9-11

Rating:
Summary: Morally bankrupt relativism
Review: Chomsky has made a career out of knee-jerk anti-Americanism by any and all means, and "9/-11" is no exception. In leu of a well-thought out exegesis, we find a jumbled collection of email interviews and remarks. For an issue as serious as this, one would think Chomsky could make an effort at scholarship. But Chomsky, so used to preaching to a loyal choir, has no had to make any scholastic effort for a long time. Moreover, this book is shallow in its understandings of the complex dynamics of the Middle East. Chomsky, having little experience or knowledge in this area, is notably useless as a Middle East commentator or in explaining what motivates jihadi terror. His area of expertise--uncritical blame and Leftist demonization of the US--is likewise not very enlightening. This book is proof that Chomsky can publish almost anything, even some emails, and his loyal fanbase will always buy it. (Although profiting from 9/11 while not contributing much to the discussion strikes me as unethical in and of itself). Overall, I found this book very disappointing.

Rating:
Summary: A problematic but compelling approach to the events of 9-11
Review: I find Noam Chomsky's "9-11" to be a very difficult book to review, but still feel compelled to offer my assessment. First, the basic facts: this book consists of a series of interviews with Chomsky; these interviews were conducted in the first month after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In his comments, Chomsky offers a radically contrary view to the flag waving, "I-support-the-President" attitude that has seemed so pervasive throughout the U.S. Chomsky seems to be assuming the role of the angry prophet who points an accusing finger at a nation (the U.S.) and its leaders. Chomsky's interviewers in "9-11" include many different individuals and media outlets: Italy's "Il Manifesto," the "Hartford Courant," Greece's Alpha TV Station, and more.

Chomsky does not rationalize the 9-11 attacks, and in fact condemns them as "horrifying atrocities." But he also claims that the United States' "war against terrorism" is essentially a hypocritical sham. Many times he makes the claim that "the U.S. itself is a leading terrorist state." To support this contention he cites such history as the U.S. actions in Nicaragua under the Reagan administration. He also discusses at length the Clinton administration's bombing of a pharmaceutical plant in the Sudan. He criticizes the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan up to the time the book went to press, and discusses other connected issues.

The book includes many citations from mainstream media ("The New York Times," the "London Observer," the "Christian Science Monitor," etc.), so one can't accuse Chomsky of just making his claims up. I would also note that David Rose, who is one of the many journalists cited by Chomsky, has a relevant piece in the Jan. 2002 issue of "Vanity Fair"; those interested in this book might want to also check out that article.

Much of what Chomsky says is compelling. But some of his claims and analogies strike me as flawed. For example, he claims that, in the wake of 9-11, the U.S. should have followed the response model demonstrated after the bombing of the Oklahoma City building. But Timothy McVeigh was not being sheltered by a regime at odds with the U.S., so the comparison hardly seems logical. And his accusation that the U.S. is engaging in an "ongoing process of silent genocide" in Afghanistan also strikes me as hard to defend.

The book is, in my opinion, greatly hurt by Chomsky's own tone. He seems to show little compassion for the victims of 9-11; actually, his words have a cold, arrogant flavor to them. Whether this is the fault of Chomsky or his editor, I do not know, but I imagine this tone will only alienate potential readers.

I applaud Chomsky for pointing out some relevant data from recent history, and for his willingness to raise a contrary voice in a time of crisis. But there is much in "9-11" that I must question. Despite the book's flaws, however, I recommend it to critical readers who want to better educate themselves on the issues surrounding 9-11.

Rating:
Summary: Noam Chomsky - honorary Al Quada member.
Review: This is the worst book I have ever read in my life. It is absolute garbage. If you want a good 9/11 book - this is NOT IT. The anger I felt after the towers were hit was revived after I read this, especially when this schmuck more-or-less thinks the attacks were justified. 'The big bad USA finally got what they had coming to them' is the message he portrays. Among other horse rubbish he also states that the US had no problem with Germany and no reason to fight in WW1 til Woodrow Wilson started up a propaganda machine. If Saddam Hussein ever wrote a book portraying himself as the good guy, I think Noam Chomsky would rate it 5 stars on here. Where I'm from, this is called treason.

Rating:
Summary: Think you know who the worst terrorists are?
Review: A must read for all Americans who think they know where the worst terrorist acts are committed and by whom. This book presents undeniable facts and figures which will surely change the way you look at international terrorism and the concept of evil. The perpetrators are closer than you think.


Rating:
Summary: Destroying illusions about "how good and wonderful we are"
Review: This slim volume shows how the US(especially now with Bush) is, ---and has been for the last half century--, a vicious imperial power whose internal freedom has no correlation with its external behavior; a country where people are brainwashed to believe official pieties, support state atrocities and be ignorant/apathetic or jingoistically enthusiastic about the brutal and heinous crimes carried out by the US, which is dominated by corporate interests in their insatiable quest for power and wealth. The brainwashing is done through the manufacture of consent, a technique of social control by which people get to regard themselves as thinking perfectly independently, while they are in fact just servile to power, weak members of the herd who have internalized the values of the prevailing and highly indoctrinated intellectual culture.
Here are some of the ways they do it:

1- The US is not a totalitarian state, so you don't get the propaganda line. In the intellectual realm what you get is something much more subtle, yet similar. Namely, vigorous debate within a framework of fixed and unquestionable presuppositions, and those presuppositions ARE the propaganda line. So take the war in Vietnam; the "left" said:
"We began with blundering efforts to do good, but by 1969 it became too costly, we found it was a disaster, too costly for ourselves, so therefore we should get out."
The right said "You're selling us out, we can win if we fight harder, etc." All of it assumes that the US attack against south Vietnam was in defense of South Vietnam, and an effort to do good (which of course, is totally false). That's the genius of the propaganda system.

2- Selection of people (students, workers intellectuals) who are obedient& subservient to power (they get rewarded& get ahead in life), and discrimination of others. Also, a biased, nationalistic version of US history & American values is taught in schools & family households. People end up internalizing the values of power and regard themselves as thinking perfectly freely/independently.

3- Lots of distractions(Sports, stupid TV shows etc)and Major (Corporate) media control: filtering of information, distribution of concerns, emphasis, framing of issues, bounding of debate within certain limits (so that you can't present evidence if you say anything against power or anything other than what's common knowledge). They determine, select, shape, control, restrict, in order to serve the interests of dominant elite groups.

4- Trying to impose a philosophy of passive consumerism (the US has 6% of the world's population and consumes 50% of the world's resources) in a country that is not a democracy, but rather a system of elite decision and periodic public ratification.
The rulers don't represent the people, and the election process is a show that stays away from any important issues (healthcare, minimum wage etc)

Some reviewers, in a desperate attempt to attack Chomsky's accurate analysis of US atrocities and imperialism, say that he says that the 9-11 attacks were justified. That is a straw man. Chomsky NEVER SAID THAT. He says that nothing can justify such atrocities. What he says is that there's a reason why Bin Laden attacked the US and not Sweden, and if we wish to avoid further terrorist attacks, we should stop opressing/massacring people all over the world and being so hypocritical; we should apply to ourselves the same standards we apply to others: basic morality (which we lack). The US is a leading terrorist state, which has been slaughtering and oppressing people for decades. Unfortunately, the 9-11 attacks are unusual not because of their scale or nature but because of who the victims were. The US, like other imperialist powers in the past, has been for years carrying out crimes that make 9-11 look like a minor event. We kill and oppress people all over the world and think nothing of it, but the day we finally taste some of our own medicine, we start asking ourselves stupid questions like "Why do they hate us when we are so good?" Read this book and you'll learn why.
Why didn't we bomb Idaho after the Oklahoma city bombing? After all Idaho was harboring the extreme right wing groups that worked with Timothy Mc Veigh. We'd be outraged if they bombed Idaho and killed civilians rather than just going after the criminals,yet we thought nothing of it when they bombed Afghanistan. Pure hypocresy.
Did England bomb Ireland or Boston (which were harboring the IRA)after the IRA set up a bomb in London? Of course not.
Chomsky's 9-11 is a wake up call for all Americans, especially the elite-serving majority, whose societal function is to follow orders and be gullible consumers/passive members of the herd.
They are the ones who are allowing the elite to carry out their abuses and crimes. The "intellectuals" are probably beyond help, because they've been so indoctrinated, but the vast majority still has a chance to wake up. America--There is a good way to reduce terrorism and oppression: Stop participating in it!
As a final note, I should add that Chomsky is not "anti-American". Chomsky loves America and people in general, that's why he criticizes injustice. The concept "anti-American" is an interesting one. The counterpart is used only in totalitarian states or military dictatorships. Thus, in the old Soviet Union, dissidents were condemned as "anti-Soviet." That's a natural usage among people with deeply rooted totalitarian instincts, which identify state policy with the society, the people, the culture. In contrast, people with even the slightest concept of democracy treat such notions with ridicule and contempt. Suppose someone in Italy who criticizes Italian state policy were condemned as "anti-Italian." It would be regarded as too ridiculous even to merit laughter. Maybe under Mussolini, but surely not otherwise.

Actually the concept has earlier origins. It was used in the Bible by King Ahab, the epitome of evil, who called Elijah a "hater of Israel" for criticizing his Gov policies.
The idea of leaving America because one opposes state policy is another reflection of deep totalitarian commitments. Solzhenitsyn, for example, was forced to leave Russia against his will, by people with beliefs very much like those of the American commissars in the euphemistically called "conservative" party(that is, the statist reactionary party; people such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter etc)







Rating:
Summary: Too bad you can't negative stars
Review: Let me see if I understand: The attacks of September 11 are justified because the CIA supported regimes that killed people half a century ago.

I wish that Chomsky would join all the other far left idiots who are migrating to Canada because they can't stand to live in a country where the majority of voters have some semblance of morality

Rating:
Summary: Chomsky the chump
Review: Chomsky once wrote that the spelling system of the English
language was "almost perfect." This from an "expert" on linguistics. You can imagine how shallow Chomsky becomes
when he branches into areas like politics and others foreign
to his area of competence, such as it is. I'm amazed anyone
would attempt to understand the events of 9/11 by reading this
transparently simple minded account. Chomsky hasn't a clue when it comes to the motives of the terrorists, which somehow get completely lost in his convoluted and confused accounting.
But this book is all about getting to press early on to benefit
from the notoriety. In other words, it's about greed, not tragedy.

Rating:
Summary: This book will appeal to people who hate America
Review: Noam Chomsky hates America- he is a traitor, and under the provisions of the Patriot Act, I hope he is pulled from his MIT office and charged with treason.
This book must be pulled from the stores and the governement should find out who has been reading this anti american filth.
America is a land of FREEDOM.
To question this means you hate America- and all Chomsky does is question America.
REAL Americans will not read this left wing propaganda.

Rating:
Summary: An intellectual Rapist blames the Victim
Review: Everyone should read a little Noam Chomsky, one of the most formative influences and Grand Masters in the pantheon of modern American liberal thought. Chomsky's tired old flesh serves as a roadmap of where we've been and why we're here: a radicalizer. A revolutionary. A ghoul. A man whose tirades, screeds, and bromides against America are critical to understand in order to better grasp the vast divide that made our last two presidential elections such potboilers, have cast a once vital and moderate political opposition into something akin to a secular outer darkness, and today leads so many of our commentators to wring their hands at what they consider a divided nation.

Read Noam Chomsky in the same way you might read "Mein Kampf" by Adolf Hitler. Read it to drink in the sickness of a diseased mind gone wild with the fever heat. Read it as a diary of madness. Try not to be infected. Read it as a literary warning beacon. Read it to better sense the ravings of a gifted lunatic. With that in mind, a little Chomsky is called for, not a lot.

"9/11" fits the bill perfectly for the uninitiated: it is a pure distillation of the red rage and intellectual fossilization that has characterized Chomsky since the sixties, when he turned his passion for linguistics into a fixation on the injustice and evil of a nation, the United States of America, that had provided him with leisure and a sounding board. It is a sounding board for the modern Democrat party, for a party that stands days away from electing the frothing-mad Howard dean as its titular head, from anointing Michael Moore as its patron saint, heart, and soul.

Chomsky's "theories" make up a fearsome if fossilized triumvirate of ideas:

1) America's consumerist culture of death has resulted in a kind of uber-political "shop til you drop" institutional structure that hates starving children and seeks to export its greedy, amoral capitalism abroad.

2)Israel is the primary beneficiary of this consumerist, Mickey Mouse "Culture of Death".

3)9/11 occurred precisely because of our neo-imperialist retro-colonialist desire to export our consumerist Armaggedon through Israel into the Arab world. In Chomsky's distorted, sick, twisted, paranoid world view, America is guilty because the indigenous cultures---The arabs, the pygmies, the Zoroastrians, the Hindus---want to buy what we're selling. Never mind their free will, we should have been advanced enough never to sell, let alone manufacture, the goods we offer up in the Arab soukh.

4) As a result, according to Chomsky, we deserved 9/11. Stop. Breathe. Focus. Because of our policy---that is to say, our preference for democracy, property rights, privacy rights, freedom of speech---in a time of peace, 3000 plus people who did nothing more than put on their trousers and go to work deserved to be vaporized.

This is the very anatomy of a diseased mind, of a degenerate nature, of a diseased soul. Pick up 9/11 and read it: to bear witness to its madness is to serve as bailiff to the mind of Evil and insanity. If you agree that a jogger in Central Park at 7 in the evening deserved to be raped, then you'll love Chomsky. If you have even a shred of humanity, you'll want to vomit.

Rating:
Summary: For the critics...
Review: Regardless of whether or not you think Chomsky hates America, what he brings to the table is indispensable. He simply points out flaws in America's failed foreign policy, and the consequences of it. Chomsky also brings to light the tyrannical acts of the Taliban, al-qaeda and several others. What he does, essentially, is pull no punches with either side. His arguments are logical, and backed up heavily with sources and overwhelming historical evidence.