Noam "Don Quixote" Chomsky - On US Foreign Policy

Submitted by Robert (United States), Oct 6, 2015 at 09:06

It's sometimes informative getting the views of Noam Chomsky.

Perhaps the most serious defect in his thinking is that we (the USA) are almost always the "bad guys," and the "good guys" are always the "other." He also doesnt seem to see "the forest for the trees" when it comes to history, and magages always to romanticise the underdog.

If given the chance, I'd argue that the choices are between the "bad" and the "worse" and Chomsky almost always advocates for the "worse," if not the "impossible."

But having said that, he sometimes does give us an insight into current events.

Here (below) he admits that there is no real choice for Obama on Syria. But he seems to fantacize that there can be a negotiated settlement.

He also manages to blame England and the USA for supporting Islamism. It appears that Saudi Arabia is responsible for Wahabism, and its spread over the world - but he will not blame the Arabs for that; similarly, Iran is not at fault. For Chomsky, the West was always the bully.

I imagine that Chomsky was bullied when he was a child - so that he will always side with the underdog.

In the case of Israel, he only sees its dominance in the military-industrial complex - because weapons, after all, are tools of oppression, oppression of the underdog.

If Islamist is a curse on the world - than it can only be because we, the West, and the USA and Israel, have created it.

But if you overlook this Chomsky ingrained disposition, you might find some (few) insights, just because he's a pre-programmed Contrarian.

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2015/9/22/q_a_with_noam_chomsky_on

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".