General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Noam Chomsky: The Democratic Party is now in the hands of Moderate Republicans. [View all]ellennelle
(614 posts)first of all, you don't seem to be even registering what is being said to you here.
i'll try to simplify it even further.
second, NO ONE is saying there are NO differences between the GOP and the dems, not even chomsky. he has said more than once, if you live in a deep red or blue state, don't vote for trump, that would not be smart. so he is on record as recognizing the differences at that level.
third, tho, you really have to step back and get some critical distance here, enough to look in the mirror and see just how dangerously close to a cult you start sounding like when you make this "GOP EVIL, DEMS GOOD" noise. that is truly scary.
fourth, what chomsky is trying to point out is that (and if you'd really followed exactly what he is saying, instead of just reading a headline, you'd know this) on matters of foreign policy, the US presence in the world is relentless and aggressive in matters of establishing and maintaining empire on this planet, to the benefit of an elite few and the destruction of the increasingly impoverished many. it used to be true mostly everywhere else, but it's now increasingly true here, as well. and his point is that hillary will be even more aggressive and relentless in these ways than obama has been.
so, in these respects, yes - obama is indeed a moderate version of bush (we're still enmeshed in the middle east, and have taken aggressive steps elsewhere, thx to him and hillary; or haven't you noticed?), and hillary and trump? given he is currently (he changes with the wind more than she does, so who knows what he really thinks) saying iraq was a mistake and we don't need so many wars, etc., so on those counts he is less a war hawk than she is. [warning: do NOT interpret that to mean trump is better than hillary; he is insane, where she is smart enough to be calculatingly dangerous.]
see, you're seeing all this in black and white, the way cults do - and the way the media sells it - when there's just tons of nuance and subtlety; these things make a big difference.
and, where chomsky makes his greatest contribution, he somehow manages to catalogue all this source info in his encyclopedic memory from combing not the TV or tabloids, but obscure US government journals and documents. in other words, he digs into the real sources and gets the info from the horse's mouth.
he is an invaluable resource precisely because he spends his time reading all this deep, first point resource material, and then sharing it with us. nobody pays him to do this; he is paid by MIT to teach linguistics, not dog the government. in other words, he is doing the job the media should be doing but does not, and he pretty much does the research part for free.
which brings me to yet another treasure chomsky has shared with us, his masterful manufacturing consent, which describes in exquisite detail just how it is that the media is brainwashing the population thru filtering the info and distracting the consumers. until you read (or see; also a film) that, and reread (assuming you have already) 1984, you're clearly missing so much of what is actually happening here.
in short, you've been had.