Why Noam Chomsky is for more famous in Europe then in US ?
2007-03-19 02:37:14 · 11 answers · asked by Patrick 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
Because most Americans are too busy watching american idol to pick up a book...
-An American with a library card
2007-03-19 02:40:39 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
People are afraid of the truth. In the US, people see Chomsky as some crazy communist.
There is also an attached underlying stigma here though; in the US people are fearful of the words "communist" and "socialist", I suppose ever since the Red-Scare of 1919-20, and the McCarthy era through the fifties, it has just become ingrained in the American consciousness.
In Europe, there are communist and socialist parties actively in government, so with that in mind, Europeans are more accepting of someone labeled as communist. That, and Europeans seem to already have a thing against American conservatives, so it might seem logical for them to find our more left thinkers more engaging.
It's too bad, most people in the US don't even know who Chomsky is, they have most likely just heard some off-handed comments about him from people like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh. I think if you compare the characters of these two versus Noam, you come across a scary thing. Americans get their information from idiots, not intellectuals.
2007-03-19 02:47:59 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
Because most people are stupid, especially in North America. You can give them a book, show them a movie, talk to them, and they might even listen for 30 minutes, but the next morning they go back to their "normal" routines. Well you know - "normal people stuff". And such "idealists" as Chomsky and others have only that - their smal niche, and they cannot do anything else without public support, and public doesn't give a f u c k, they need to go shopping! - remember?!.
2007-03-22 07:50:44 · answer #3 · answered by !@#$ 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Europe has embraced socialism and has turned it's back on Christianity, which was an important part of its heritage. So that they would give god-status to a communist is no surprise to me. The trouble for them down the road however is that in accepting a godless socialist philosophy, they are going to bring about their own destruction. What will happen is that they are already importing mostly muslim laborers in order to fill jobs that need to be done, but are not being done by Europeans because of an increased welfare mentality and declining birthrates due to the increased acceptance of abortion and birth control, and resulting lower population growth. The muslims being imported are not reducing their reproductive rates however, and within a few generations will be the majority, and will have succeeded in turning the EU into an islamic state. Then what will happen to all the Noam-worshipers???
2007-03-19 02:50:03 · answer #4 · answered by boonietech 5 · 1⤊ 3⤋
As you can see from most of the answerers here, Mr. Chomsky is not popular in the US because he is:
1) Disliked for his views, considered "anti-American".
2) Unknown.
Most of his books (or his ideas) are NOT reviewed in the mainstream media. In fact, most of the answerers here probably never read any of his books - and wouldn't even be able to list ONE of his 30+ titles.
Most Americans are (in)voluntarily UNINFORMED & IGNORANT people. They DO NOT want to think America is an Imperialist power which is bent on maintaining #1 global hegemony for the sake of greater profit & influence.... and will therefore refuse to listen to any views or facts that support this assertion....
... even though the US military currently operates over 700 bases in 130 countries worldwide (growing, and not including the 1,000 on US soil), and has been involved in at least 30 military "actions" since WW2, and is the world's largest arms exporter & defense spender, with over $400 billion year even in "peace time" (which is about how much it costs to be in Iraq every year, btw). Still not satisfied with all this, the US military-industrial-corporate-politico complex wants to build theater missile defense systems, as well as advanced space-based weapons. Yes, surely this is the great American Way... the way to world peace. Of course.
Instead, Americans like-want to believe that America is the deliverer of Peace, Freedom, Democracy, Tolerance, and Morality.... despite the fact that it has supported militarily/financially, numerous genocidal totalitarian dictatorships worldwide on all 6 major continents, such as in Iraq, Indonesia, Zaire, Haiti, Liberia, South Africa, Nicaragua, Cambodia, Chile, etc.
Few Americans want to face these uncomfortable truths or questions. They would rather buy into & eat up the biased media, politician produced propaganda, and unquestioned cultural values ("the land of the free," "the home of the brave & the just", "we're #1", etc.), and continue to live in a NAIVE Fairy-Tale dream world where America is the best place to live, and Americans are the best people in the world.
Because waking up from that dream, would mean facing the brutal, horrific nightmare of the American Matrix of reality. And most Americans don't have the courage (or the information) to do that.
It has taken 4 years of an Iraq War for American opinion to gradually turn against it - yet 30% of us still support it, which is a testament to Narrow-mindedness & Ignorance, given that 5+ billion people worldwide are against it. Nearly the entire FREE world has been against it from the beginning. And we Americans wonder why we're so often considered Imperialists by Mr. Chomsky & the rest of the world?????????
Americans, wake up and smell the smoke... from the guns & oil. Or, continue sleeping until a global holocaust wakes you up, of which the American superpower will most surely play the leading part, considering its past moral "leadership" in wars, nuclear proliferation, space militarization, environmental degradation, global warming, world poverty & health, etc.
Inform yourself. Inform others. Literally, the fate of the world rests upon it.
2007-03-19 11:07:20 · answer #5 · answered by sky2evan 3 · 3⤊ 1⤋
I do not think he is. If you asked the average Italian or Spaniard who Noam Chomsky is they would not know who he is just as if you asked the average American.
2007-03-19 02:42:13 · answer #6 · answered by C B 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
I'm a huge Chomsky fan, and have wrote blogs about him on my Yahoo 360. When Chavez suggested to the UN to read his book....sales jumped. BUT I ALREADY OWNED A COPY!
He is a great idealist, and is very popular here...and abroad. Many of his ideals are used in Europe, so he is popular there.
His books are a hard read, but are very smart.
2007-03-19 02:41:05 · answer #7 · answered by Villain 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Are you an idiot? He doesn't like
1. a lot of embarassing US history,
2. the US military machine,
3. US imperialism,
4. the global effects of capitalism,
5. most of the US policies,
6. and the US/Israel alliance,
so it would make sense that he's not that popular here. I personally don't agree with most of what he says.
2007-03-19 02:46:02 · answer #8 · answered by Privatize 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Because Americans have better taste.
2007-03-19 02:42:35 · answer #9 · answered by Rick N 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Americans realize he is a freak.
2007-03-19 02:39:40 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 3⤋