Noam Chomsky

Where to begin? This page is under construction, but perhaps a good place to start is a HyperText version of Chomsky's article The Victors, pt II which I created.

If you haven't read much of Chomsky, or much about U.S. (and multinational corporation) "involvement" in Latin America (and elsewhere) outside the mainstream, reading this article in full (while I won't claim is the most pleasant thing in the world) is an excellent overview.

Another excellent article by Chomsky (perhaps a better starting place for folks who have not been politically active) is Force and Opinion. The title is referring to the two ways populations are typically controlled by elites ("rulers"); in a dictatorship like the former USSR, principally with the former; in a relatively "free" society like ours, principally by the latter, i.e., controlling people's minds through corporate control of the mass-media, of what is presented, how it is presented, how the issues are "framed" ("Will NAFTA create more jobs, or take jobs away? The debate rages on" while omitting mention of the vast anti-democratic provisions and effects of the "treaty") -- and what is omitted entirely from the "discussion".

A third superb article is Democracy and Education (Mellon Lecture at Loyola).

There are three short books which are good introductions to Chomsky's work:

  • What Uncle Sam Really Wants;
  • The Prosperous Few and the Restless Many;
    and
  • Secrets, Lies, and Democracy.

    Each is a short (about 100 pages) compact paperback, about $6 from Odonian Press, 800-REAL-STORY.

    My own series, Corporate Control vs Democracy, among other writings, is much in the same spirit. I have learned a lot from Chomsky, and hope my own contributions can do their part to help people open their eyes and carry out "intellectual self-defense" (as Chomsky puts it) against the onslaught of disinformation at the hands of the corporate mass-media...

  • Link to the Noam Chomsky Archives.

  • Other people I admire include Ralph Nader, Michael Albert (even when we "quarrel" :0), other 'prominent' activist, and countless less well known ones (including Rich Winkel my internet 'co-conspirator'), but more importantly, I "admire" institutions like South End Press, Z magazine, FAIR, LBBS/LOLU, since without institutions change tends to be marginal and temporary rather than fundamental, sustainable, and lasting.

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