Noam

Atrios gets all Chomsky on us:

The simplest and most obvious lesson I've learned in the past few years is that the American press has an incredible bias in favor of whatever our foreign policy happens to be that day. Whoever the government deems as "friends" are the good guys and whoever they deem as "enemies" are the bad guys. The form of government, freedoms, human rights abuses, suffrage, etc... are entirely irrelevant.

That is absolutely correct. I have my issues with Chomsky, particularly when it comes to some of his positions on Cambodia. But those are particulars within a generally sound thesis. Over the last couple years I've come to realize that the Bush Administration and the American media have actually come to prove most all of Chomsky's theories of media manipulation (something I always agreed was there, but disputed the degree -- well, no more). The build up to the War in Iraq was the perfect example of this phenomena.

Amazing isn't it that one of the most important intellectuals (agree with him or not) of the last half-century is rarely on television -- yet Byron York and Kate O'Beirne are never lacking for a chair with Temmeh, and the Doughy Pantload spins nepotism to the point he gets on the editorial page of the LA Times?

Vast Wastelands aren't just for television any more.