frouella, Chomsky

"I never looked around never second guessed, then I read some Howard Zinn now I'm always depressed.
And now I can't sleep from years of apathy, all because I read a little Noam Chomsky."
-- NOFX, "Franco Un-American"

It sounds hokey to come right out and say it, but...Noam Chomsky changed my life. Jesus built my hotrod too, but that's a topic for another post. In any event, the first time I read Chomsky was for my "Ethics and Political Realism" class here at Rollins, taught by Dr. Armstrong (EXCELLENT class, BTW -- I highly recommend it). After reading Chomsky's book, Understanding Power for a class project, I had one of those moments like from a movie where that light shines down from the heavens and the Hallelujah chorus plays in the background. Everything he said made so much sense! I couldn't believe that more people weren't talking about him, especially given the timeliness and relevance of his work. Thinking about it now though, I'd say that he wasn't/isn't discussed much because he points out the faults of the hegemony, and of course the hegemony can't have that, now can they?

What I admire most about Chomsky, though, isn't just his insight and outspokenness -- it's the fact that he tells people straight out to question what he says, too. From Understanding Power:
"I think the smartest thing to do is to read everything you read -- and that includes what I write, I would always tell people this -- skeptically [...] You should start by being very skeptical about anything that comes to you from any sort of power system -- and about everything else too. You should be skeptical about what I tell you -- why should you believe a word of it? I got my own ax to grind. So figure it out for yourself. There really is no other answer."

Because of Chomsky, every time I read/hear/see anything, I always hear Noam's little voice in the back of my head, asking me "Why are they saying this? What's their take on it? How many filters is this going through?" So now not only do I have Chomsky taking up residence in my cranium, he now has to share space with Jameson, Lyotard, Baudrillard, Marx, Foucault, etc., etc. Truthfully, it's getting a little crowded in here...

Random Po-Moment:
As I'm typing this, I'm currently listening to Puffy AmiYumi's "Tokyo Nights," and I've come to the conclusion that it's the illegitimate love child between "Mr. Roboto" and "Video Killed the Radio Star." Which then of course immediately calls to mind the concept of musical simulacra. I mean, two Japanese women referencing Mr. Roboto? WTF, mate?!