BY TODD GARBARINI
Noam
Chomsky is widely regarded as one of the preeminent intellectuals in the
world. As the Institute Professor
Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he currently
works, he has also written over one hundred books, among them Power and Terror: Conflict, Hegemony, and the Rule of Force, Profit
Over People: Neoliberalism & Global Order, and the forthcoming The Culture of Terrorism which he co-wrote with Brian Jones. A seemingly tireless octogenarian, it is Mr. Chomsky’s Weltanschauung that director’s
Peter D. Hutchison, Kelly Nyks, and Jared P. Scott recorded over a period of
four years as the subject of their new and, unfortunately, quite timely
documentary, the elegiacally-titled Requiem
for the American Dream. The
film, which runs a mere 73 minutes, focuses on what Mr. Chomsky refers to as the
Ten Principles of Concentration of Wealth and Power, which essentially are the
methods employed by the wealthy and powerful (or the “One Percent†as they are
so often referred to) to keep themselves rich and everyone else not rich. These methods, he contends, consist of reducing
democracy, shaping ideology, redesigning the economy, shifting the burden,
attacking solidarity, running the regulators, engineering elections, keeping
the rabble in line, manufacturing consent and, ultimately and most
significantly, marginalizing the population. The current state of life in America seems to be a result of corporate greed and public insouciance, or more
specifically a feeling that nothing can be done about it. There are, obviously, movements afoot to
combat these inequalities, Occupy Wall Street (OWS) being the most fervent and
obvious example by far. Over the course
of the film’s duration, Mr. Chomsky goes into detail on where America once was
(manufacturing being the predominant method of income during the 1950’s, the
most prosperous decade in the country’s history) and where it is now (in the
hands of financial institutions, which represent a select few), which is such a
far cry from how life used to be that he explains how the corrosive effect of
greed and class inequality has had such a negative effect on both the working
class and middle class collectively.
Fascinating to watch and never boring, the film matter-of-factly
uncovers the methods that businessmen, specifically those at the top, employ to
make sure that their interests are well cared for, regardless of the deleterious
effects they have on those near the bottom of the social ladder. In actuality, however, this is no different
than the methods that were used by the owners of the manufacturing giants that
built America in the first place. Cornelius
Vanderbilt (with his fleet of steamboats and later on, railroads), John D.
Rockefeller (oil, kerosene and, later on, gasoline), Andrew Carnegie (steel),
and J.P. Morgan (finance, electricity and steel) did not amass personal
fortunes ten times that of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet by being nice
guys. Influencing presidents and doing
what needed to be done appeared to be viewed as necessary business tactics, and
what is happening in the country today
does not appear to be all that different than what has occurred in the past,
despite the passing of laws and legislation designed to protect workers from
tyrannical bosses. The major difference
is that today there are more people than ever before, and the size of the level
if inequality is tremendous and, as Mr. Chomsky points out, unprecedented. Although he never says it, the feeling that
you get from Mr. Chomsky is that unless there is a major public uprising (i.e.
revolution), it is unlikely that the current state of affairs will shift in the
national public’s favor anytime soon.
Click
here
for more information on the film and locate screenings that will be rolled out
over the next few months.