Consequences of Capitalism: Manufacturing Discontent and Resistance

by Noam Chomsky, Marv Waterstone

Covid-19 has revealed glaring failures and monstrous brutalities in the current capitalist system. It represents both a crisis and an opportunity. Everything depends on the actions that people take into their own hands.’

How does politics shape our world, our lives and our perceptions? How much of 'common sense' is actually driven by the ruling classes' needs and interests? And how are we to challenge the capitalist structures that now threaten all life on the planet?

Consequences of Capitalism exposes the deep, often unseen connections between neoliberal 'common sense' and structural power. In making these linkages, we see how the current hegemony keeps social justice movements divided and marginalized. And, most importantly, we see how we can fight to overcome these divisions.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Economics, History, Philosophy, Audiobook, Book Club

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 5, 2020

About the author

Avram Noam Chomsky is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He is a laureate professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona and an institute professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Among the most cited living authors, Chomsky has written more than 150 books on topics such as linguistics, war, and politics. In addition to his work in linguistics, since the 1960s Chomsky has been an influential voice on the American left as a consistent critic of U.S. foreign policy, contemporary capitalism, and corporate influence on political institutions and the media.
Born to Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants (his father was William Chomsky) in Philadelphia, Chomsky developed an early interest in anarchism from alternative bookstores in New York City. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania. During his postgraduate work in the Harvard Society of Fellows, Chomsky developed the theory of transformational grammar for which he earned his doctorate in 1955. That year he began teaching at MIT, and in 1957 emerged as a significant figure in linguistics with his landmark work Syntactic Structures, which played a major role in remodeling the study of language. From 1958 to 1959 Chomsky was a National Science Foundation fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study. He created or co-created the universal grammar theory, the generative grammar theory, the Chomsky hierarchy, and the minimalist program. Chomsky also played a pivotal role in the decline of linguistic behaviorism, and was particularly critical of the work of B.F. Skinner.
An outspoken opponent of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, which he saw as an act of American imperialism, in 1967 Chomsky rose to national attention for his anti-war essay "The Responsibility of Intellectuals". Becoming associated with the New Left, he was arrested multiple times for his activism and placed on President Richard M. Nixon's list of political opponents. While expanding his work in linguistics over subsequent decades, he also became involved in the linguistics wars. In collaboration with Edward S. Herman, Chomsky later articulated the propaganda model of media criticism in Manufacturing Consent, and worked to expose the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. His defense of unconditional freedom of speech, including that of Holocaust denial, generated significant controversy in the Faurisson affair of the 1980s. Chomsky's commentary on the Cambodian genocide and the Bosnian genocide also generated controversy. Since retiring from active teaching at MIT, he has continued his vocal political activism, including opposing the 2003 invasion of Iraq and supporting the Occupy movement. An anti-Zionist, Chomsky considers Israel's treatment of Palestinians to be worse than South African–style apartheid, and criticizes U.S. support for Israel.
Chomsky is widely recognized as having helped to spark the cognitive revolution in the human sciences, contributing to the development of a new cognitivistic framework for the study of language and the mind. Chomsky remains a leading critic of U.S. foreign policy, contemporary capitalism, U.S. involvement and Israel's role in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and mass media. Chomsky and his ideas are highly influential in the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist movements. Since 2017, he has been Agnese Helms Haury Chair in the Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice at the University of Arizona.

Reviews

[Randall Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the start of WWI in order to get “a pacifist population to become raving anti-German hysterics”, While the BSO was forced to stop playing Beethoven, while Walter Lippman and Edward Bernays sat amazed watching people, who once thought for themselves, jump right in line and Lippman realized it was the “manufacturing of consent” and Bernays (the father of PR who saw himself as a propagandist) saw it and devoted himself to the engineering of consent. Lippman saw fellow citizens as a “bewildered herd” that “must be put in its place” where they stay “spectators of action” not “participants”. Lippman’s view is still common, that such citizens push a button every four years and go away. Liberal theologian Reinhold Niebuhr explained that because of “the stupidity of the average man” enlightened readers have to construct “necessary illusions”. There’s a great book about the rift between Niebuhr and my grandpa, Henry A. Wallace, by Mark L. Kleinman.

Truth tellers aren’t treated well. Socrates had to drink his hemlock. Prophets back then were considered dissidents. It was the flatterers who were honored at court. Look at today’s Prophets: Of Gramsci, Mussolini’s prosecution said, “we must stop this brain from functioning for 20 years” when sentencing him. Sadly, now after the death of Romero and the Jesuit martyrs, we know our prophets won’t go to prison but get their head blown off in public and “you have to make sure that they are unknown forever.” Those who go to the best schools know that “there are certain things it wouldn’t do to say, or, we may add, even to think.” Orwellian self-censorship. Remember Animal Farm’s original preface attacked England’s culture of self-censorship – things it wouldn’t do to say. The most authoritative source on the Cold War is the Cambridge History with many volumes and it clearly states that from 1960 to “the Soviet collapse in 1990, the numbers of political prisoners, torture victims, and executions of nonviolent political dissenters in Latin America vastly exceeded those in the Soviet Union and East European satellites.” Things it wouldn’t do to say.

Article VI of the Constitution is a good one to look at since both sides of the aisle routinely enjoy defiling it. Article VI says all treaties “shall be the supreme law of the land.” We signed the UN Charter, which says in Article 2 (4) that “the threat or use of force” is banned in international affairs. “among the things it wouldn’t do to say is that the leading figures of the administration are violating the US Constitution, the supreme law of the land. Does anybody care? Apparently not. It seems to be of no concern to responsible intellectuals.” “It is normal for political leaders to violate the Constitution by threatening force.” Obama criticized the Iraq War as a strategic blunder but good luck finding Obama (the Constitutional scholar) saying the Iraq War was the “supreme international crime.” Barack is not brain dead – he is fully aware he violated Article VI with his supreme war crimes of aggression. The US prosecutor at Nuremberg, Robert Jackson, said this is a poisoned chalice and if we sip from that chalice, we will suffer the same fate as the Nazi’s. To that verdict, every president of our rogue state since FDR has apparently added, “Just kidding.” After all, Noam often says that war crimes during WWII are standard US foreign policy now.

On Vietnam: Find any mention that the US invaded Vietnam (and Indochina). Why can’t you find it? You can’t find anything written by Hitler as incriminating as Kissinger’s genocidal ode to Asia: “Anything that flies on anything that moves.” Such violence led to creation of the Khmer Rouge. Liberals can’t go near the truth on Vietnam; the furthest left is the NYT with Anthony Lewis calling the war as “blundering efforts to do good.” US public opinion is actually to the left of liberals: in a poll by the Chicago Council on International Relations, 70% of responders thought the Vietnam War was “fundamentally wrong and immoral”. Such views it wouldn’t do to say in the Mainstream Media. “It is dangerous to have a people know their own strength”.

Kissinger noted that he couldn’t dispute Allende’s legitimacy, but saw that he was the threat of a good example and so Chile’s simple social democracy became labelled Marxism throughout the press. A rotten apple can spoil the barrel. Nixon himself said, “Our main concern is the prospect that he can consolidate himself and the picture projected to the world will be his success.” The Pinochet coup gave US planners a terrific chance to try neoliberalism and Friedmanite policies because if anyone objects to it, they get tortured. Simple. And it was a great success, “if you ignored the human costs.” In 1982, Chile crashes and is bailed out by state intervention while laughter breaks out among sharp analysts seeing “the Chicago road to socialism”. Laisse faire capitalism comically dissolving into a “de facto socialized banking system.” Noam reminds us that one US century earlier, “It was plausibly feared that the Haitian Revolution would be an insidious model for others.”

India is openly deindustrialized by England and then England kicks away the ladder (after developing itself at the expense of India), leaving it “a deeply impoverished, largely peasant society.” Study: Shay’s Rebellion of 1786 and 1787 in Massachusetts. The framers of the Constitution in Philadelphia had to be wealthy because transportation to get there was laughable and poor people couldn’t just spend months there for free and not working. One of framer’s biggest concerns “was how to suppress popular pressures for liberty and democracy.” John Jay, the first US Chief Justice said it clearly, “The people who own the country ought to govern it.” History showed elites they could invest their extra $$$ two ways: inwardly, as with George-Eugene Haussmann redesigning Paris, or externally in other countries. “Toward the end of the 1890’s, Africa had been only 10 percent colonized. By 1914, it was 90 percent colonized.”

Noam includes the gripping story of Vassily Arkhipov which should be told to all US school children. Vassily alone did more to keep Americans alive and safe than any single US citizen ever has. Maybe that’s why we aren’t supposed to know who he is. We now know that Eisenhower had delegated authority to use nuclear weapons to commanders so if what happened to Vassily that day happened to a US commander we all might not be alive to think about it now. Also look at Operation Able Archer where Stanislov Petrov’s saying no, is another reason we are all alive. Liberal Kennedy also changed policy in Latin America from “hemispheric defense” to “internal security”. The head of US counter-insurgency Maechling said this change was “a shift from toleration of the rapacity and cruelty of the Latin American military [to] direct complicity in their crimes, to US support for the methods of Heinrich Himmler’s extermination squads.” – Los Angeles Times 3.18.82 Kennedy’s exciting new Internal security” directive led straight to Brazil’s dictatorship starting in 1964, set up by his administration a couple of weeks after his assassination.

A big part of the reason our government prefers war over helping its people is profit: there’s much less profit in infrastructure repair or pulling carbon from the atmosphere. Analysts show social spending can help the economy as much as military spending, but social spending increases democracy while asking, “what kind of world do you want?” Military spending is never questioned. If government helps the people, then people might start thinking it is a government “for” the people – a dangerous thought for US business.

Because of Southern Democrats, “To get New Deal legislation passed in the 1930’s, it had to be racist.” Social Security had to be designed to exclude blacks and Hispanics in order to be passed. “Same with public housing.” “There was no federal funding for public housing unless it was segregated, right up to the late sixties.” Johnson’s push for Civil Rights sends Southern Democrats to the Republican Party where Nixon was waving the racism/white supremacy banner. “To his last days, Kennedy was at the hawkish end of the spectrum, insisting that US troops could only be withdrawn ‘after victory’.” The Vietnam War ended partly because the top military command told Johnson “that if the war was escalated further, they would need the troops for civil disorder control in the United States.” MLK’s “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” Speech is given only one day before he is silenced. “By that time, he had lost the liberal support that had remained strong as long as his targets were racist sheriffs in Alabama.” Thanks to COINTELPRO, at one point, “probably three-quarters of the Communist Party were FBI infiltrators, whose dues were keeping the party alive.” “The bulk of (COINTELPRO) documents were about how to repress popular activism.” Wow, no wonder everyone around me says the FBI (and the police) are not your friend. “The [Fred] Hampton assassination alone easily outweighs the Watergate charges.” Noam says, read the Jeffrey Haas book on it. Assembly line work wasn’t fun: Henry Ford had to hire “almost a thousand workers to see if they could get one hundred to stay on”. Paying $5 an hour at the time was an inducement, not kindness. Ford’s workers were surveilled on the jobs, and “even in their homes.”

Conservatives cutting family planning aid will only ironically increase the number of abortions. Here is real reason why the Middle East cannot be called a nuclear free zone: because then Israel would have to show their weapons and the US would have to admit Israel’s illegal stash exists. If the US merely admits it, then under the Symington Agreement, military aid to Israel has to terminate under US law. Oops. For the record: the Iranian problem is solved instantly with the Middle East being a nuclear-free zone. Republicans today are telling us “we should enjoy ourselves while the world burns.” People asked after Auschwitz, “What could I have done?” Noam says, “Future generations, if there are any, will asking that about us.” 1970 to 2008 is the advent period of neoliberalism. Before that “workers were sharing in the results of this increased productivity”. That was the Golden Age of Capitalism (Capitalism with a human face). The Nobel Prize in Economics went to Hayek in 1974 and Friedman in 1976 – with such questionable taste, there should be a Nobel Cooking Prize for Jeffrey Dahmer. “Strategic hamlets” in the Vietnam War were code for concentration camps surrounded by barbed wire.

Did you know rampant US Agent Orange use in Vietnam “was only against the South”? Veterans finally got compensation, but the Vietnamese? “They’re unworthy victims, peanuts.” “Hideously deformed fetuses are still appearing in Saigon Hospital in South Vietnam. That’s several generations later.” For Noam, The US has been “the most secure country” in history for 200 years and yet it keeps acting like “the most frightened country”. The Royal proclamation of 1763 made colonists and George Washington chafe, they wanted Indian land. Noam then offers a few great GW quotes. Noam mentions the later “virtual genocide in California”. The International Gallup Poll in 2013 asked: Which is the most dangerous country in the world. “The United States was first, nobody even close.” Did you know liberal hero “President Eisenhower assigned the CIA the task of murdering” Patrice Lumumba in the Belgian Congo? Evidently leading your nation out of poverty is a crime, if you have resources the US covets. In his place is put “the murderous kleptomaniac” Mobutu who leads the Congo up to today with children mining in wretched conditions to get us all our new smart phones.

Noam here agrees with the Gerald Horne thesis, that the American Revolutionary War was about slavery. Of the U.S. elites, only John Adams had no slaves. In 1772, Lord Mansfield ruled the end of slavery for Britain – its days were now numbered in the 13 colonies (but not in the Caribbean) and George Washington and Company all knew it when the War broke out. In South Carolina, slaves outnumbered the overseers. In 1804 is the Haitian Revolution, opposed by all white powers. In the 60’s, France denied compensation to Haiti. Noam on Haiti joins Derrick Jensen with the next lines: “In other words, first we rob and destroy them , then when they ask for help, we kick them in the face. The technical term for this is ‘Western Civilization’.” Noam joins the anti-civ team – right on!

Anti-abortion insanity was invented in the 1970’s by Paul Weyrich, a GOP strategist. Look at the facts: Reagan signed pro-choice legislation while Goldwater, Nixon, Ford and the first Bush were all pro-choice! Something sneaky happened since, huh? In 1972, a Gallup Poll found 68% of Republicans thought abortion was only between a woman and her doctor – no government allowed. After decades of Republicans forcing the abortion issue down our collective throats – Weyrich’s distraction idea has been a master class for Noam in how to brilliantly “drive class issues to the shadows.” Noam mentions Pamela Haag’s work on the “invention of the Wild West” – for most US history guns were like shovels, just cheap tools. After the Civil War, gun demand dried up and the major gunmakers needed to sell fancy guns for profit and a PR industry was born with the “Wild West” myth. The job of PR and advertising is for you to make uninformed irrational purchases. “Ooh, it’s $4.99 and not $5.00!” It is laughable that guns will protect you from government tyranny and yet that is the only remaining reason for the culture. For Noam, the first reason for the Republican Party to keep pushing shallow gun culture is “for diverting attention from its assault on the underlying population.” McCain in 2008 ran on the Republican ticket “warning about climate change.” Noam makes it clear that the job of Republican party is to keep its voters distracted with its two main canards of manufactured fear: “liberal baby killers” & “They’re Coming to Take Our Guns”. (the complete review of this book you'll find on my Facebook page)

[Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Chomsky at his best with Marv hitting constant layups. Their ability to condense so much critical information is at another level. I think I’m going to read this one again a few times this year.

[Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant. I was familiar with the issues discussed but I was blissfully unaware of much of the historical context for a lot of American policy. My cynicism now has cynicism.

[Oscar Cecena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes when reading, one phrase or a concept stands out, and I cannot stop thinking about it. And in this case, this is the one. Capitalism is so engraved in me that I cannot imagine it ending.

I’m a huge Chomsky fan. I started reading his articles when I was in high school. But, despite my bias for everything Chomsky, the Consequences of Capitalism book is quite insightful. It does not give you a leftist view for the sake of it. No, it gives you facts backed up by history.

One other thing they talk about, and I loved, was the idea of common sense, how we, as a society, build our concept of how life should work and if someone steps out of it, then they’re wrong. He talks about The American Dream, the idea that if you work hard and play by the rules, you’re going to be okay. And even in Canada (where I live) or Mexico (where I was raised), we have the same perception. And, because, some of us have lived privileged lives, we may think that common sense is real.

I’ve met honest people in my life who work hard and play by the rules but still cannot make ends meet. I find it ridiculous to look a single-mother in the eye and tell her that working two jobs and not being able to provide for her children is fair. I think it’s obvious for most people that the system is broken. It’s just a matter of making the people who benefit from the system (like me) realize that it’s wrong, and that’s the hardest part.

[Tanja Berg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is based on a series of lectures held by Noam Chomsky and Marv Waterstone. It's the most scathing criticism that I have read about neo-liberalistic policy. I'm a liberal leftie and despite this - or maybe because of it - I was shocked. After all, it's my firm belief that the neoliberalistic take on capitalism is the root of most of this world's evil. This book confirms it, rubs it in with salt.

Since "socialist capitalism" was abandoned in favor of neoliberalism, the average worker has not had any participation in the wealth generated by increased productivity since the end of the 1970's. All the billions of dollar in increased wealth has gone into the pocket of the very few, and what have they done with it? Bought politicians, basically. Tweaked and reshaped democracy to their wishes, to the detriment of all. You see, neoliberalism only thinks that that the "free hand" of the market should operate without government interference as long as things go well, and for people further down the ladder. When things go side-ways, the "nanny states" step in to save financial institutions from going under, and this has happened repeatedly.

Just take the financial crisis of 2007/2008, when some clever financial institutions repackaged subprime loans into fancy derivates and sold them as investment prospects, well aware that the loans could never be fulfilled. When it all went to hell, the government stepped in and bailed out several institutions. What did they do with the money? They paid bonuses to the bosses - the very people who had created the situation in the first place. The retirement funds for the common worker, that went to hell, that wasn't a commitment it was necessary to keep.

Actually, the financial crisis of 2007-2008 also destroyed my retirement. Rather than having a lucrative, life-long retirement paid by the company I work for, in addition to the bread crumbs from the Norwegian state, it's now all based on investments funds and will depend on whatever is in that. That's because the long-term interest based obligations funds went to hell with the zero interest rates caused by this crisis. Of course nearly every government jumped on the band wagon, not waiting to see if there would be any change. Am I bitter? Absolutely! This last paragraph isn't from this book though, but from "The Price of Time" by Edward Chancellor.

Anyway, returning to this book. It shows how devastating the results from our current type of capitalism is for everyone except the top 0,01%. How democracy is being whittled away, our environments destroyed, the work life for the working class unbearable. It also shows how it's important to have an imagined enemy to wage war against, just to take the public's attention away from the real problems in front of their noses.

I cannot do this book justice. It's perfect. It's one of those few books where I come to the end and think "again, I have to read it again". Read it!

[Wedma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ein sehr lesenswertes Werk. DAS Highlight dieses Lesesommers in der Kategorie politisches Sachbuch. Hat Seltenheitswert. Definitiv. So etwas kommt nicht alle Tage.

Das Buch gibt grundlegende Werkzeuge in die Hand, die das adäquate Verständnis dessen, was heute in der Welt geschieht, erleichtert. Da sollte man hinhören. Im ureigenen Interesse.

Sehr zugänglich erklärt. Kann jeder lesen. Sollte man in den Schulen unterrichten, zumindest in den Hochschulen.
Solche Professoren wünschte ich mir in meinen Studentenzeiten. Erst viel später wurde klar, dass solche Hochkaräter einmalig sind. Frei nach Albert Einstein, bringen Chomsky und Waterstone komplexe Dinge einfach, griffig, mit nur wenigen Worten auf den Punkt. Das macht Spaß. Und nicht nur.

Das Buch kann für viele zum Augenöffner werden. In vielerlei Hinsicht. Kleiner Vorgeschmack: S. 42ff. These: Die Mainstream-Medien verkaufen ihre Leser an die Werbekunden. Das ist ihre primäre Beschäftigung und Einkommensquelle. In dem Loch, das zwischen Werbeanzeigen entsteht, werden die Nachrichten platziert, die hpts. den Werbekunden genehm sind. Wer „Lügen die Medien?“ oder „Warum schweigen die Lämmer“ und ähnliches mal gelesen hat, weiß beschied. Dennoch: so klar muss man es aber erstmal bringen. Für viele, die ihre Meinung übers Weltgeschehen aus den Mainstreammedien erfahren, eine Offenbarung.

Jedes Kapitel hat seine Highlights.

Im Kapitel 1 liest man u.a. interessante Ausführungen zum Thema, wie öffentliche Meinung geformt wird. Ergänzend dazu kann man Propaganda von Jaques Ellul lesen, falls noch nicht geschehen. Kapitel 2 führt das Thema „Der herrschende gesunde Menschenverstand: Kapitalistischer Realismus“ weiter. Es wird an genug Stellen betont, dass nichts, was als solches mit Inbrunst der Überzeugung propagiert wird, de facto alternativlos ist.

Ausführungen zu den Formen des Militarismus, das Schüren der Angst vor gefährlichen anderen, Militarismus im Inneren, was zum Aufstieg des Nationalismus, Populismus, etc. führt. Militarismus im Äußeren und die Vielfalt der Beziehungen zwischen den beiden, Beziehungen zwischen Militarismus und Akkumulation, Akkumulation durch Enteignung, was mit Gewaltausübung (auch heute noch) einhergeht, erschienen aufschlussreich wie bedenkenswert. Die Rede ist u.a. auch vom militärisch-industriellen Komplex, dazukommen noch sicherheitsindustrieller und überwachungsindustrieller Komplex. Eine ausgeklügelte Maschinerie, um bestehende Machtverhältnisse auf allen Fronten und um jeden Preis zu sichern.

Viele Beispiele aus der Vergangenheit. So klar vor Augen geführt, werden die gleichen Muster erkennbar, die sich seit Jahrzehnten wiederholen, z. B. Die Wirtschaftssabotage als Instrument der Druckausübung gegenüber denjenigen Ländern, die eigene Interessen zu verteidigen suchen. Wirtschaftssabotage gab es gegenüber Chile, als in den siebzigjährigen S. Allende, der unerwünschte Kandidat, durch demokratische Wahlen zur Macht kam. Die Wirtschaftssanktionen werden auch heute noch so gern verhängt. Mit ähnlichem Ziel, die eigenen Gräueltaten mit einer dicken Propagandapampe a lá „Wir sind die Guten“ (Titel des sehr lesenswerten Buches von Matthias Broeckes) überkleistert.

Viele tolle Zitate aus den Werken anderer Autoren findet man hier. Goldrichtige Worte, wie z.B. die von Martin Luther King am Anfang des 2. Kapitels. Auch heute noch top aktuell, wobei sie seit bereits 1967 so dastehen: „Wenn Maschinen und Computer, Gewinnmodelle und Besitzrechte als wichtiger betrachtet werden als Menschen, können wir das mächtige Dreigestirn aus Rassismus, Materialismus und Militarismus nicht besiegen.“ Oder auch das Zitat von William Blum, S. 146. Noch treffender kann man die US-Außenpolitik kaum beschreiben. Oder auch die Worte von Lukas, S. 147 zu den Ursachen von Kriegen.

Sehr bereichernd. Wie die Ausführungen der Autoren selbst. So werden all die Lügen offengelegt, die „den Herren der Menschheit“ helfen, ihre Herrschaft aufrechtzuerhalten und weiter auszubauen. Aussagestarke Ausführungen findet man insb. im Kapitel 3, „Kapitalismus und Militarismus“, im Kapitel 4 „Kapitalismus versus Umwelt“ oder auch im Kapitel 7 „Soziale Veränderungen“.

Diese Inhalte MUSS man kennen. Schon allein, um nicht dumm sterben zu müssen. Aber eigentlich ist das Ganze zu einem höheren Zweck geschrieben worden.

Je mehr Menschen die Dinge so begreifen, wie von beiden Autoren beschrieben, desto eher kann eine brauchbare Lösung gefunden und herbeigeführt werden, denn die Lage ist prekär genug. Wie Marv Waterstone es am Anfang des Kapitels 4 bringt: „Es ist nichts anderes als Sozialismus für die reichen und brutaler Gangsterkapitalismus für alle anderen.“ Und es sind nur hundert Sekunden vor zwölf, was sich in jedem Moment ändern kann. Bitte richtig verstehen. Es ist keine Panikmache aus Spaß an der Freud. Die Lage ist ernst. Darauf haben schon viele kluge Köpfe hingewiesen.

Die Lösungen, Kapitel 7 „Soziale Veränderungen“, kamen mir etwas ausbaufähig vor. Aber die Lehren, Marv Waterstone, S. 394-395 geben paar wichtige Dinge auf den Weg: „Der Glaube, der Kampf sei ohnehin vergeblich und Wandel unmöglich, ist selbst ein Faktor, der uns lähmt und schwächt. Er ist eine der mächtigsten Kräfte des vorherrschenden Common Sense, den wir verinnerlicht haben und der alles, was ihm widerspricht, ganz buchstäblich als Unsinn beurteilt. Ich denke, die Einsicht, wie fragwürdig dieses Urteil ist, ist der erste Schritt zur Veränderung.“

Chomsky weist auch auf die dringende Notwendigkeit der Veränderungen hin, S. 396-397, bleibt aber auch im Abstrakten. In der Hinsicht fand ich Ulrike Guérots Vorschläge „Was wir jetzt machen“ im Teil 3 ihres Werkes „Wer schweigt, stimmt zu“ doch konkreter und praxisnäher, schon weil auf Europa, Deutschland und Österreich, bezogen. Hier wurde das Ganze mit Schwerpunkt USA aufgerollt. Europa kommt weniger oft vor.

Zu COVID 19 gab es paar Bemerkungen, die zwar nicht von der Hand zu weisen sind und zu den Thesen des Buches prima passen, die aber letztendlich hinlänglich bekannt sind: Dass die Pandemie eklatante Mängel im Gesundheitswesen offenbart hat, die systemimmanent sind, Vielen haben sie das Leben gekostet. Und einige wenige haben von der Pandemie enorm profitiert und sagendhaft bereichert, so mit ist die Schere zwischen Arm und Reich noch weiter aufgegangen. Aufsehenerregende Zahlen und Fakten findet man u.a. auf S. 436-442.

Die Autoren schließen mit der Frage: „Wird die große Masse der Menschheit, die dabei nur gewinnen kann, sich erheben und damit einen neuen Kurs erzwingen?“, was gedanklich zu einem Zitat von Hume am Anfang des Buches den Kreis schließt. Chomsky schreibt: „Er finde nichts überraschender ‚als zu sehen, mit welcher Leichtigkeit die Vielen von den Wenigen regiert werden und die unausgesprochene Unterwerfung zu beobachten, mit der die Menschen ihre eigenen Wünsche und Leidenschaften zugunsten der Wünsche und Leidenschaften ihrer Herrscher aufgeben…‘“

Ein gutes Buch ist gut auf jeder Seite. Dieses ist hervorragend. So viel Wahres in geballter Form gibt es sehr selten. Das beeindruckt. Nachhaltig. Diese feine Ironie, insb. bei Chomsky, die seine Ausführungen durchdringt!

Weiterführende Quellen findet man hinten im Buch, nach Kapiteln sortiert. Eine kennenlernenswerte Neuerscheinung „Das Virus“ von Günter Theissen, auch „Die Chronik der angekündigten Krise von Paul Schreyer sollte man ebenfalls kennen.

Fazit: Unbedingt lesen. Und im Bekannten/ Verwandten/Kollegenkreis diskutieren. Und endlich das Richtige tun.

[Thomas Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Consequences of Capitalism: Manufacturing Discontent and Resistance, Noam Chomsky (1928- ) and Marv Waterstone (1948- ), 2021, 388 pages, Dewey 330.122 C454c, ISBN 9781642592634

Each chapter comprises a lecture by Waterstone (two stars) and one by Chomsky (five stars), given in January and February, 2019. There's an April 2020 postscript.

Until industrial feudalism--our current system--is replaced by industrial democracy, politics will be but the shadow cast by business over society. The institutions of private power undermine democracy and freedom. Power resides in control of the means of production, exchange, publicity, transportation, and communication. Whoever owns them rules the life of the country. --John Dewey. pp. 199, 118.

Those who are advantaged by the status quo are constantly at work to make us understand that the way things are is the way things should be. p. viii.

It is easy to come to believe, with utter sincerity, what happens to be convenient to believe. p. 330.

"I was lucky enough to go to a John-Deweyite school from about age two to twelve." --Noam Chomsky. p. 117.


Selected Readings:

Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don't Talk about It), Elizabeth Anderson, 2017 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

Deterring Democracy, Noam Chomsky, 1991 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

The new stage of capitalism recognizes that serving the genuine needs of people can be less lucrative than selling predictions of their behavior.

Comprised of transcripts of lectures given by Chomsky and Waterstone.

Three fundamental consequences of capitalism:
1. the environmental and climate crisis
2. never-ending state of war; permanent war stance
3. neoliberal hollowing out of the economy and society

As I read, I had a few drug-addled thoughts: If only the damn Nazis could have been more dedicated Capitalists. If only they had been “rational” enough to determine that Jews are worth more alive than dead. This would have brought the Nazis to adopt the US south’s radical anti-miscegenation laws, which said that anyone with ONE DROP of African blood was property, not a person.

Properly Capitalist Nazis would have awakened the lazy, less-dedicated Capitalist Nazis to the realisation that the Jews’ labour would better support their Reich than would the Jews’ extermination. And, they could always exercise the extermination option should the need arise.

Properly Capitalist Nazis would have taken a more ambitious, long-term strategy to engineer the Jews into a sub-class of semi-people the Nazis could use perpetually as an ultra-low-cost source of labour. We would today know a far different history, with a likely much closer relationship between Germany and the US south. Or perhaps there is no US south. Or US. Perhaps Germany won and we are all now served by Jewish slave labour.

Instead of wiping them out, spending all that time to build short-term work camps and devise creative ways to murder families, the Nazis would have carefully FARMED the Jews, like US southerners farmed their slaves. The Nazis would of course properly indoctrinate their slaves—they must never believe they are people, in any manner like the Nazis. Nazis are racially and morally superior. Jews may not attend superior schools or take superior jobs. They are kept in a perpetual state of fear for their lives; the superior police kill them in sufficient numbers, blatantly, to show the slaves they can expect no justice from superior courts, no protections under superior law. Allow them just enough hope to keep labouring. "Emancipation", lotteries, the rare case of a sub-class non-person “former” Jewish slave moving up the ladder to be just one rank lower than their superiors; an occasional feigned enthusiasm amongst the superiors to give the Jewish slaves some “rights”, for those willing to live by the superior rules and keep their heads down.

Introduce fantastically addictive drugs that combine the best of sense-deadening, physically stimulating and physically destructive chemicals. Keep them working; the drugs will bring in employment and additional violence to keep them in fear, all while providing the superiors with non-public funds to kill and enslave more sub-people all over the world. The superiors make billions from slaving, dealing, jailing, “rehabilitating”. Let them think they are physically free. Keep them alive, after a fashion. Cannot allow too many to die before all efficient labour and loose change is squeezed out. Ah, industry. More profitable than genocide.

Keep the “former” slaves in the dark; uneducated, hopeless, poor, anxious, exhausted. And tell them. Show them. LEGISLATE their inferiority. Soon enough, they are trained to perpetuate these lies among themselves. And thus the Capitalist Reich rolls on across the backs of its slaves.

Oof. I need to read something a bit more ignorant of the darkness of our world. Something with faeries perhaps.

[Joy]

DNF a little over 50%. I just can't do this anymore. The more I read, the more depressed I get. I appreciate Chomsky's big brain, but there's not really anything new for me in this book. The concepts and political musings aren't new. No matter what anyone says (including Chomsky), they've all failed political purity tests. Reading Consequences of Capitalism: Manufacturing Discontent and Resistance feels like a Reddit For Dummies book.

So, no stars. I can't finish it. I don't have an opinion on this. He's not wrong in what he says. It's all true. My problem is the depressing nature of political language and the bullshit quotient.

[Zach Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid collection of lectures from Chomsky and Waterstone. On the Chomsky side, it's a word-for-word regurgitation of his talks/writings from the past 50 years. He found a cadence and structure that he likes and he seldom swaps out a single word lol. It gets a little tiring because I can predict almost 100% of the sentences that are about to come up. Waterstone's lectures were more interesting, probably just because I'm not as familiar with his work. As it relates to capitalism's counterpart - socialism - I felt this pretty lacking. There's a good distillation of Capital vol 1 by Waterstone. But when socialist states were brought up (Soviet Union, Cuba, China, etc), they were often done with derogatory intent. Whether it's calling every single one of them 'state capitalism' or spreading nonsense about China's social credit system, the pair are much more compelling when they're running through the history of U.S. aggression or the development of the political regime in the U.S.

For a relatively new leftie, this could be informative and generally positive. But for a more seasoned reader of history/leftist scholarship, it's just ok.

[Derek Boyes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first Chomsky (and Waterstone) book and I was looking forward to what he had to say about the world. I was worried it would be too academic, but actually it gave a clear overview of the various ways the Elite maintain a version of 'common sense' to keep us all 'distracted' in order to justify their continual pursuit of Capitalism. This is despite decades of evidence and warnings that a continued expansion on a planet with limited resources ultimately leads to catastrophic consequences, not just for the human race, but for all life on Earth.

I had always heard murmurings that the US (and UK) invaded Iraq to control its oil (despite maintaining they were protecting us from 'weapons of mass destruction' and later, that they were 'freeing the Iraqi people from tyranny), but knowing oil was now considered a 'soon to be obsolete form of energy,' I could never understood why they needed to. Now that the motives have been laid out so clearly in this book, along with many other 'secret wars' (like those in south America during the 80's), it's shocking how void of humanity these Elite's are.

I was hoping the last three chapters would propose effective ways to overcome such ever-expanding Capitalist dominance, but all that is really offered is activism through various movements. However, marching and protesting as a way to make slow change seems rather elementary and ineffective for 2021, especially when radical left identity politics encourage in-fighting within oppressed groups (The Elite's must love this).

Surely there are other innovative ingenious ways to influence/steer/overthrow such power, if not, then may be the environmental catastrophes will eventually wipe out these Elites and their capitalist ideas. ...but at the expense of millions, if not billions of innocent lives.

Definitely worth reading, but don't expect any tangible solutions.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book while taking Noam Chomsky and Marv Waterstone’s University of Arizona course of the same name. The lectures in the book are from 2019 but are still pretty similar to the course material that Noam and Marc teach today. This book is a great option if you’ve always wanted to take a class with Chomsky but don’t want to shell out $300 and 8 weeks of your life. (That said, I do still highly recommend the online class if you can swing it.)

Because the material in this book is set up as a series of roughly hour-long spoken lectures, it reads like someone is actually speaking to you and is great for reading in small chunks. Chomsky has always been a clear and engaging writer, but I found this book to be one of his most accessible. Marv’s lectures focus a lot more on sociopolitical context and history, but they’re still quite engaging. Chomsky is a legend, of course. And Marv seems like an affable, smart dude with whom you'd love to smoke a bowl.

The basic thrust of this book is pretty straightforward: capitalism has outlived its usefulness as an economic system, and the consequences of said capitalism are (to put it mildly) pretty bad. Chomsky and Waterstone argue that modern capitalism both requires and exacerbates a bunch of nasty stuff that enriches a chosen few at the expense of everyone else. This nasty stuff includes militarism, neoliberalism, the financialization of everything, exploitative globalisation, and (my fave) environmental destruction. The lectures on the environment hit particularly hard. Buckle up.

If you’re looking for a beacon of sparkling positivity extolling all the virtues of the United States, this book ain’t it. I was already very cynical about the US’s role in modern history, but damn, this book really opened my eyes to what a massive bully the US has been on the world stage for its entire existence. We are one of the only countries to be at war almost constantly since our country was founded. Quite the achievement! We have hundreds of military bases all over the world but we’re incensed as soon as someone else flies a single balloon over our country. In high school and college, I learned a rough thumbnail sketch of some of the history presented in this book, but I had no idea how much of America’s checkered past (and present) is simply swept under the rug as the cost of doing business. And it really all is about business. None of America's imperialism is designed to benefit working Americans. Rather, all of our shenanigans abroad are orchestrated to line the pockets of the rich and powerful—and, um, "spread democracy" or something.

I now live outside the US, and since reading this book, I can’t believe that people from other countries aren’t ruder to me. We Americans would certainly have it coming, yikes. Of course, as Chomsky and Waterstone note, this is not a uniquely American phenomenon; it is a natural consequence of the neoliberal capitalist economic system. If it wasn’t the US wreaking havoc around the world, it would certainly be some other powerhouse country bullying everyone.

Noam and Marv do a bleakly wonderful job of laying out all the issues with contemporary capitalism—and the brutal role the US has played in much of the global inequality we see today. They do such a good job, in fact, that the closing chapters focusing on social change and solutions feel relatively light by comparison. The authors certainly wanted to end the book (and their course) on a positive note, but after hundreds of pages of descriptions of dire straits, the hope for improvement and possibility of change ring somewhat hollow.

With that said, I have always admired Chomsky’s commitment to working for a better world, and encouraging others to do the same, even in the face of tremendous obstacles. After all, we’re on Earth for only a short time; may as well try to do something to improve things while we’re here. If we haven’t got hope, the battle is already over.

This is a nicely approachable book—though a bit repetitive in places and certainly depressing. Pairs nicely with some moody instrumental music, red wine, and a commitment to social change through direct action.

[Cait]

"rampant, seemingly endless wars, both hot and cold. widespread and wide-ranging environmental catastrophe. unparalleled levels of global wealth and income inequality. [...] increasingly repressive and authoritarian regimes, playing upon virulently divisive rhetoric. [...] we have [...] attempted to connect this set of existential conditions to their underlying systemic causes. the course has also endeavored to make these connections in ways that point to coalitional politics and efficacious actions." so chomsky and waterstone begin their description of "the principal goals of [...] this book" (based on a course they have taught and, I believe, continue to teach), and then they go on to do just that. good shit. love to connect a dot or two.

a barrel of laughs and a half, by which I mean horrifying. actually extremely helpful though in terms of providing nice citable sources in abundance for all of the things one might have to argue with the willfully obtuse about. ideally I'd like the willfully obtuse to just go ahead and read this themselves, but if I must be the middleman, then I must. not to be such a fucking nerd and eternal student but aaactually the labor history class I took this summer plus select pieces from my union's leadership conference plus this book all following in close succession gave me some, like, immediately practicable shit. (there's even a covid chapter!) anything to help me from giving in to The Despair!!!!! (we must resist the urge to rest content in bread-and-butter unionism and apparently there're some statistics about how union involvement can make a difference in Pulling Back from the Brink or whatever. please don't rat me out to the people who are better communists than me because I sometimes see stuff suggesting that they think unions are like petty bourgeois or laughable or something and they probably have good reason but I have to use the tools at hand)

also this cover lowkey looks, to my brain, so much like the one my library has for embassytown lol

[Kaelan Ratcliffe ▪ كايِلان راتكِليف · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent series of chapters pulled from a number of lectures by Marv Waterstone and Noam Chomsky. Each chapter links into the next, starting with a chapter challenging prevalent common sense within the neoliberal, finacialised capitalism that the Western world (and other countries that have it forced down their throat) is currently residing under. Chapters proceeding after this tackle militarism, environmentalism and social movements. There's a framework that discusses marx and the 'M>C>M' model is used regularly to discuss resource acquisition and market penetration by military and government forces abroad, as such I would recommend this to anyone wanting to understand to some degree a Marxist viewing of our world as it is right now. There's also a short chapter at the end on covid - the virus had just started to spread at the time of printing - which is very insightful.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

"August 6th, 1945. I was a counselor at a summer camp. The Hiroshima bombing was announced. Everyone went off to the next activity. I was so appalled, both by the event and lack of reaction, that I went off alone to the woods for a few hours. I have felt the same ever since."

Noam Chomsky

[Celio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Illuminating and very well presented arguments. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on common sense. Great source of other resources and analysis, lots of food for thought. Great companion to do your own research, especially to understand the counterarguments.

[Anisa Mehedi · Rating 5 out of 5]

so capitalism needs to change, USA is evil as fuck and climate catastrophe will end us all. ok.

[Francis Kilkenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Noam Chomsky and Marv Waterstone’s ‘Consequences of Capitalism’ relates the history and consequences of capitalism in the last century or so, with a strong emphasis on the role of U.S. power. This book is formed from a series of lectures that Chomsky and Waterstone gave at the University of Arizona, which are lightly edited. Chomsky, as always, is skewering in his critique of U.S. domestic and foreign policy, while Waterstone provides a more theoretical perspective on capitalism and its effects.

As someone who has read a lot of Chomsky, I will say that Chomsky’s lectures are essentially Chomsky being Chomsky. Which is to say, a lecture from likely the most intelligent and knowledgeable critic of power in our lifetime. Chomsky’s grasp on political history is outstanding and you will always come away smarter. In fact, Chomsky’s intellect and ability to muster facts is so powerful that it can take some time to see his blind spots. But, like everyone, these blind spots exist. The major one being his relentless focus on U.S. power. While his critiques are extremely hard to argue with, this focus lets many other entities off the hook. Sometimes this is simply omission. For example, Chomsky doesn’t focus on Russia much, but he would never say Putin is good for the Russian people. However, in some cases Chomsky leaves the impression that certain groups are infallible. In Chomsky’s ideology, people’s movements and unions are pretty much always good. Of course, there is no question that these movements have advanced human rights. But, according to Chomsky, when these movements go wrong it is basically always due to suppression or corruption from outside sources of power. This ignores the potential for inherent weaknesses within these movements. For example, in the past Chomsky has explained away the racism manifest in some union movements. Chomsky is a strong proponent of anarcho-syndicalism, which focuses on worker solidarity and direct democracy. Essentially proposing that unions and associations between unions should form the basis of political power. There are a couple of assumptions of this philosophy that come out in Chomsky’s work, this book being no exception. First, spoken to above, is that this form of societal organization is assumed to work if not for those meddling elites. The potential inherent pitfalls of this system are left unexamined. Second, there is a deep suspicion of technology, almost to the point of Ludditism. Technology is seen as a way of taking jobs away from workers, while also being devastating to the environment, and most technological progress comes from the government anyway and should be in the hands of the people.

Waterstone’s lectures in this book do not have the same force as Chomsky’s, though they are generally solid. One can learn a lot from these lectures about the theoretical underpinnings of capitalism. However, I felt their was an over reliance on Marx. In particular, this over reliance colors Waterstone’s views on technological progress, much as Chomsky’s anarcho-syndicalism colors his views. Labor is seen as the only source of value, while technology is ignored as a source of value. This glosses over a substantial development in the history of human civilization. Further, capital is seen primarily as a way of exploiting worker labor, taking value from labor and moving it into the hands of capital. At a certain level this is undeniable. But, because most technological progress would not be possible without accumulated capital to back it, this progress has to be viewed with suspicion in order for a Marxist view to remain coherent. Thus, the source of technological progress becomes more important than its ultimate effects, though those are suspect as well. Indeed, Waterstone hammers on the ravages of capitalism on the environment, as driven by technology. This view is unfortunate, because many signs point to a potential reversal in the trend of increasing resource depletion and environmental damage. We are likely entering a new phase where economies are dematerializing due to technological progress. Mercantilism and industrial-stage capitalism have clearly done immense damage both to people and the environment. But technological progress has also brought us methods to reverse this damage, to make more with less. Now, Waterstone’s suspicion is not all unfounded. Only some of the destructive trends are reversing, and while we have reason to be optimistic, little of the damage has been substantially reversed at this point. Therefore, one can be forgiven for being skeptical. More importantly, trends in surveillance and automation are quite troubling. Waterstone is especially concerned about surveillance and what it means for democracy, a question we should all be asking.

While I have so far focused my criticism on the philosophical perspectives of Chomsky and Waterstone, I would still rate this book at four stars for the intellectual fire power that it brings to bear. However, I rated this book at three stars. Why? The lecture format. First, a quibble. The lectures are arranged in order to make a more coherent book, but are not in order of the actual lectures. Because this book was only lightly edited, there are many references within the lectures that don’t lead anywhere because they refer to a structure that no longer exists. This is a bit frustrating, but certainly ignorable. More problematic is the constant asides. Chomsky uses phrases like “think about that...” when he clearly has a certain direction in mind for the reader to follow. This rhetorical stab is often used as a way to implant certain ideas without having to defend them. With Chomsky this is subtle and hard to detect. Waterstone is far more blunt. She inserts opinions and leaves them hanging, or she uses a quick rhetorical argument that plays to our psychological biases without actually supporting her claim in any way. One of the most egregious examples of this was made in regards to GMOs (a very complex topic that is, unfortunately, almost universally divided into all-pro or all-con sentiments). Waterstone includes GMOs alongside some other clearly problematic technologies, the problems of which are decently explained. But, her only argument about why GMOs are problematic is that nobody consulted her about whether they should be part of our food supply. This is a way of acting as if GMOs are so obviously bad that we can move on to the next discussion. It’s these kinds of biased asides that make me wish that this book had a little more than light editing.

[Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting read if for nothing else, than it’s non-standard view of American history from our founding (an aristocratic coup by the founding fathers) to today where you can see the reasoning that makes many young people see no difference between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

It has some boiler-plate leftist common sense (a term that is VERY loaded and interesting to see as kind of the crux of hegemony AND resistance—as in, who gets to influence what “common sense” is in a given culture) such as the evils of wealth inequality and corporate control of the US government, but added some causes and other attendant ideas that were interesting enlightening and disturbing (that workers do not participate in capitalism because we are not free to participate or not, we are free to participate or starve, and thus, cannot enter into the trade of our time and labor in a truly free manner).

And that may give you enough to see that one of the fascinating things about the book and the worldview it presents (which is hard to argue with despite it’s horrific implications to the lives we are living), is that it’s contours are startlingly similar to right-wing conspiracy theorists in its distrust of government AND corporations with the distinction that they DO have plenty of evidence to back up the large majority of their assertions.

Plenty to think about.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're looking for an academic introduction on capitalism and its consequences, this is the best place I know of to start. It works really nicely as both an introduction to Waterstone and Chomsky's political work and as a sort of capstone opportunity for the nonagenarian to summarize nearly a century of lived experience in activism and scholarship. Pretty cool.

So, Consequences of Capitalism. We start with an explanation of "common sense" and a critical study of how ideologies compete to become "common sense." We're introduced in tandem to the fundamental function that allows capitalism to function: the process through which a capitalist exchanges money for commodities (chiefly, both means of production — resources, etc. — and people's labor power) in order to produce a product that can be sold for more money, and thus the cycle can continue. This also taps into Chomsky's work on the idea of the process of manufacturing consent, which is foundational for the rest of the book, as it looks in-depth at the struggles over how markets operate, how militarism enables and defends capitalist expansion, the way value is assigned or denied to the environment, and the philosophy of neoliberalism and its ascendance over the last seventy years or so. The book concludes with a short history of resistance and the response it receives from the defenders of capitalism, from colonial exploitation up through and beyond the assassinations of radical leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Fred Hampton. Finally, it offers a small glimmer of hope and a few paths forward by exploring examples of successful resistance and change in our history.

I read this book in tandem with Marv Waterstone and Noam Chomsky's class of the same name, so I can't fully separate the experience of the class from the book itself. This book serves quite well as the foundation for the guest lectures and Q&A sessions that made the class so engaging, but it also works very well on its own as a condensed, highly readable introduction to the reasons why so many things are so heinously bad right now for the vast majority of life on Earth.

The book itself consists of what appear to be very lightly edited transcripts of lectures given by Waterstone and Chomsky while they taught the class in 2019. This mostly works in its favor; you get seven chapters with distinct topics, much of which is devoted to study of both influential thinkers of the past few centuries — think Adam Smith and Karl Marx, to name a few — and the many moments of conflict that occurred between capital and labor. Waterstone has a measured, calm, and precise way of introducing each topic before passing the mic over to Chomsky, who is also measured, calm, and precise, but also quite a bit more pointed (I may even say snarkier, with affection) in his critiques.

This tag-team approach is delightful for the reader, where Waterstone describes the scope and the key methods and Chomsky brings it to life with countless depictions of the interconnected actions and consequences of conflict under capitalism. It also keeps things moving at a surprisingly breezy clip, though I spent a lot of my time with this book looking up specific people and events that the authors mentioned to learn about them in more detail (and as the book lacks footnotes, I'd encourage other readers to do the same if so inclined). However, there's also a robust section of additional resources at the end of the book that lists each of the course's supplemental readings, along with additional context, which ought to help fill in any gaps.

I think this book has a few faults. One of them is how lightly edited the lectures are — I think it leaves too much ambiguity to the reader, especially where sarcasm or humor are used. Chomsky in particular leans heavily into sarcasm when speaking, and an unfamiliar reader, or perhaps someone whose first language isn't English, may struggle to intuit the authors' true meaning. I think it likely all becomes clear after long enough, but it points to a bigger issue: this is a lengthy book composed only of lectures, and I wonder if heavier revision could have led to a more impactful and refined presentation of its ideas. Still, the lectures are very well-thought-out, and I think the value of what's here heavily outweighs any downsides of its format.

Where we go from here in this decade and the decades beyond will make all the difference for centuries to come. I can't think of a better or more succinct primer for understanding the forces at play driving climate change, discrimination, and violence in the world than what's in this book. So, with that being said, it's an easy recommendation.

[Wout Landuyt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chomsky was boos maar niet lunatic boos, wat me deels geruststelt omtrent verbogen waarheden. Iets teveel Marx geciteerd naar m’n idee maar ja dat moet je er dan maar bij nemen I guess.

Dit boek maakte me enorm ongelukkig als ik het las, niet alleen door het besef dat ik nog steeds zoveel niet weet maar ook dat alles wat je denkt te weten meestal dan toch weer verdraaid kan worden.

Enorm ingewikkeld op sommige stukken, ik begreep niet alles maar wel 80% (hoop ik).

Hyperinteressant maar naar m’n gevoel af en toe wel met een korrel zout te nemen, zéker vanuit Europees perspectief. Big news: Amerikanen durven nogal eens dingen overdreven te verwoorden.

[Adam Lantz · Rating 5 out of 5]

”There’s plenty of room for will and choice, for active engagement. One thing we can expect with considerable confidence, just looking at history, is that however we’re going to a way out of this mess, it’s going to have to be based substantially on a revived, vital labor movement”

Only that hope is 5 stars. Note hope not optimism.

[Pat Rolston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Noam Chomsky is an American treasure who clears the fog of institutional propaganda and the falsehoods of primary school educations. While I don’t subscribe to all of his prescriptions to cure gangster capitalism ,per his description, I do believe he opens minds to the possibilities for a better world and the tools to find the truth in the age of disinformation. In this fine co-authored work Professor Chomsky details the root causes of our historical economic misadventures with the neoliberal order and the means and methods used over time to control our citizens.

His analysis is crystal clear and the span of time reviewed dates from the birth of Edward Bernays in November 1891 to 2019. He explains the evolution of advertising as invented by Bernays to normalize women smoking cigarettes and its evolution to Engineered Consent adopted by Woodrow Wilson to sway public opinion from isolationist to WWI Patriotic zealots. Along the way the idea that the general public couldn’t be trusted to protect the American project became institutionalized. An elite few determined that the general public is unqualified to have a real voice in the governance of America and had to be programmed by means of Engineered Consent. This wasn’t hidden or mask from our population, but openly proselytized by our most respected leaders and popular social commentators.

Those principles that manage public opinion have been refined, expanded, and institutionalized at all levels of society. From our schools, government, and corporations citizens are programmed to act in the interests of an agenda that rewards a wealthy upper class to the detriment of the rest. Our capitalist tenants are analyzed as to their original intentions and ultimate impact to society. Chomsky brilliantly educates the reader as to this history and the consequences for America and the world over time through today. You may have preconception’s of him as a wild eyed communist, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Give this book a try and make your own evaluation.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up.
I struggled in the beginning with the style of this book. It is essentially transcripts from lectures they gave in a class they co-taught. As such, I feel as if a lot of nuance in delivery, inflection, sarcasm, etc. was lost. I got more used to it as I progressed through the book and it became easier to read.

They did address relationships and impacts of capitalism in a variety of fields that helped provide a useful lens for which to examine the world around us, particularly the US. They did address how capitalism and racism have been historically connected, although I feel as if the issues of racism came second-handed and they missed opportunities to go further. (Granted, the book is focused on capitalism and racism is not their area of expertise. Nevertheless, I would have like to see them go further)

[Plano Nacional de Leitura 2027]

Abordagem de movimentos recentes relacionados, em contexto pandémico da Covid-19, com a intervenção dos cidadãos, o funcionamento da economia, o militarismo, o ambiente, a globalização e a mudança social.
[Resumo da responsabilidade do Plano Nacional de Leitura 2027]
ISBN:
978-972-23-6704-2
ASSUNTOS:
Capitalismo -- Séc. 21; Política internacional -- Séc. 21; Capitalismo -- Aspectos políticos; Poder (Ciências sociais)
CDU:
330.342"20"
327"20"
321.01

Livro recomendado PNL2027 - 2021 1.º Sem. - Cultura e Sociedade - maiores 18 anos - Fluente

[Islam Ismailov · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hard book to read, in a sense that you might get repulsed after reading only a few pages. Nevertheless, worth finishing as Noam and Marv are great at condensing critical information on today's common sense, environmental problems and a greater threat of neoliberalism.

A great boon of reading this book is that it explains many American phenomena in very simple terms. Flourishing of gun culture, climate change denialism, anti-abortion movement among the others.

A truly great read.

[Gionysius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woah

This book made me want to read Karl Marx, always been afraid to pick that up, but I feel I have to now. So good. All my deep-rooted Rage Against Capitalism, which I have felt simmering within since I was a young child, is here explained.

[Dido · Rating 5 out of 5]

An immensely interesting book written by Noam Chomsky, covering global events from 17th century through April 2020 - the covid 19 pandemic. While I was aware of most of the issues dealt with in this book, what I really liked about his writing is some very thought provoking historical context, especially around economic theory and liberalism vs. late stage capitalism - which to quote Chomsky is "brutal or gangster capitalism for the poor / middle class (the "unworthy" 99%) and socialism for the rich (the "worthy" 1%)" - and neoliberalism as we know it today in the US.
The best part of this book is that it attempts to make the masses more aware of why things are the way they appear to be and encourages critical thinking which will likely compel the reader to follow up on some of the recommended additional readings...

I particularly enjoyed the juxtaposition of key concepts from Marx's Das Kapital, and liberalism of Adam Smith / David Hume against Frederich Hayek / Milton Friedman's neoliberalism and the libertarianism of the likes of Ayn Rand/Alan Greenspan/Paul Ryan and its fallout: essentially the selfish mentality - everything for me and nothing for the others!

Some other notable topics that the book provides very rich historical context include -
1. sustained assault on the worker (as it pertains to their health and safety, wages, savings, social safety nets, pay equity, right to organize/join a union, consequences or lack thereof for employers who violate worker's rights)
2. US was far more progressive in the 1970's (e.g., Comprehensive Child Development Act of 1971) as compared to the modern progressive bills around similar issues from say Warren..
3. the role of advertising and PR in manufacturing fear and fabricating demand to fuel consumption (e.g., 1980's fear of communism / socialism / Russia, the constant war on terror since 9/11)
4. how capital being allowed to "roam" globally has unintended consequences e.g., goes hand in hand with growth in military spend to build a hegemony for opening new markets, often by brutal force (i.e., accumulation by forced dispossession)
5. landmark supreme court decisions in which corporations were given the rights of an individual, 2008 judgement for the District of Columbia v. Heller case which for the first time re-interpreted the second amendment for individuals (not militias) to bear arms and the consequent fallout that we are living with...
... and the ongoing assault on abortion rights, climate change, and much more!

This book really opens up the debate for whether everything needs to be by the bootstraps, driven by the free markets OR is there any role of the Government? And what, if any, is the role of Civil Society?
I think it is self-evident today that late stage capitalism with its vile maxim of "all for ourselves and nothing for anyone else" is not working (e.g., Brexit, the rise of populist right-wing and autocratic leaders). Question is will we double down on the current trajectory and eventually descend into barbaric anarchy OR will we adopt Aristotle's approach to make democracy less imperfect by providing for the basic welfare of its people (e.g., access to healthcare, education and social safety nets), thereby establishing a more equitable society?

[Kshitij Dewan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Look behind the curtain.

I love the wealth and depth of resources and facts given.

Waterstone and Chomsky have very different styles but both are readable and scaffold me through a basic and important aspect of the world today.

I feel clearer having read this.

[Jude Hoekstra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stuff from Chomsky as always, not as academic as his other books but still informative.