Metal Monday

It’s going to be a short Metal Monday this week, for a many various and sundry reasons but mainly, my irl job has been very demanding recently. We’ll see a full post next Monday.

Reading

Years ago, I was working for a bookstore in Muncie, Indiana when a coworker of mine reserved a book called Understanding Power by Noam Chomsky.

First, I laughed at the name “Noam”. Second I was drawn to the actual book. I am a bibliophile in the truest sense of the word. I love the look of certain books, the heft, the size, it’s all fairly relative, some books got it some books don’t. Understanding Power, has it. It’s a larger paperback format, allowing for larger font and it’s thickness is just perfect. It’s the kind of book you keep on your bed. (Fellow bibs know what I’m talking about.)

That co-worker quit soon after but never bought the book. Since it was out of the stock rotation it afforded me the perfect opportunity to steal it¹. So then I actually read the book.

There is something very special about reading Chomsky for the first time. The defining feature of his work is his ability to present complicated topics in common everyday vernacular. His essays often come across as conversational and most of the essays in this book are taken directly from conversations and Q&A sessions. He dispels the belief that philosophy is purely an intellectual pursuit; that the lingoistic language employed by most of the post-modern philosophers is a gatekeeping tactic designed to help them maintain power. Chomsky reiterates that anyone can understand concepts of philosophy if they are presented without gilded language.

What also struck me was the breadth of topics he discusses: linguistics, politics, philosophy, media biases and social justice. His essays helped me get out of a late-teenage-libertarian-funk I was dabbling in at the time by drawing connections between, power, injustice and it’s root cause: capitalism.

Why am I rereading this now? Chomsky is a heavy critic of Israel and it’s use of American support to maintain a power imbalance over Palestine. Ultimately, the genocide in Gaza is not “convoluted”, “confusing” or “nuanced.” It is very simple to understand that American politicians use our tax money to fund and arm Israel’s human rights violations.

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¹I stole this book from a giant floundering retailer who made us hoodwink their own customers by selling them worthless “membership discount” cards².

²I did end up making amends for stealing from that business but I still cling to the justifiable anger.