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A review by kevin_shepherd
Culture of Terrorism by Noam Chomsky
4.0
First articulated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941, the United States holds dear four fundamental freedoms:
1. Freedom of Speech
2. Freedom of Worship
3. Freedom from Want
4. Freedom from Fear
According to Chomsky, there is a fifth freedom that has come to define U.S. policies abroad:
5. Freedom to Rob, Exploit & Dominate
Bullet Points (pun intended)
* In American newspeak, there are two vastly dissimilar definitions of “democracy.” There is the dictionary version - a government compliant and beneficial to its citizens - and then there is the Orwellian (a.k.a. American) version - a government compliant and beneficial to American investors.
* US apologists have repeatedly said that American foreign policy is always governed by the rule of law, but since the United States determines and defines the laws, that statement is a “terrorist fallacy.”
* American public opinion that runs contrary to government policy is of no account until it threatens the authority of those in power.
* The purpose of US aid is very often to permit people who are fighting on our side to use more violence.
* In a terrorist state, any information that is inconvenient is deemed irrelevant.
* Atrocities committed by our side are not atrocities at all, but rather are “errors committed in a noble cause.”
* Chomsky refers to Israel as America’s “Mercenary State.”
* America has installed and maintained some of the most violent terrorist states of the modern era.
* The unstated goal has always been to maintain populations in a state of apathy and obedience.
Published in 1988, The Culture of Terrorism focuses primarily on the Reagan administration with occasional throwbacks to Carter, Nixon, Johnson and Kennedy. The examples may be dated but the observations are disturbingly credible and the political forecasts are damn near prophetic. 4 Stars.
1. Freedom of Speech
2. Freedom of Worship
3. Freedom from Want
4. Freedom from Fear
According to Chomsky, there is a fifth freedom that has come to define U.S. policies abroad:
5. Freedom to Rob, Exploit & Dominate
Bullet Points (pun intended)
* In American newspeak, there are two vastly dissimilar definitions of “democracy.” There is the dictionary version - a government compliant and beneficial to its citizens - and then there is the Orwellian (a.k.a. American) version - a government compliant and beneficial to American investors.
* US apologists have repeatedly said that American foreign policy is always governed by the rule of law, but since the United States determines and defines the laws, that statement is a “terrorist fallacy.”
* American public opinion that runs contrary to government policy is of no account until it threatens the authority of those in power.
* The purpose of US aid is very often to permit people who are fighting on our side to use more violence.
* In a terrorist state, any information that is inconvenient is deemed irrelevant.
* Atrocities committed by our side are not atrocities at all, but rather are “errors committed in a noble cause.”
* Chomsky refers to Israel as America’s “Mercenary State.”
* America has installed and maintained some of the most violent terrorist states of the modern era.
* The unstated goal has always been to maintain populations in a state of apathy and obedience.
Published in 1988, The Culture of Terrorism focuses primarily on the Reagan administration with occasional throwbacks to Carter, Nixon, Johnson and Kennedy. The examples may be dated but the observations are disturbingly credible and the political forecasts are damn near prophetic. 4 Stars.