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Noam Chomsky - Distorted Morality: America's War on Terror?

Noam Chomsky (Actor), John Junkerman (Director) Rated:
Unrated
Format: DVD
3.4 out of 5 stars 57 ratings
IMDb7.9/10.0
Available at a lower price from other sellers that may not offer free Prime shipping.

Product Description

Amazon.com

The hypocrisy of the U.S. government is powerfully scrutinized in Distorted Morality, a scathing thesis presented by renowned scholar Noam Chomsky. Speaking before an intimate audience at Harvard University on February 6, 2002, Chomsky sets fair and logical parameters to his thesis (namely, we are all hypocrites and, for the purposes of debate, the U.S. government should always be given benefit of the doubt) before outlining, with academic precision and citation of real history (as opposed to biased written history), the reasons why America's post-9/11 war on terror is a logical impossibility.

This, according to Chomsky's carefully supported analysis, is because the U.S. government has been, and continues to be, a major supporter of state-supported terrorism, favoring retaliatory or preemptive aggression over mediation in the world court, and avoiding accountability by excluding itself from the globally accepted definition of terrorism. (To underscore his point, Chomsky repeatedly volunteers his sources, inviting scrutiny at every turn.) With an additional hour-long Q&A session (in some ways more compelling, since it offers Chomsky's response to opposing viewpoints), Distorted Morality deserves the widest possible audience. In the short period between Chomsky's Harvard speech and the start of America's war against Iraq in March 2003, Chomsky's thesis has attained the chilling status of prophesy. Inevitably, Chomsky will be labeled anti-American, but at least his morality is crystal clear, immune to the obfuscation of politics and mainstream news. --Jeff Shannon

Product details

  • Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ Unrated (Not Rated)
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.75 x 5.75 x 0.53 inches; 3.2 ounces
  • Item model number ‏ : ‎ EPIDV86671
  • Director ‏ : ‎ John Junkerman
  • Media Format ‏ : ‎ Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
  • Run time ‏ : ‎ 55 minutes
  • Release date ‏ : ‎ March 24, 2003
  • Actors ‏ : ‎ Noam Chomsky
  • Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ Chinese, English
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
  • Studio ‏ : ‎ Epitaph
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00008AOW1
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Best Sellers Rank: #164,844 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.4 out of 5 stars 57 ratings

Customer reviews

3.4 out of 5 stars
57 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the TV series informative and well-made, with one noting that all resources are presented upfront. Moreover, the documentary receives positive feedback for its readability, with one customer describing it as a camcorder-quality film of a lecture. Additionally, customers consider it good value for money. However, the accuracy receives mixed reviews, with some finding it truthful while others disagree.

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Information qualityReadabilityValue for moneyQualityAccuracy
5 customers mention "Information quality"4 positive1 negative

Customers find the TV series informative, with one customer noting that it presents all its resources up front.

"This Noam Chomsky speech on DVD is, as usual, enlightening...." Read more

"Informative, powerful, challenging, stimulating, truthful, stronly recommended to those who are still willing to use common sense and critical..." Read more

"Lots of useful information here. It's not going to make you happy if you can't accept that the USA is an imperialist country...." Read more

"...of this, I ask myself how can he be an MIT professor with such poor teaching skills, an off (ice) prof ??" Read more

4 customers mention "Readability"3 positive1 negative

Customers find the TV series readable, with one noting it's a camcorder-quality film of a lecture.

"He is a great read, in sightful but a terrible speaker and not very photogenic...." Read more

"I guess this DVD is so inexpensive because it's just a camcorder-quality film of a lecture. It's a bargain!..." Read more

"boring lecture..." Read more

"...Definately worth checking out." Read more

4 customers mention "Value for money"3 positive1 negative

Customers find the TV series to be good value for money.

"I'm a big Chomsky fan, and I thought this DVD represented good value, so naturally, I bought it...." Read more

"I guess this DVD is so inexpensive because it's just a camcorder-quality film of a lecture. It's a bargain!..." Read more

"...Very interesting material in a very boring delivery- too bad. A waste of DVD money- this would be better as a short essay." Read more

"...It's a great buy at the price it sells for, too." Read more

3 customers mention "Quality"3 positive0 negative

Customers praise the quality of the TV series.

"Wonderful like everything with Noam Chomsky" Read more

"Excellent work. Some people miss the point......" Read more

"double standard..." Read more

4 customers mention "Accuracy"2 positive2 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the accuracy of the TV series, with some finding it truthful while others disagree.

"Informative, powerful, challenging, stimulating, truthful, stronly recommended to those who are still willing to use common sense and critical..." Read more

"...This can be distracting at times, because they are not 100% accurate regarding actual words spoken nor the spontaneity with which Chomsky, like with..." Read more

"This Noam Chomsky speech on DVD is, as usual, enlightening. Mr Chomsky documents the facts, the truths, and his knowledge of terrorism researched..." Read more

"The man never says anything significant. Believe me, I WISH he were legit...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Gen Res
    5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Viewing
    Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2004
    Verified Purchase
    This is the first DVD I have ever watched by Mr. Chomsky (I have not read anything by him either). I decided to buy this DVD on a whim because of the eloquent review below by Arthur Blenheim. Mr. Chomsky gives an excellent 50 minute speech on how we are all hypocritical, not "America" as a separate entity but we the people who do not take part in our democracy. Chomsky details case after case of where the U.S. has engaged in terrorism but it wasn't even a blip on the radar screen of our media. One thing he mentioned which was very impressive was when he talked about how the U.S. told the Taliban about how we will attack them if they don't hand over Osama Bin Laden. And the Taliban stated, first give us evidence, and we will hand him over to a third party. Now when 9/11 happened and I read that the Taliban wanted evidence, the first thing I thought was what??? Those guys want evidence? Everyone knows Osama did it. But we have to realize that the Taliban don't want to be blown to smitherins. Their request for evidence not that outlandish. Before you attack another country, you should have negotiations which we did not do. In addition, we killed, starved, maimed or left thousands more Afghans homeless than actually helping them. Chomsky also talks about Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Now Saudi Arabia has had 1,000 beheadings in the last 20 years, they practice Wahhabism, which is the strictest form of Islam. And the women over there hardly have any rights (read "Princess" by Jean Sassoon or "My Life in Saudi Arabia" by Carmen Bin Laden). But why have we supported Saudi Arabia since its inception? Because they have 40% of the world's oil and we sure as heck don't want anyone else getting their hands on it (speaking from point of view of the government).

    After the 50-minute speech, there is a lively question and answer session. Chomsky seems like an extremely intelligent and articulate man. He states over and over - guys this information is not hidden, you can learn all of this with a few clicks of your mouse. Why people don't do it, I have no idea. This DVD is absolutely essential viewing for every American.
    19 people found this helpful
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  • Stephen Kuschert
    1.0 out of 5 stars disapointed
    Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2005
    Verified Purchase
    Found this presentation very poor. After reading many of his books prior to seeing him deliver this speech, I was a greatly disappointed. It was a mumbled fumbled repetitive delivery with the most important facts obfusicated with a line like -I think you all know what im referring to here. I suggest read his books they are much better structured and more to the point. I give this dvd one star and repeat- read his books! dont be lazy and expect to get much out of this, I ask myself how can he be an MIT professor with such poor teaching skills, an off (ice) prof ??
    23 people found this helpful
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  • Earl Hazell
    4.0 out of 5 stars Intro to the science of political morality
    Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2003
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    Noam Chomsky is one of the most important living Americans, if for no other reason that the media and the intellectual public's total refusal to engage him in debate on any of the issues he brings up make it clear how fragile our democracy has once again become. Better to silence, ridicule him and question his patriotism than to deal with the factual nature of what he brings to light? In a dictatorship maybe!
    This DVD is actually my introduction to him, regarding hearing him speak. Without going too far in the direction of being too linguistically intellectual, or too far in the other of being self-righteously rhetorical, Chomsky proves for any person willing to think (and not just feel emotions the corporate media has expressly designed to make us feel) that a war on terror could not possibly exist. He brings to light foreign policy facts that show Terrorism as a modern political tool of ALL nations today, with smaller nations and dictatorships having in actuality less effect on the world stage with terrorism (despite the press they receive in developed countries leading one to believe otherwise) than the far more deadly and effective examples of terrorism practiced by, well, us. Chomsky, in his intellectual but raw, Sagittarian tell-it like-it-is way, does not demand anti-Americanism, or an insurrection, or even civil disobedience with this lecture to Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. His spelling out of not just facts of the structure of language, but facts of current events and recent history reveals the moral vacuum in our present day world; a vacuum that, just like nature's abhorrence of a true vacuum, is abhored by the hearts of good people from whom true knowledge and information has been kept--which is most of America and the world. A vacuum that can only be filled with a sober, rational, moral maturity, when it comes to political perspectives, foreign policy and the secret motivational impulses and agendas of our quasi-democratic nations.
    This DVD comes with subtitles, despite the fact that he is speaking in English. This can be distracting at times, because they are not 100% accurate regarding actual words spoken nor the spontaneity with which Chomsky, like with any speaker, uses one word or phrase incorrectly and then corrects himself while in the middle of another sentence. A helpful section is where the question and answer session after the lecture is broken up into sections on the DVD, just like various scenes on a movie--though here again, I would have preferred to be able to simply run the entire thing and here the questions as they were being asked. Just the same, these small issues of DVD construction will not take away from the power of Chomsky's message, or his presence.

    It is really odd: Einstein's political views were extraordinarily progressive and gave most believers in a capitalist democracy, as well as communists, a moment of pause whenever he publicly shared them to say the least. But he was not silenced for these views, even back in the 40's and 50's; he was even asked to be the Prime Minister of the State of Israel by the Israelis. He was Einstein! Noam Chomsky has had the well deserved title of being the Einstein of the science of Linguistics practically since the late 50's--a title not even given to Nietzsche, a professor of linguistics (then called philology) while he was writing his philosophy... and yet here, in the 21st century, his so-called political views (as opposed to what they really are: again, moral perspectives) make it impossible for him to ever be seen or read on 60 minutes? Dateline? CNBC? CNN? Good Morning America? The New York Times? If he is so wrong, why won't his name ever be mentioned in the media, even as an adjective, let alone him being confronted in front of the nation to prove it?

    A disc worth having.
    244 people found this helpful
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  • John Robinson
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent work. Some people miss the point...
    Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2003
    Verified Purchase
    It is true that Chomsky spends a great deal of time criticizing his own country and relatively little criticizing other countries. He is even kind enough to tell us why: Because, as a citizen of the USA, it is simply more sensible, efficient and responsible for him to focus his efforts there. As a voter and a public personality, he can make a difference in the US, much more so than in other countries. He believes, in short, that criticism, like charity, begins at home. In no way does he excuse the oppressive governments of other countries. He does force the realization, however, that we simply DO NOT KNOW if those governments would have ended up being oppressive in the absence of American foreign policy atrocities, because, in fact, many of them were never given the chance.
    At the very least, Chomsky's work can help us to "de-brainwash" ourselves. We may not end up agreeing with him (I disagree with his viewpoint on the Second Amendment, for example), but at least we will be thinking 'outside the box', for a short time, anyway. And it is always good to do that as it leads to further insights. This is the way society evolves.
    Five stars for the always thought-provoking Mr. Chomsky. Don't be afraid to think afresh, people. Buy it now.
    73 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Garth Duguay
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in Canada on December 11, 2015
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    This was a great purchase and was very happy with it!
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  • D. C. Raithby
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 16, 2018
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    Honest men are hard to find
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  • "consumer99"
    1.0 out of 5 stars An argument without support is not even an argument.
    Reviewed in Canada on December 15, 2004
    Verified Purchase
    The main topic of this documentary is "state-supported terrorism," and Mr. Chomsky's objective is to prove that the US is a country that condemns terrorism but conducts terrorist actions or at least supports terrorist actions that are in harmony with its foreign policies, and to accordingly label it a "hypocrite."
    Mr. Chomsky's strategy in achieving his objective is to state the US's definition of terrorism and then cite US actions that put the US within the scope of that definition. Great strategy, right? According-to-your-own-definition arguments leave little latitude for dispute!
    However--and that's a big "however"--Mr. Chomsky's citations have no support: he cites an event that clearly falls within the definition, simply states that the US was responsible for that event, and leaves it at that. Never does he offer an iota of supporting evidence for his the-US-was-the-one-who-did-that claims, simply rendering them allegations and assertions. Instead, he points out that the proof is out there; if you look for it, it's not hard to find.
    The last thing I would do is defend US foreign policies, and I'm not refuting any of Mr. Chomsky's allegations. I believe that most, if not all, of them are true. Nevertheless, the fact remains that a good documentary presents a point and then provides support for that point, or, in case of copyright concerns (or whatever the case may be), it should at least direct the audience to where to find such support.
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  • Gustaf Claassens
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 21, 2015
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    Awesome!! Everything just great; thanks a million!!
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  • R. MCLEAN
    4.0 out of 5 stars Good to watch if you have 2 hours to kill
    Reviewed in Canada on February 17, 2008
    Verified Purchase
    Good movie, but I think the watcher could be disappointed to see that it was taken from one of his talks. No elaborate filmmaking here, just the facts as Chomsky lays them out.

    I think one has to be a fan of this type of intellectual discussion to watch, not for the weak minded sheeple.
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