Noam Chomsky: 'There's never been a moment in human history' like this one
1–10 of 30 posts
Re: Noam Chomsky: 'There's never been a moment in human history' like this one
#2Technically true for all moments in human history
Re: Noam Chomsky: 'There's never been a moment in human history' like this one
#3Re: Noam Chomsky: 'There's never been a moment in human history' like this one
#4https://cei.org/blog/wrong-again-50-years-failed-eco-pocalyp...
Just because they got the dates wrong doesn't mean that they got the trend wrong.
Re: Noam Chomsky: 'There's never been a moment in human history' like this one
#5If he means human history = US history then maybe. 1 out of those 5 are very US specific right now (racial unrest). The raging pandemic is once again regional where US is the worst globally but I'd not apply to the same to Europe and not at all to East Asia. The remaining 3 for sure a global problem but even then I do not
think a chance
for a
nuclear war is
higher than before say in the Cold War
Re: Noam Chomsky: 'There's never been a moment in human history' like this one
#6> Noam Chomsky said humans are living through the darkest and most consequential time in history.
> Chomsky said the current age is a “point of confluence of severe crises,” including the threat of nuclear war, climate change, a raging pandemic, economic depression and racial unrest in the United States.
The period between 1914 and 1945 would probably beg to differ.
I've found it interesting to read "left" and "right"[1] pundits on Twitter recently. Each "side"[2] believes that this is the last chance to save democracy and all hell will be unleashed if their candidate loses. Ten years ago we had the "Tea Party", on average a deranged bunch of lunatics without the ability to see or think clearly. In response one could validly and amusingly proclaim "facts have a notoriously liberal bias". Fox News was extremely partisan and contributed to a sort of radicalisation of the right. In 2020 the same lunacy seems to have taken over the Democratic party as a whole. Facts are out of the window on both sides. Fox News and CNN and a whole host of other media outlets are contributing to radicalisation of both sides.
In 2016 the media convinced me that Trump would turn into Hitler 2.0. I'm glad and embarrassed to realise that what he has turned into is an average Republican president except he understands the working class and he hasn't started any wars.
This is "the darkest and most consequential time in history" for people who want to push an agenda (right-wing commentators will claim the same, not just left-wing ones) and for media outlets who want to increase their ratings. We are facing deep, deep problems that need overcoming, but only people whose worldview was based on the assumption that the growth and stability of '92-'08 would last forever are going to be swayed by claims of this being the worst ever.
In order to be able to tackle the challenges on our plate society needs to be able to think clearly. What we need at the moment are calming forces, not the inducement of more panic.
[1] for want of better descriptions
[2] if you can really call them "sides"
Re: Noam Chomsky: 'There's never been a moment in human history' like this one
#7Way to throw the hyperbole, Noam. "Right now" doesn't even crack the top five most historically-important periods in the past century, much less all of human history. There are some unusual things going on right now, but the only one that's going to be remembered in a few decades is Covid. By most other metrics, it's business as usual.
From an American perspective, it's absurd to elevate "now" above the Great Depression, World War 2, the Vietnam War, and the massive social and political changes accompanying each, to name just three eras in the past century. Tack on another century, and now doesn't even make it into the textbook.
Yeah, there's never been another moment like this, but that's true always and forever. There are some big things going on all the time. Add them all up, and this is a pretty bland time in the grand scheme of things.
Re: Noam Chomsky: 'There's never been a moment in human history' like this one
#8https://cei.org/blog/wrong-again-50-years-failed-eco-pocalyp...
Just because they got the dates wrong doesn't mean that they got the trend wrong.
"Correctly predicted 10 of the last 0 eco-pocolypses" comes to mind.
[Adjust the figures as you see fit, but the latter won't come close to the former.]
Re: Noam Chomsky: 'There's never been a moment in human history' like this one
#9> Noam Chomsky said humans are living through the darkest and most consequential time in history. > Chomsky said the current age is a “point of confluence of severe crises,” including the threat of nuclear war, climate change, a raging pandemic, economic depression and racial unrest in the United States. The period between 1914 and 1945 would probably beg to differ. I've found it interesting to read "left" and "right…
Everything else aside; where do you get the slightest clue from Trump and his life history that he "understands the working class"
Like, that's such a low ball man. Do you understand the working class?
Re: Noam Chomsky: 'There's never been a moment in human history' like this one
#10Way to throw the hyperbole, Noam. "Right now" doesn't even crack the top five most historically-important periods in the past century, much less all of human history. There are some unusual things going on right now, but the only one that's going to be remembered in a few decades is Covid. By most other metrics, it's business as usual. From an American perspective, it's absurd to elevate "now" above the Great Depress…
That's only if things turn out fine. It seems like he thinks nuclear war is actually possible and the effects of climate change are coming soon and big. If that's so (I'm not saying it is) then what could possibly be comparable?