opening sequence, nice menus, chapter search, overall well-done, and --I don't know about other editions-- but mine has English, Chinese (CN), and Chinese (HK) subtitles; but it is- of course- in English.

'Whatever has been happening for the past several months and is going on now, and however you evaluate it, like it, hate it, or whatever, it's pretty clear that there cannot be a war on terror.'- Noam Chomsky, Distorted Morality

Disk set:

Including a 55-minute talk at Harvard.
A lively hour-long Q and A session.
A bibliography and biography.

This is written on the back of the DVD.
"Noam Chomsky is a renowned scholar, the founder of the modern science of linguistics, a philosopher, and social analyst, a media critic, an author of more than 70 books, a winner of numerous prizes and wards; and ranks with Marx, Shakespeare, and the Bible as one of the 10 most quoted sources in the humanities".

"Anyone who is serious about trying to understand world events since September 11th cannot afford to miss this".