Reviews for Keeping the Rabble in Line: Interviews with David Barsamian

The average rating for Keeping the Rabble in Line: Interviews with David Barsamian based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-06-26 00:00:00 Holly Coe I try to read Noam Chomsky at least twice a year as a reminder of the possibilities that are out there. This is a serious of radio interviews Chomsky gave in the early 1990s, and is more accessible than some of his more formal works. I'm always impressed by Chomsky's insight and the breadth of his knowledge. One passage I underlined, about the pardons that Bush 41 gave to those implicated in the Iran-Contra scandal: "I frankly didn't take the pardons all that seriously. It was a highly selective prosecution. They didn't go after top people or the important issues. What they were being charged with is minor issues. Lying to Congress is bad, it's a serious violation of law which carries a five-year jail sentence. But compared with carrying out huge international terrorist operations, it's pretty small potatoes. Nobody was charged with conducting an illegal war against Nicaragua. They were only charged with lying to Congress about it. It indicates the values that lie behind the prosecution. In other words, kill and torture whoever you like, but be sure to tell us. We want to take part too. If you think about it, that's exactly what happened in Watergate. The charges against Nixon never included bombing Cambodia. It did come up in the hearings, but the only respect in which it came up was that Nixon had lied to Congress about it. There was no charge ever that he had sent U.S. bombers to devastate Cambodian peasant society, killing tens of thousands of people."

Review # 2 was written on 2012-08-12 00:00:00 Elizabeth Koeppel the book was published in 1994. it is amazing to me how much of what Chomsky forecast has come true. it is a hard book to read and one has to admire both the interviewer and interviewed. I wish i had stumbled across it when i was teaching economics. I could have made my classes a lot more thought-provoking