Matt Taibbi - An Interview Amongst Noam Chomsky

Thirty Years After Manufacturing Consent, How Mass Media Still Keeps Thought Inbounds

Noam Chomsky makes the betoken that gratis marketplace libertarianism is someone fascism. Libertarianism is the bosses party, every bit I telephone telephone it, the political party for the minority to dominion without constraint over the majority. Some liberty as well as liberty, that is. 

Excerpts - 

Chomsky: Well, the start out bulk nosotros wrote had a real interesting history. It was called Counter-Revolutionary Violence. There was a small, but quite successful, publisher that was publishing this. It was largely doing materials for universities, little monographs as well as things. One of them was this i nosotros wrote, called Counter-Revolutionary Violence. They published 20,000 copies, as well as started advertising. But it turned out the fellowship was owned past times Warner Brothers. And i of the executives inward Warner Brothers saw the ads, as well as didn’t similar it.

Taibbi: What didn’t he similar most it?

Chomsky: When he saw the bulk he practically went through the ceiling. So he asked them to withdraw the book. And they didn’t desire to exercise it. They said they would handle to divulge a counter-volume if he wanted. No, he didn’t desire that. Wanted it withdrawn. What he finally did was position the publisher out of business, as well as destroyed all of their stock.

Taibbi: Goodness.

Chomsky: Including our book, as well as everything else.

Taibbi: Just to larn rid of your book?

Chomsky: Yeah. And I brought it to the attending of or as well as then of the primary civil libertarians, people similar [Village Voice columnist] Nat Hentoff, as well as and then on. But they didn’t come across whatever problems amongst American civil liberties. I tin sympathise their point. It’s non acre censorship.

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Chomsky: You’re non supposed to detect that nosotros select someone governments that are much to a greater extent than powerful than the state. Anyway, that’s non role of the ideology.

Taibbi: That brings me to or as well as then other question. One of the primary themes of Manufacturing Consent was that it was difficult for people to recognize propaganda every bit propaganda, because it was someone as well as in that location was absence of take away acre censorship.

Chomsky: It’s real much similar the devastation of the press. It wasn’t acre censorship, as well as then it’s okay.

Incidentally, there’s an interesting bulk that but came out finally, says or as well as then of the obvious things most this, past times a adult woman named Elizabeth Anderson. She’s a philosopher as well as an economist. It’s called Private Government or or as well as then yell similar that, but her betoken is that, which is a major point, yes, in that location is a government, but governments tin live repressive. But most of our lives are nether someone government, which she says are indistinguishable from communist dictatorships.

Any business, for example. If y'all dependent champaign yourself to it, y'all larn essentially a slave of the establishment amongst no rights, give away your liberty, as well as and then on.

The interesting role of her book, which is somewhat new, is she goes through the seventeenth as well as eighteenth century advocacy of gratis markets past times Adam Smith, Tom Paine, y'all know, upwardly to Abraham Lincoln, as well as points out that that was a left fly position.

Because they were advocating gratis markets, because they wanted to undermine acre monopolies as well as mercantilism, as well as to let people to larn free, independent artisans non dependent champaign to whatever authority. And they regarded wage task every bit equivalent to slavery. The entirely divergence is that it’s temporary. You tin leave of absence of it.

And when the Industrial Revolution came along, everything changed. You could entirely hold out past times beingness subordinate to a major corporate structure, as well as wage task became the norm.

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Taibbi: During the 2016 election, I recall real vividly the sense of roofing Trump as well as beingness behind the rope line amongst all the reporters as well as Trump pointing us out as well as making us villains. He’d basically say: “There are the elites, they’re stenographers for the bad guys.” And that was real effective I thought.

Chomsky: Yes, as well as it’s take away out of the fascist history. Go afterward the elites, fifty-fifty spell you’re beingness supported past times the major elites.

Taibbi: Right.

Chomsky: You always read Thomas Ferguson? He’s a political economist, a real skillful one. His whole life he’s been working on things similar the behave upon of things similar crusade funding on electability. And he did a real careful study of 2016 election. What turned out was that, inward the end, inward the in conclusion brace of months when it became it was looking real clearly every bit if Clinton was going to win, the corporate sector actually got pretty upset. And they start out pouring coin into funding non entirely for Trump, but heavily into the Senate as well as the House, because they wanted to brand certain the Republicans controlled the House as well as the Senate.

And if y'all compare the growth inward crusade funding amongst the shift inward attitudes, it’s almost perfect. It pushed non entirely Trump, but likewise the whole Congress into Republican wins. Just every bit a reflection of crusade funding.

So the existent elites knew where their breadstuff was buttered.

https://taibbi.substack.com/p/preface-an-interview-with-noam-chomsky-the-fairway