My letter to Prof. Chomsky

[Piscivore]

Then please explain me.
How do US people express their grieve and horror for the victims of Fallujah, Iraqi civilians killed by US troops?
How do Japanese people express their grieve and horror for the victims of the Nanking Massacre?

How do you express your grief and horror for all these victims?

 

[Piscivore]

I did not understand much of what you have written or its relevance.

I don't doubt that. Humans sometimes have a hard time visualizing how really insignificant they are.

 

[Piscivore]

Please let me know how US citizens show their "concern" for the children shown in the below pictures

http://respect-discussion.blogspot.jp/2010/10/us-war-crimes-in-fallujah.html

None whatsoever. I accept no responsibility for things done by people I do not command or control because they are wearing the uniform of or claim citizenship of of a country I am associated with simply by accident of birth. Further, as that source is clearly an extraordinarily biased and politically motivated blog, I seriously doubt its veracity. Thirdly, 29,000 children die every day--that's one sheet of paper in my previous post. about the population of a good sized town or small city. Every day. How can I weep for all those children? I can't.

And yet, I wept hard, and still ache, for just one.

 

[Watanabe]

None whatsoever. I accept no responsibility for things done by people I do not command or control because they are wearing the uniform of or claim citizenship of of a country I am associated with simply by accident of birth.

But you pay such people with your taxes, you vote for the administration who controls them and they do what they do in your name as well

 

[Watanabe]

I am not "my government". In this case, "my government" is not representing me or my interests, but those of religiously and economically motivated individuals with more money to spend on lobbying.

Who voted your government in first place?

 

[Flo]

Then please explain me.
How do US people express their grieve and horror for the victims of Fallujah, Iraqi civilians killed by US troops?
How do Japanese people express their grieve and horror for the victims of the Nanking Massacre?

Maybe I am missing something

Yes, definitely. You're missing the fact that there's only 24 hours in any given day, and that most people are too busy with their own life to waste as much of it as you apparently would like whining about how horrible the World is, was, and will be.

 

[Watanabe]

Yes, definitely. You're missing the fact that there's only 24 hours in any given day, and that most people are too busy with their own life to waste as much of it as you apparently would like whining about how horrible the World is, was, and will be.

Still they find the time to listen to Shakira, go to the movie, play bowling and watch stupid shows

 

[Hungry81]

Still they find the time to listen to Shakira, go to the movie, play bowling and watch stupid shows

And still you find time to whinge on the internet that people are not acting the way you want. People are only human. Funny that. Yes they can improve themselves but their idea of improvement might be vastly different to yours.

 

[Piscivore]

But you pay such people with your taxes, you vote for the administration who controls them and they do what they do in your name as well

You've got a very naive, schoolboy understanding of how governments work.

 

[Piscivore]

Still they find the time to listen to Shakira, go to the movie, play bowling and watch stupid shows

Yes, because they don't have the power to make people stop being horrible to each other--in other words, being human.

 

[Flo]

Still they find the time to listen to Shakira, go to the movie, play bowling and watch stupid shows

You should try it, instead of spending all your time demanding that everybody shares your negative view of Humankind.

You sound like a very young idealistic man in a depression, and severely in need of a more positive vision of life.

 

[Craig B]

I am not "my government". In this case, "my government" is not representing me or my interests, but those of religiously and economically motivated individuals with more money to spend on lobbying.

You are "your government"!

Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

so it is your power and will which sustain it, and if things are as you say, and it has been usurped, then not only should you be concerned about foreign lands, but you must recall that

it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government

And in a democracy that means voting, and if you pay no attention to foreign affairs when you vote, then you deserve all the stupid wars, with their loss of life and treasure, that your government sees fit to involve your country in.

 

[Virus]

Watanabe I'm gonna lay some things down for ya so listen up.

The world has never been less violent. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a minor border dispute and one of the least bloody in the world. More people have been killed in 2 years of civil war in Syria than 60 years of Arab-Israeli conflict. Palestinians live well on the global taxpayer's dime compared to their Arab neighbours in the ghastly slums of Cairo or the "refugee camps" of Lebanon, Syria or Jordan where there is no hint of Israeli occupation. Palestinians actually had more freedom and earned a better standard of living under Israeli occupation than under their own corrupt and inept rule.

The worst conflicts of recent history is the Second Congo War (~5,000,000 killed) and the civil war in Sudan (~2,000,000) which get little reported because, unlike Israel, it's difficult to get to and reporters can't get room service there. At the end of the day, the media has to sell papers and people care little for conflicts they can't personally identify with.

Likewise communist insurgencies in India and Turkey get little coverage despite their carnage. Nobody holds protests against the occupation of South Ossetia by Russian troops or the invasion of Georgia despite serious war crimes and indiscriminate targeting of civilian areas. How many protests have been held about the Burmese army's war with the Kachin Independence Army? How many idiots in keffiyehs and Che T-shirts would turn up to that? Exactly.

Since you never mentioned any of these conflicts what right do you have to call people "sheep"? You're as much a product of the mass-media as everyone else, perhaps even more so.

Those who call sheep, are the biggest sheep themselves.

 

[Craig B]

Watanabe I'm gonna lay some things down for ya so listen up ... Those who call sheep, are the biggest sheep themselves.

Not as big sheep as people who listen up when others lay down things for them.

 

[Praktik]

The problem lies with the people, not with the institutions
The immorality of the institutions merely reflects the immorality of the vast majority of the people

This is what should be said sometimes in your books and unexpectedly isn`t

Regards,
[my name]

Chomsky is like a multivitamin with a very specific purpose. His whole approach is systemic and institutional, and so I am not surprised he doesn't focus on individuals and would hope that he doesn't ever do that.

The reason for your differences with him on this is a fundamental split in your worldviews and the underlying causes for why things happen.

Chomsky's reply to you will be that the institutional framework is far more important than the individual one. David Simon's The Wire, is basically predicated on this premise and shows, over 5 seasons, the way institutions shape the individuals within them.

If you focus too much on personalities and individuals, take two Chomsky's and call me in the morning.. Maybe start watching The Wire too!

 

[Stellafane]

His final reply:

You’ve told me your speculations before. I’ve told you that I haven’t the slightest idea why you choose to obsess about your belief that that the human race doesn’t rise to your level of magnificence. Now that we’ve both made our positions clear, there is surely no more reason to continue repeating ourselves.

Hi Watanabe. Do you believe Dr. Chomsky is incorrect when he says you have a "belief that that the human race doesn’t rise to your level of magnificence"?

 

[Toontown]

Not as big sheep as people who listen up when others lay down things for them.

The sheep always huddle together when the big bad wolf comes to rip open their silly little indoctrinated throats.

 

[Craig B]

The sheep always huddle together when the big bad wolf comes to rip open their silly little indoctrinated throats.

Is that a metaphor?

 

[Watanabe]

And still you find time to whinge on the internet that people are not acting the way you want. People are only human. Funny that. Yes they can improve themselves but their idea of improvement might be vastly different to yours.

Yes.
Listen to Shakria is not exactly my private idea of "human improvement"

You've got a very naive, schoolboy understanding of how governments work.

Ah OK

Yes, because they don't have the power to make people stop being horrible to each other--in other words, being human.

So why even faking that we care about each other?
Oh, this is also part of "being human"?

You should try it, instead of spending all your time demanding that everybody shares your negative view of Humankind.

You sound like a very young idealistic man in a depression, and severely in need of a more positive vision of life.

You are still angry because I proved you said lies in the other thread.
Get over it

Chomsky's reply to you will be that the institutional framework is far more important than the individual one.

To which I disagree
Institutions are made up of people

Those who call sheep, are the biggest sheep themselves.

I am not a sheep.
I criticized my own country many times.
Even in front of my boss and colleagues.
Risking my job.
I try to do activism.
I say what I think in front of anyone.

What are you doing?

 

[Virus]

I am not a sheep.
I criticized my own country many times.
Even in front of my boss and colleagues.
Risking my job.
I try to do activism.
I say what I think in front of anyone.

What are you doing?

I've already pointed out how your collection of ideological clichés is a product of the same mass-media you claim to despise.

The more you think you're not a sheep, the more you are one.