The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong
4 HN mentions · mentioned in 4 months, 2020–2021
58:45 · 174K views · Aug 7, 2020
A Foreign Correspondents' Club Hong Kong conversation with Noam Chomsky on COVID-19, Donald Trump, the New Cold War and the Hong Kong protests.
Used as a source for Chomsky's quotes on neoliberalism, polarization, and trust crises during the pandemic.
4 comments from Hacker News
It's easy to explain -- just not to people whose salary whose salary depends on not understanding it, who keep shaking their heads as the predictable results of the boat they won't rock roll in. > people want some understanding of what's happening, but they're not getting it from the media, they're not getting it from the intellectual classes, they're certainly not getting it from the government [..] > it's happening all over and I think you can trace a good deal of it to the effect of neo-liberalism. It had a goal remember: the goal of neo-liberalism was to transfer decisions away from the public to the hands of private power and to atomize the population. -- Noam Chomsky, this video > the individual citizen has very little possibility of having any influence - of making his opinion felt in the decision-making. And I think that, in itself, leads to a good deal of political lethargy and stupidity. It is true that one has to think first and then to act - but it's also true that if one has no possibility of acting, one's thinking kind of becomes empty and stupid. -- Erich Fromm, [LINK]
Of course it's concerning, but it's also concerning how quick people are to dehumanize and call for censorship, putting a lot of energy into discussing endlessly just how evil or stupid or unreachable those other people are, rather than root causes [0]. The mainstream is whipping itself into hysteria just as much as QAnon does, and it really does seem like circus all around. Just for some perspective: > The capitol has been the site of multiple bombings, shootings, assassination attempts, and stormings for centuries. Pretending its an unbespoiled sacred Church which has never been penetrated so vulgarly is just ahistorical. -- [LINK] [0] this video edit: clicking a button doesn't constitute an argument. You can only ignore Chomsky, neither tie his shoelaces or address his points. Shame on you.
> They who have put out the people's eyes reproach them of their blindness. -- John Milton this video Intellectuals focusing on how the unwashed masses are the reason we can't have nice things would do well to take a long, hard look at themselves and those they serve.
> The COVID crisis is as much a trust crisis than a health crisis Noam Chomsky pointed that out as early as a year ago [0], but most people who really should hear it just don't want to it seems, content with shaking their heads and othering. [0] this video