In attempting to find answers about the big questions of the world, one could do a lot worse than seeking out the various works of Noam Chomsky. A professor in linguistics at the famed M.I.T, an intellectual of the highest order and probably one of the United States biggest dissidents, Chomsky has for a long time been highly critical of his home country's foreign policy and, so it would seem to me at least, rightly so.
As I've mentioned in this blog several times, I have been avidly reading his magnum opus, "Manufacturing Consent" of late. I have likened the experience to being unplugged from the matrix and, much as I've tried to think of a less shit term, I really can't find a better analogy.
The most striking thing is the U.S. Government's absolute willingness to lie to us about any subject on the planet. And I do mean flat-out lie. Now, I'm aware that the reaction to comments like that is usually something like "Oh yeah? What do you know about it Byford? The government wouldn't lie to us and if they do, it's to protect us blah blah blah." My answer to that is....bollocks! As the title of this post suggests, the answers are out there if you're interested in finding them. Chomsky presents unquestionably balanced arguments in all of his works (that I've read, anyway) and each point that he makes isn't the drunken ramblings of some stoned, liberal, left-wing beat poet, it is instead the articulated findings of a man backed up by and abundance of one very important, not to mention tangible, thing...FACTS.
Too often do the facts get lost in political mud-slinging and rhetoric, yet I have made it a point to seek out everything referenced in his book. Lo and behold, the FACTS are there and it's all true. All of it in plain view, right under our noses. It's just never reported. There's not enough time or space here to discuss exactly what has gone down in...hmmm...about the last 60 years or so to establish America as the most powerful nation on earth but let's just say that blood has been spilled my friends, in abundance. Countries to examine closely, to begin with at least, are Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Vietnam and most crucially, Cuba. Trying to answer the question, "why does the U.S. hate Cuba so much?" is the first step into the rabbit hole.
Chomsky's book itself focuses primarily on the media's role in this whole dance and, as far as that's concerned, I couldn't help but constantly refer back to George Orwell's "1984". It's almost as if the governmental policies shown in that book were transcribed, given to the white house and someone went "Hang on a minute...this might work!". It's like Imperial Propaganda for Dummies. He who controls the past, controls the future. He who controls the present, controls the past. Think about that!
As I've reached the conclusion of this book I have never been so fascinated, confused and most of all, utterly appalled in all my life. The worrying thing is that everything I'm reading isn't the outline for the next Tarantino epic, these are real people...dying...for us to live comfortable lives. I feel sick just thinking about it. Make no mistake, we live under the rule of a modern empire. It's every bit as savage, brutal and explosive as the Greeks, Romans or British before it and probably three times as powerful. And it's going nowhere anytime soon. Need further evidence? Read Mr. Noam Chomsky.
I'm off to shower off this pink goo and wonder if ignorance really is bliss.
Peace,
John.
