Counter-Revolutionary Violence: Bloodbaths in Fact and Propaganda

by Noam Chomsky, Edward S. Herman

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, War

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Avram Noam Chomsky is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He is a laureate professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona and an institute professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Among the most cited living authors, Chomsky has written more than 150 books on topics such as linguistics, war, and politics. In addition to his work in linguistics, since the 1960s Chomsky has been an influential voice on the American left as a consistent critic of U.S. foreign policy, contemporary capitalism, and corporate influence on political institutions and the media.
Born to Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants (his father was William Chomsky) in Philadelphia, Chomsky developed an early interest in anarchism from alternative bookstores in New York City. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania. During his postgraduate work in the Harvard Society of Fellows, Chomsky developed the theory of transformational grammar for which he earned his doctorate in 1955. That year he began teaching at MIT, and in 1957 emerged as a significant figure in linguistics with his landmark work Syntactic Structures, which played a major role in remodeling the study of language. From 1958 to 1959 Chomsky was a National Science Foundation fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study. He created or co-created the universal grammar theory, the generative grammar theory, the Chomsky hierarchy, and the minimalist program. Chomsky also played a pivotal role in the decline of linguistic behaviorism, and was particularly critical of the work of B.F. Skinner.
An outspoken opponent of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, which he saw as an act of American imperialism, in 1967 Chomsky rose to national attention for his anti-war essay "The Responsibility of Intellectuals". Becoming associated with the New Left, he was arrested multiple times for his activism and placed on President Richard M. Nixon's list of political opponents. While expanding his work in linguistics over subsequent decades, he also became involved in the linguistics wars. In collaboration with Edward S. Herman, Chomsky later articulated the propaganda model of media criticism in Manufacturing Consent, and worked to expose the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. His defense of unconditional freedom of speech, including that of Holocaust denial, generated significant controversy in the Faurisson affair of the 1980s. Chomsky's commentary on the Cambodian genocide and the Bosnian genocide also generated controversy. Since retiring from active teaching at MIT, he has continued his vocal political activism, including opposing the 2003 invasion of Iraq and supporting the Occupy movement. An anti-Zionist, Chomsky considers Israel's treatment of Palestinians to be worse than South African–style apartheid, and criticizes U.S. support for Israel.
Chomsky is widely recognized as having helped to spark the cognitive revolution in the human sciences, contributing to the development of a new cognitivistic framework for the study of language and the mind. Chomsky remains a leading critic of U.S. foreign policy, contemporary capitalism, U.S. involvement and Israel's role in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and mass media. Chomsky and his ideas are highly influential in the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist movements. Since 2017, he has been Agnese Helms Haury Chair in the Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice at the University of Arizona.

Reviews

[Thomas Ray]

This is the book that Warner Publishing destroyed all remaining copies of--and put Warner Modular Communications out of business for trying to distribute it. Only 22 worldcat libraries in the world have a copy. amazon.com has none.

JC492 .C54 1973 Memorial Library bindery dept., by request only.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

About bloodbaths, mostly in Cambodia and Vietnam. A scientific reasearch on historical facts and, once again, how US protected, financed and even supported barbaric regimes and awful atrocities, in the name of anti-communism.

[José Araújo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A USA e C.I.A. sempre controlaram os governos de todo mundo orientando tudo para benefício próprio.

[Paolo Ventura · Rating 2 out of 5]

gli americani sono affascinati dalla mafia, ma pochi cittadini di questa nazione credevano, fino a poco fa, che la brutalità e la frode del crimine organizzato fossero caratteristiche anche delle operazioni di governo. possiamo ringraziare il cielo, immagino, se il governo degli stati uniti non e' ancora efficiente come la mafia (la cui esperienza si è formata attraverso intere generazioni e il cui personale è stato condizionato fin dalla nascita), quando gli tocca di nascondere le tracce dei suoi crimini, di sviare il corso delle indagini, di presentare come paravento un qualsiasi onesto e virtuoso lavoratore.
[...]
l'impressione trasmessa dai mass media a livello normale è quella di un umanitario interesse dei dirigenti americani per le vittime della "violenza"; il pubblico è stato indotto a credere che la politica americana nel vietnam sia stata condizionata in una certa misura dal ricorso alla violenza e dalla minaccia di un bagno di sangue da parte di altri.
[...]
certi bagni di sangue sembrano essere stati considerati come "benigni" o addirittura positivi e
costruttivi; solo ad alcuni casi molto particolari è stata data pubblicità e sono stati giudicati atroci e
ignobili.
[...]
questi mitici o quasi mitici bagni di sangue sono egregiamente serviti come pubblicità per la
mobilitazione dell'opinione pubblica a favore dell'intervento militare americano in altri paesi.
[...]
anche certe verità patriottiche possono essere ben impresse nella maggioranza della gente attraverso la continua ripetizione. per mezzo dell'auspicato grado di cooperazione dei mass media, il governo può impegnarsi nella "gestione delle atrocità" con un successo quasi sicuro con il semplice peso dei canali d'informazione, l'uso selezionato dei rapporti sui presunti atti sanguinosi del nemico, e la creazione artefatta di "racconti" e miti di bagni di sangue.

[Carlos Hugo Winckler Godinho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mesmo lendo isso, acho que a capacidade de ser cruel está mais ligada ao tamanho do poder do que a orientação política. Infelizmente não acho que teria sido muito diferentes os massacres caso os revolucionários tivessem o poderio americano nas mãos. Por outro lado, realmente duvido que conseguissem ser tão cínicos, realmente.

[Julien Lejeune · Rating 2 out of 5]

A rather boring book which has the quality to remind us of how the vocabulary plays a role in the propaganda. It is also full of facts about Vietnam and how the US and its allies have been protecting and helping dictatorship in the name of the fight against communism, which wasn't always there to be fought in the first place.