The introduction to the interview also talks about the book Herman co-authored with Noam Chomsky in the 1970s, The Washington Connection and Third World Fascism: The Political Economy of Human Rights: Volume I, and Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, which was initially pulled from publication for being unpatriotic.
With a new administration, will the U.S. continue to follow the same foreign policies from 1948, which Herman and Chomsky cited in their book?
"We have about 50 percent of the world’s wealth, but only about 6 percent of its population…In this situation we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships that will permit us to maintain this disparity…To do so we will have to dispense with sentimentality and daydreaming; and our attention will have to be concentrated everywhere on our immediate national objectives…We should cease to talk about vague and…unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of living standards and democratization.”Watch the interview:
And read the article at Upside Down World.
It's strange how that quote seems to contradict the message that comes through in the video. The quote seems to be exactly what the U.S. has done to safe-guard their way of life, while the video is the Chomsky-esque critique of U.S. activity around the world.
ReplyDeleteEither way - nice find on the video.
The quote is from a U.S. policy maker in 1948, which was cited in the book. It is not the view of Herman or Chomsky.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the confusion.