In this staggering and insightful documentary, Noam Chomsky explores corruption in policies and the dismantling of democracy. Built up with decades of research and studies, delivered in this highly accessible and understandable film, we are brought into the mind of one of this century's most influential and thought provoking philosophers.
Official Synopsis:
"In his final long-form documentary interview - filmed over four years - Chomsky unpacks the principles that have brought us to the crossroads of historically unprecedented inequality. Tracing a half-century of policies designed to favor the most wealthy at the expense of the majority, Chomsky lays bare the costly debris left in its wake: the evisceration of the American worker, disappearance of the living wage, collapse of the dream of home ownership, skyrocketing higher education costs placing betterment beyond reach or shackling students to suffocating debt, and a loss of solidarity that has left us divided against ourselves."
One can't help but feel more depressed than optimistic after watching, given the evident diligence and persistence of corporate powers driven by greed, prevailing. It seems like a hopeless battle; policies continue to be changed or manipulated to aid the interest of the powerful minority, while the masses suffer.
This film itself gives me optimism, the very fact that we are lucky enough in today's world to share information so easily via the internet. Today, film creation and social media are in my opinion, the two most prominent methods of sharing ideas and knowledge effectively, to the masses. Those who are happily going through life ignorant, or unsympathetic to injustice may stumble upon a thought provoking, sometimes life changing documentary or seminar online, that disturbs what they always understood to be true. We may post something online and spark a conversation that brings in information. More and more we are able to educate ourselves freely, and question what we are taught to be right and wrong.
Chomsky highlights the importance of people coming together and making themselves heard through effort and sacrifice. It all sounds like a lot of work doesn't it? To go up against The Man. It is so much easier to go through life blissfully ignorant... if you're not the oppressed. For the oppressed, where often quality of life is subsequently taken away due to the lack of understanding or empathy from those in control of wealth distribution and power (thus financial distribution to social programs), there is no other choice than to come together and disrupt the silence, to say NO, this isn't right, this needs to change.
Throughout history we have seen over and over again how easy it can be for people to be manipulated and brain washed; common scaremongering tactics, encouraging the oppressed majority to fear one another, to only think about ones self - creating an irrational people who make decisions based on fear or greed. However, we have also seen how other human emotions that are born within us cannot be suppressed. I believe we are generally naturally sympathetic creatures, it feels more comfortable to love than to hate, we are not being true to our natural selves if we live our lives by these negative attitudes. Warped powers try to drive them out because we are easier to control if we are scared. Imagine a world where people notice inequalities for what they really are, and instead of being encouraged to fear and disengage ourselves, we are encouraged to sympathise and engage - this won't do for the powerful minority as it is disruptive - far better for them if we feel as though it is not our problem to deal with, to show selfishness rather than solidarity.
We are so capable of doing wonderful things in our short existence as human beings, let us remember that. We are not stupid, ignorant followers, we are individuals with massive potential. We were not born to fear our neighbours or to ignore the needs of the less privileged. Let's continue to exploit these new ways of being heard to create a better, fairer society - because if we go along with the corporate, privatized, money fuelled society that we're headed toward, which Chomsky quite rightly describes as 'ugly' - in my opinion, it won't be long before the end of the human race.
