Noam Chomsky: US, a Top Terrorist State

[davidthegnome]

34. The truth does often hurt.

It is also, in entirely too many cases, extremely subjective. That the US is like a "top terrorist state" is Chomsky's opinion, not a fact.

Yes, we have been responsible for much of the violence and terror in the world, we have also been responsible for much of the charity, much of the building, much of the lending and much of the feeding - not enough in any instance, I'll grant, but much of it. What does this tell us? That the US is a top terrorist state that is as evil as the enemies we rant about? Or perhaps that in this cultural melting pot, we are more within a shade of grey, that we regularly do both great and terrible things.

Generally when people speak of terror today, they're talking about violent religious fanatics, gangs, criminals, etc. The word is rarely used with any true attention paid to it's meaning. If, by terrorist state, Chomsky is suggesting that we inspire fear in others, then he is correct. If he is comparing us to koolaid drinking lunatics like the ones that blew up the world trade center... he is very much incorrect.

I'm trying to figure out how it is NOT arrogant to compare the US to a top terrorist state. Chomsky's opinions are only opinions.

As someone who is a student in a fairly small university (at least until next year, when there's no financial possibility of going back...) one of the things that bothers me most about my fellow students is the almost complete lack of any original ideas. Chomsky's ideas may be worthy of discussion, but they are not gospel truth, or fact, or indisputable. I'd like to see more from regular people, who, unfortunately, for the most part disappoint me either by not caring, or by merely parroting the ideas of someone else.

Perhaps Chomsky strikes a nerve for me, because I see him as an arrogant intellectual puffed up on his brilliance. Perhaps I'm wrong. I may be entirely unfair to call him arrogant without knowing him personally - but that is how I see him. The vast majority of "intellectuals" I deal with believe they are brilliant because they have memorized someone else's theories, because they know random facts and trivia... not, generally, because they themselves have done anything exceptionally intelligent.

Perhaps my beef is really with how we define intelligence in America...