Noam Chomsky IS the Problem

a critical look at the ideology of a liberal icon

Russell Brand did an interview of Noam called Anarchy and Ideas for Change. I look critically at three ways that Noam's ideology keeps us stuck in a fight over moral superiority rather than moving towards anarchy, which is based on all people being capable of community self-governance. I contend that Noam’s focus on “Why isn’t everyone like me?” ignores his status and security as a university professor, but is also logistically impossible.

The first concept of Noam’s that I question is a needs-based economic system, something that should be called socialism rather than anarchy. Then I look at whether youth will save us, particularly environmentalism and Greta Thunberg speaking at Davos. Regarding the ADHD drive towards activism, I quote Sun Yat-sen, first President of China, who said, “Learning is hard. Action is easy.”

In my last episode, I cited Caitlin Johnstone’s article showing the US has only 11 years of proven oil reserves at the current level of production. I wondered where that oil was going and found an article on The Atlantic called “America Is the World’s Largest Oil Producer. So Why Is Losing Russia’s Oil Such a Big Deal?” Robinson Meyer writes:

In December, in a ballet of global logistics, more than 30 tankers ferrying liquid natural gas from the United States to various destinations around the globe—Japan, Brazil, South Africa—canceled their trips and set a new course for the European Union. On the days they pulled into port, the U.S. supplied more natural gas to Europe than Russia did.

This represented more than a minor milestone in global energy history. As recently as the mid-2000s, energy companies fretted that the U.S. would soon run out of natural gas. Now, thanks to the U.S.-invented technology of hydrofracturing, or fracking, the country produces more gas than it can consume. “As in World War II and other crises, America has Europe’s back,” Mike Sommers, the chief executive of the American Petroleum Institute, wrote last week. (The institute, despite its scholastic name, is Washington’s leading lobbyist for the oil-and-gas industry.)

So while the US is phasing out gas cars and gas appliances “to end climate change,” and our water supply is endangered by fracking, the last drops were being shipped to the highest European bidder even before we insisted that they cut off Russian oil.

Third, I express skepticism on the inherent justice of toddlers when they protest, “That’s not fair!” Lastly, I question Russell’s assertion that it's possible to treat the symptoms of poverty and cure the disease of capitalism both at the same time. I suspect that ideas for change will only come after governments at every level are discredited when the consequence of these ideologies become apparent.

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Wokeness vs. the Void on Kehinde Andrews & Candace Owens

Russell Brand has a vigorous debate with Candace Owens where they jest, they joust, they hold hands and they redesign the system on a yellow pad. Russell's next interview, Kehinde Andrews, calls Candace contradictory, wrapped around a bubble, an empty void, like talking down a hole, belongs on a plantation, crazy ideas, dangerous nonsense, irrational, ridiculously delusional, and a black face on white racism. Who's right? I present their positions and solutions, and then show how we could enable Kehindeville, Russelltopia and Candaceland, along with my own system of community reciprocity.

Manufacturing Contempt (Noam has stated that for “people who refuse to accept vaccines, I think the right response for them is not to force them to, but rather to insist that they be isolated. If people decide, 'I am willing to be a danger to the community by refusing the vaccine,' they should then say, 'Well, I also have the decency to isolate myself. Okay. I don’t want a vaccine, but I don’t have the right to run around harming people.’” This video shows the psychology research that perfected the propaganda Noam fell for, a position that’s been amply disproven since.)

I take a close look at a July 2020 study on 'persuasive messaging' for a vaccine not yet released. The Naked Emperor fulfilled my wish for details on what triggers compliance and scorn for those who don't. I examine some of the repercussions citing a tender and emotional comment thread on Robert Malone’s Substack. I question if persuasive messaging on Ukraine has been similarly tested, quoting Matt Taibbi's article, Give War a Chance. I end with the advice to be kind to ourselves and generous to other people, even when we're the target of their contempt. Let go of accomplishment, we're on a bullet train and we're all getting somewhere without doing anything.