I am 28 years old. My mother and father were 18 and 16 in 1968. They were the quintessential hippies. Arguments would constantly erupt at the family table over dinner concerning Vietnam and respect for the elders. My mother's father (grandfather) was an Irish Catholic Archie Bunker. My grandmother was not Edith. She was a female version of Archie Bunker, just as tough.
My parents were fighting against injustice. Everywhere they looked they found horrible problems. The Vietnam War, which was taking many of their friends with bright futures into a "random" draft. Racial inequality. Growing fascism. Violence. The Government lying to the people. And my parents, and many like them, revolted. They protested. They sat in parks and sang songs. They got into arguments at the dinner table. And they voted and made their voices heard. And all of that had never happened before.
What is happening now in 2004-5, while sounding very familiar to what was experienced in the 1960's and 1970's is a direct result of what happened then. But don't believe me.
Last year before the election, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now had the opportunity to interview a man who, as she described, is "one of the most widely quoted foreign affairs analysts around the globe - just not here [in the USA.]" In addition, Goodman continues, "the New York Times calls him the most important intellectual alive today, but they rarely quote him in their pages." He is especially known for his depth of knowledge of world events and the biased coverage they get in the American media. His name is Noam Chomsky.
Goodman's interview has been placed on-line and transcribed. Access to the two-part video is linked to on the Democracy Now home page.
I highly recommend everyone either reading or watching this video when you have the time. Your understanding of the very big picture of conservative elitism and fascism at work in America. You will understand why great efforts have been and continue to be used to discredit Mr. Chomsky. Because he gets it.
In this interview, Chomsky talks about his personal history, how he got so involved in political analysis, and the history that the media ignores - as do most historians from our institutions. He talks about the beginning of fascism and how it was applauded here in America by the elite. Referring to Mussolini and Hitler, Chomsky said,
"Mussolini was quite popular in the United States over a broad spectrum, including labor. Roosevelt called him 'that admirable Italian gentleman.' As late as 1939, he was saying that fascism in Italy was an experiment that was worthwhile and had to be carried out, and distorted later by its association with Hitler, but -- in fact, the U.S. business community loved it. Investment in Italy just shot up after Mussolini took over, same after Hitler took over. In fact, if you look back at the records, which are now available, there was really never -- what's now called appeasement is a very misleading term. I mean, it was supported. Hitler was described by the State Department into the late 1930s, 1937, as kind of a moderate standing between extremes of left and right ...".
It's all connected. In part 2 of the interview, Chomsky how the elites in the USA were terrified of the rising level of democracy, protests and demand for civil rights in the 1960s as Government was made more open and accountable. This resulted in "a huge counter campaign to drive it back." A campaign we are continuing to see. After Nixon fell, after a President was brought down by a third rate burglary, the elites had to fight back. We got Reagan, Bush and Bush II as a result, brought to power by a vast right wing conspirarcy and a Republican Noise Machine. These elites, these Republicans realized their very existence, their very legacy, their very traditions of under the table and closed door business with other businessmen, foreign leaders and their own government was to be threatened by the various movements of the 1960's. And when that movement essentially destroyed Richard Nixon, it was time to fight back. It was time to organize. And the great Republican Noise Machine we face was born.
Business leaders and the Corporations they run took interest in buying media outlets. They ran seminar after seminar. They educated and trained a new generation of pundritry and journalism to cower to its commands and talking points.
Now I know Norm Chomsky has his critics. He is called a radical liberal, a radical leftist, a Communist, an Hate America Firster. Whatever. He speaks to me right now. He makes sense right now. All the puzzle pieces seem to fit right now.