Cross-posted from ShockJocks.org
Noam Chomsky tells ex-New York Times reporter Chris Hedges he has “never seen anything like this.’”
“This,” says the man Hedges believes is “America’s greatest intellectual,” is the frightening mood of the country – “the level of anger, frustration and hatred of institutions,” and the “self-destructive fantasies” that have Chomsky warning “that we have little time left to save our anemic democracy.”
“It is very similar to late Weimar Germany,” Chomsky told Hedges. “The parallels are striking.
“I don’t think all this is very far away,” he added. “If the polls are accurate it is not the Republicans but the right-wing Republicans, the crazed Republicans, who will sweep the next election.”
Apparently the noted linguist has been hearing some shocking things from America’s shock jocks – and their audience.
“I listen to talk radio,” Chomsky said. “I don’t want to hear Rush Limbaugh. I want to hear the people calling in. They are like [suicide pilot] Joe Stack. What is happening to me? I have done all the right things. I am a God-fearing Christian. I work hard for my family. I have a gun. I believe in the values of the country and my life is collapsing.”
In case you think Chomsky’s ire is limited to conservatives, however, think again! “Chomsky reserves his fiercest venom for the liberal elite in the press, the universities and the political system,” notes Hedges, “Who serve as a smoke screen for the cruelty of unchecked capitalism and imperial war. He exposes their moral and intellectual posturing as a fraud. And this is why Chomsky is hated, and perhaps feared, more among liberal elites than among the right wing he also excoriates.”
“I don’t bother writing about Fox News,” Chomsky says. “It is too easy. What I talk about are the liberal intellectuals, the ones who portray themselves and perceive themselves as challenging power, as courageous, as standing up for truth and justice. They are basically the guardians of the faith. They set the limits. They tell us how far we can go. They say, “˜Look how courageous I am.’ But do not go one millimeter beyond that. At least for the educated sectors, they are the most dangerous in supporting power.”
