{"id":1131468,"date":"2023-07-13T08:23:31","date_gmt":"2023-07-13T08:23:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newmatilda.com\/?p=133034"},"modified":"2023-07-13T08:23:31","modified_gmt":"2023-07-13T08:23:31","slug":"dont-bring-a-knife-to-a-gun-fight-or-piers-morgan-to-an-interview-with-noam-chomsky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/07\/13\/dont-bring-a-knife-to-a-gun-fight-or-piers-morgan-to-an-interview-with-noam-chomsky\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Bring A Knife To A Gun Fight\u2026 Or Piers Morgan To An Interview With Noam Chomsky"},"content":{"rendered":"

It started with Piers Morgan\u2019s trademark sycophancy, introducing the giant left-wing intellectual Noam Chomsky as \u201cin my view, one of the great minds of our generation\u201d. Which is of course, hard to argue \u2013 Chomsky is a genius. But before you could say \u2018UK phone hacking scandal\u2019, things started to head south as it became clear Morgan was in way over his head.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Without wishing to spoil any of Chomsky\u2019s slap downs of Morgan for asking extraordinarily stupid, loaded \u2018alternative fact\u2019 style questions, as an example, when asked about China\u2019s \u2018intent\u2019 to \u2018invade\u2019 Taiwan, Chomsky replied: \u201cI would suggest distinguishing between western propaganda, and the facts.\u201d And when Morgan had a second crack at it, \u201cBut I would like to describe the world situation as it is, not as its presented by US-British propaganda.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morgan also raised \u201cmad man\u201d Vladimir Putin\u2019s motivations for the war in Ukraine (which he claimed were about \u2018restoring the great Russian empire\u2019), asking Chomsky \u2018what should we do\u2019? \u201cThe first thing we do is try to be clear about the facts. Vladimir Putin said it was a disaster for the Soviet Union to be destroyed, but he added \u2018Anyone who thinks it can be restored is out of his mind.\u2019 That part of the quotation is not given in the West.\u201d<\/p>\n

So Morgan tried to switch to more familiar ground \u2013 the culture wars, and specifically, the \u2018assault on free speech\u2019, with things like \u2018teaching critical race theory to children\u2019. You can guess how that went.<\/p>\n

The interview was going so badly, Morgan was forced to retreat to questions like, \u2018What big unanswered question do you have about the universe?\u2019<\/p>\n

Needless to say, Chomsky made it clear he was uninterested in talking himself or his private life. The video is almost 40 minutes long, but it\u2019s a masterclass in what happens when a right-wing fluff merchant tries to interview someone with deep knowledge of global politics.<\/p>\n