Chomsky's 911 Noam Chomsky's Book

Chomsky's 911 Noam Chomsky's Book 911 and his view of Past, Present, and Future Impacts of American and other Terrorism The well-known American libertarian sociolinguist Noam Chomsky ((Noam Chomsky, June 26, 2007) is the author of the bestselling book 911 (October 2001). Chomsky's 911 consists of interviews between various journalists, worldwide, and Chomsky himself about the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on American soil, the World Trade Center and Pentagon; and on America's military response to those.

Chomsky sees these terrorist attacks on America, and the events leading up to and then away from them, as being indicative, in combination with the attacks themselves, of wider and deeper implications springing from America's undeniable historical and present military aggression (Chomsky, 911, 2001).

Chomsky's 911, which essentially argues that all planned and orchestrated aggression against groups, politically; religiously, or ideologically different is terrorism (2001) is clearly [and in this reader's opinion, more than a cut above] typically more 'mainstream' (indignantly or defensively pro-American; therefore anti-Middle East and/or Islam) literary works that have emerged from the West subsequent to the 911 attacks. This is especially true in the sense that Chomsky also sharply criticizes American-based aggression abroad; and not just the aggressions of Muslim or other religious or ideological extremists, as terrorism.

Therefore, in Chomsky's view, America, yesterday and today, is equally if not more guilty of terrorism, and is in fact much more successful at terrorism than any of the various foreign groups it calls "terrorist" (911) equally if not more so due to America's greater size and military strength. Therefore, in order to interrupt the continuing terrorist dialectic in today's world, America must become less militarily aggressive and imperialistic, and also more tolerant of non-American world views.

Only then will what Americans call terrorism (never including itself as a terrorist entity) lose its core incentive: to terrorize U.S. interests here and worldwide. Author Biography The world-renown, politically leftward-leaning sociolinguist Noam Chomsky, who as of 2007 has now taught steadily at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for 52 years (Noam Chomsky, June 26, 2007), was born Avram Noam Chomsky on December 7, 1928, making him 78 years old today (Noam Chomsky, June 26, 2007). Chomsky received his Ph.D. In linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1955.

That same year he began teaching at MIT, and gained tenure in MIT's Modern Languages and Linguistics department (now called the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy) (Noam Chomsky) in 1961, at age 32. Chomsky remains today the Institute Professor Emeritus of linguistics at MIT (Noam Chomsky; Barsky 1997). Since 1949, Noam Chomsky has been married to a fellow linguist, Carol Schatz (Barsky). Chomsky's wife (of now almost 60 years) also comes from a similar Russian Jewish background. The two have known one another, their families having been friends in Philadelphia, nearly all their lives (Barsky).

The Chomskys have three children, "two daughters, Aviva (b. 1957) and Diane (b. 1960), and a son, Harry (b. 1967)" (Noam Chomsky). Noam Chomsky's intellectual and theoretical genius is most famously recognized based on his ground-breaking theory of generative grammar, which holds that grammar must be studied as "a body of knowledge possessed by language users" (Noam Chomsky, June 26, 2007).

As the article Noam Chomsky also suggests: "His naturalistic approach to the study of language has also affected the philosophy of language and mind is also credited with the establishment of the Chomsky hierarchy, a classification of formal languages in terms of their generative power." But Chomsky is known also (and likely more well-known today, generally) as a left-liberalist philosopher; human rights activist; lecturer, and author of numerous books; articles; essays, speeches, and other writings and communications about myriad, eclectic subjects inside and outside linguistics (Barsky, 1997), but especially world politics.

Noam Chomsky, who would one day also become (and still is) the most quoted scholar in the world (Noam Chomsky, June 26, 2007) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to brilliant Jewish intellectual parents, both of whose respective influences on him, intellectually and as a future humanist, were enormous (Barsky, 1997). Chomsky's father, William (Zev) Chomsky, a Russian immigrant, was in his own time a distinguished professor and renowned scholar of grammatical structures of the Hebrew language (Noam Chomsky).

Chomsky's mother, Elsie Simonofsky Chomsky, also came from a Russian Jewish family that had immigrated to the United States, although Chomsky's mother herself was born in America and grew up in New York (Noam Chomsky, June 26, 2007).

Noam Chomsky's MIT biographer, Robert Barsky (Noam Chomsky: A life of dissent, 1997) suggests that, while Noam Chomsky was very influenced in childhood by his mother's liberal attitudes and strong social conscience, and inherited her shyness and self-containment; it was actually his father who more directly influenced his future academic and professional career as a linguist. Noam Chomsky has only one sibling, a younger brother, David. David Chomsky became a medical doctor, and in fact still practices medicine in Philadelphia today (Noam Chomsky, June 26, 2007).

Both of Chomsky's parents were well-respected members of Philadelphia's Jewish community, and both were also known for the liberal and tolerant world view they shared. Barsky (1997) notes: "The entire Chomsky family was actively involved in Jewish cultural activities and Jewish issues, particularly the revival of the Hebrew language and Zionism" (Noam Chomsky: A life of dissent, p. 21).

In addition, "According to the Arts and Humanities Citation Index in 1992, Chomsky was cited as a source more often than any other living scholar during the 1980-1992 time period, and was the eighth most cited scholar in any time period (Noam Chomsky). Nowadays Chomsky is perhaps best known for being an outspoken critic of American foreign policy abroad, the subject, in a more narrow sense, of his 2003 book on world terrorism as reflected by the terrorist attacks on American soil on September 11, 2001.

Chomsky's outspoken political activism has also increasingly made him a controversial figure and a lecturer in continuously high demand (Barsky; Noam Chomsky) Summary The book 911 (Chomsky, October 2001) is a series of interviews with Chomsky, although it reads more like one extended interview with Chomsky about 911; terrorism (American and foreign); and American military aggression and might as the real provocateur of terrorism, worldwide.

In terms of its tone, the book has a bit of the "conspiracy theory" aspect to it, that is, of America itself as the world's top bad guy, with all other bad things springing from America's (historical as well as current) hegemonic bullying. The book was first published, very soon (just one month, actually) after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks of the World Trade Center and Pentagon, to mixed but then-mostly unenthusiastic reviews since it is sharply critical of the United States' military aggression abroad, and foreign policy generally.

The series of one-on-one interviews, of which Chomsky's 911 consists, were conducted by journalists worldwide, and then compiled and published. Within 911 the well-known linguist and his interviewers discuss together various topics germane to the now going on five-year-old terrorist attacks on United States soil, including, as Chomsky sees it, what the word "terrorism" really means: generally and objectively, that is, and not just from a biased United States post-911 perspective.

In 911, Chomsky observes that super-powers (of which the United States is clearly a prime example) typically endeavor to re-shape the rest of the world in a way that both protects and furthers those super-powers' own hegemonic political; financial; and cultural interests. Among these, economic interests are by far the most compelling. Superpowers' efforts to reshape the rest of the world to their own advantage, even very destructively, if necessary, are manifested both militarily (through invasions; "interventions, and wars) and economically (by dominating the global economy).

It is such hegemonic priorities and goals that drive, more than any others a super-power's political goals and therefore its aggressive military actions. The latter, according to Chomsky, are as much acts of terrorism (that is, organized attacks on a group or groups ideologically; politically; religiously or otherwise distinct from the attacking group). Before as well as after the 911 terrorist attacks; American economic dominance has been and continues to be the United States' true objective.

Essay In his politically and culturally controversial book 911 (October 2001), Noam Chomsky defines terrorism (using the U.S. Army's own definition of it (see Noam Chomsky, June 26, 2007) as being any organized aggression on the part of one or more groups, aimed at committing acts of violence against another group or groups, based on ideological; political; and/or religious differences. In this sense, Chomsky suggests that if entities like Al Qaeda are terrorist, so, too, is the American military.

If Al Qaeda's political organization contributes to terrorism; so, too, Chomsky holds, does that of America's government. According to the New Yorker, on Chomsky's 911: 9-11' was practically the only counter-narrative out there at a time when questions tended to be drowned out by a chorus, led by the entire United States Congress, of 'God Bless America.' It was one [sic] of the few places where the other side of the case could be found; and intelligent patriotism entails knowing the arguments you have to answer.

and, outlandish as it may seem to most Americans today, it is possible that.. Chomsky's interpretation will be the standard among historians a hundred years from now.

(November 20, 2001) Since the time of its initial, mainly negative reviews, Noam Chomsky's sharply critical appraisal of America's hegemonic military endeavors, in the form of what Chomsky calls terrorism, as much so as similar aggressive acts anywhere else, by anyone else, may have (as a result of the now-protracted Iraq War and its lack of any resolution yet in sight, perhaps come into its own.

For example, with no weapons of mass destruction (America's supposed reason for invading Iraq) found in Iraq; combined with the fact of the now hugely unpopular George W. Bush Presidency, based on the war's length and failure; and Bush's stubbornness about withdrawing American troops, Chomsky's major point within 911, that American military might and bullying of others abroad has to do more with economic self-interest than anything else, has perhaps now come into its own in ways nearly unimaginable by the American public, overall, in fall 2001.

Within his review of the film Power and Terrorism, a 2002 documentary consisting entirely of a 74-minute interview with Chomsky on subjects similar to those covered in 911, Turan (January 24, 2003) states, of Chomsky and his views on terrorism: Though he deplores the [911 terrorist] attacks, Chomsky believes they are historic 'not because of the scale but because of who the victims are.' Imperial centers,..., have traditionally been immune. Because he considers any violence against civilians to be terrorism, he views the U.S.

As "one of the worst terrorist states in the world" and sees the World Trade Center attack as more or less a case of the chickens coming home to roost.

'We can't comprehend,' he says bluntly, 'applying to ourselves the standards we apply to others.' Here, Chomsky suggests that, objectively-speaking; and in a way entirely non-inflected with national; ideological; or any other bias; the word "terrorism" in fact defines certain deliberate, violent actions and/or threats make and/or carried out against another, distinct, group or groups, due to ideological; political; cultural; ethnic; and/or religious distinctions of which the terrorist group disapproves.

Also, according to Chomsky, terrorist threats and actions produce fear (i.e., terror) within the population(s) targeted by terrorists (Pirates and emperors, 1986; 911, 2001; Power and terror, 2002; Hegemony and survival, 2003). Moreover, based on Chomsky's (and before Chomsky's, the U.S.

Army's), definition of terrorism; America itself, like (for instance) Al Qaeda; Hamas; Fatah; the PLO, and other terrorist groups, vis-a-vis whom America insists on the moral high ground, is in fact more than such organizations' terrorist equivalent in terms of size and capabilities for damage, death, and destruction (see also Chomsky (2002) Pirates and emperors). In addition, according to the article "Noam Chomsky" (June 26, 2007): In response to U.S.

declarations of a War on Terrorism in 1981 and 2001, Chomsky has argued that the major sources of international terrorism are the world's major powers, led by the United States. He uses a definition of terrorism from a U.S. Army manual, which describes it as, 'the calculated use of violence or the threat of violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological' [emphasis original].

When America invaded Afghanistan subsequent to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Chomsky stated the following month, within his newly-published book 911 (October 2001): "Wanton killing of innocent civilians is terrorism, not a war against terrorism" (9-11, p. 76), obviously, deliberately criticizing the American government's first, immediate counter-response to the terrorist attacks on our soil. Similarly, in the documentary film Power and terror: Noam Chomsky in our times (2002). In that film, Chomsky is interviewed at length on the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Within on-camera interviews, Chomsky offers his analysis of how and why America's military aggressiveness abroad, specifically including United States political/military invasions that long preceded the 911 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, objectively constitute terrorism. America itself is oblivious to and/or in denial of that fact, Chomsky observes. As examples.