Author: David Cogswell
Publisher: Orient Longman
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 153
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8125020470
Description
This book tells what Chomsky is about. This work with Cogswell's text and the wit of Paul's illustrations make Chomsky as easy to understand as the genius next door. Words and art combine to clarify the work of a one who has been described the smartest man on earth.
Noam Chomsky has written some 30 books, he is most-quoted author on earth, ‘The New York' Times calls him “arguably the most important intellectual alive” – yet most people have no idea who he is or what he’s about.
‘Chomsky For Beginners’ tells you what he’s about: Chomsky is known for his work in tow distinct areas—Linguistics and ..”Gadflying”. (“Gadfly”, he word applied to Socrates, comes closet to the constant social irritant that Chomsky has become.) It is Chomsky’s work as Political Gadfly and Media Critic that has given passion and hope to the general public—and alienated the Major Media-which, of course, is why you don’t know more about him. Chomsky’s message is very simple: Huge corporations run the world, the political parties, and Major Media. (You suspected it; Chomsky proves it.) If enough people open their minds to what he has to say, whole gingerbread fantasy we’ve been fed might vanish like the Emperor’s clothes.
What’s so special about ‘Chomsky for Beginners?’
The few existing intros to Chomsky cover either Chomsky-the-Linguist or Chomsky-the-Political-Gadfly. ‘Chomsky For Beginners’ covers both-plus an exclusive interview with the maverick genius.
The clarity of David Cogswell’s text and the wit of Paul Gordon’s illustrations make Chomsky as easy to understand as the genius next door. Words and art combine to clarify (but not oversimplify) the work and to “humorize” the man who may very well be what one savvy interviewer called him – “the smartest man on earth”.
Contents
INTRODUCTION
"Noam Who?"
Why haven’t you heard of ---the most important intellectual alive?
Chomsky’s two careers
THE FILE ON CHOMSKY: A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Growing up during the Depression
His uncle’s Kiosk in New York
College drop-out
On a kibbutz in Israel
Speaking out against Vietnam
THE SOULDERS OG GIANTS: ANTECEDENTS TO THE THINKING OF CHOMSKY
Plato
Rene Descartes
Jean Jacques Rousseau
Wilhelm von Humboldt
Karl Marx
George Orwell
The anarchist tradition
Zellig Harris
A note to the Reader
LINGUISTICS
What is Linguistics?
The evolution of Linguistics
Linguistics as a science
Universal generative grammar
Evidence that generative grammar is innate
Is grammar learnable?
The Infinite variety of language
What is the nature of the original state?
Chomsky on skinner and Behaviorism
NOAM CHOMSKY AND THE MEDIA: CAN YOU BELIEVE WHAT YOU SEE AND HEAR ?
Necessary Illusions: The Science of Propaganda
What is the function of the Media in a Democratic Society?
Engineering consent
Walter Lippman
Reinhold Neibuhr
Recap of Chomsky’s view
The Targets of Propaganda
The Threat of Democracy
How does "ownership determine content"?---The Propaganda Model
Filter 1: Money---"The Media of Influence"
Filter 2: Advertising---How does that distort the news?
Filter 3: "Experts"---Who do they work for. . .and why do the same ones keep popping up?
Filter 4: "Flak"---Who writes all those Letters-to-the-Editor?
Filter 5: ANTI-COMMUNISM----Creating a Bogeyman..
Concision: How "sound bites" are used to kill opposing viewpoints. . .
Keeping the herd in line
Don’t take Chomsky’s word for it --- check it out yourself!
What are they hiding?
CHOMSKY ON POLITICS
Chomsky’s first hand experience with the Censor
Why doesn’t the news compute?
The myth of the Classless Society
The myth of the Free Market system
Welfare for the Rich---How it works
Uncle Newt’s double standard
"National Defense is a sick joke."
Colonialism, then and now
Foreign Policy: Friendly Dictators and Client States
The real New World Order---how it started
The real objective of the New World Order
"Corporate interests"/ "American interests"
History---One or two things they forgot to tell you
Coming home to roost
CHOMSKY ON FIGHTING BACK: WHAT CAN ONE PERSON DO?
Taking Responsibility---What can one person do?
Intellectual self---defense
Knowledge and information
INTERVIEW WITH NOAM CHOMSKY
INDEX