Teacher Surviving the 21st Century - Essay Example

Teacher Surviving the 21st Century The speaker is Noam Chomsky who is a at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is a prominent figure in linguistics and is also internationally recognized as “one of the critically engaged intellectuals today” (Durham Castle University). Chomsky is also known to be critical to American foreign policy and its geopolitical hegemony. His lecture at Durham Castle entitled “Surviving the 21stCentury” is a representative of his critical view on the present world order of which America and its hegemonic foreign policy plays a significant role. Chomsky’s lecture can be summed up into two major components that pose as a threat to us in the 21st century. These are climate change and national security. Professor Noam Chomsky’s speech opened and spent a great deal about the environmental issue that is engulfing us now. He described it as a disaster comparable to the dinosaur age which rendered it extinct. He described climate change today as so severe that if we continue to destroy our environment at the rate we are doing today, the consequences would be dire in the next generation. He spoke of climate change as an urgent that needs to be addressed today if we are to survive as specie. This urgency however is stifled by business and to some extent government, by spreading propaganda against the necessity of instituting measures against global warming. According to Professor Chomsky, the race towards the cliff is led by the most advanced, informed, sophisticated and most educated countries in the world particularly North America with the few exception of few countries such as Germany. He spoke of our dependency towards oil and gas and the need of our government to have a stable source of it. Almost everything is dependent to energy and this describes the kind of world we are creating – polluted, unstable and carbon filled. Chomsky’s description of the national security threat today enumerates his usual characterization of the United States as one of the culprits who is self-immunized from the international legal system which may be a cliché but correct. The dangers of arms race, cold war were mentioned and sums up the security concerns in the 21st century as the need for the state powers to be secured from its enemies, one of which is its domestic enemies. To survive the alarming rate that Noam Chomsky talked about environmental disaster that is bound to happen in the next generations that can also be felt today cannot be dealt alone nor singlehandedly. No individual or country can address or solve our environmental crisis today no matter how rich or powerful he or she is. It needs a collective action and cooperation on a global scale because the pollution that was thrown into the environment from the sea, air, land and almost everywhere was done by everybody and correspondingly, must be dealt with by everybody (New York Times). The environment is also not divided by geographical boundaries and being such, needs a collective act. If we are to survive today and tomorrow we have to change our lifestyle in several ways. First is our consuming habit, our energy use and the way the way we live. As a college student who would be soon looking for job or starting my own business when I graduate, the environment will affect the kind of environment and health that I will be living. It could undermine the most basic of my health and existence and therefore must be addressed. Security as tackled by Chomsky may seem to be a government issue but it could affect me in some ways. According to Chomsky, government’s increasing obsession towards national security that it now undermines some of our basic right such as its exercise to seize homes and spy on its citizen is alarming. As a student who would become future professional or entrepreneur, I am also a citizen and being such, United States excessive exercise of its power in the name of national security affects my civil liberties that restricts or exposes some of my personal information and correspondence that could be used against me. It may not have an immediate economic effect but on the long run, it could affect and harm me because such over intrusion with my private information and activities could inadvertently expose critical private information such as bank accounts and passwords. To survive it, students like me should exercise extra vigilance against the over intrusion of the government. We should involve in activities that would inform and limit government’s security practices to those that are legitimate in protecting our national security. I would not like the government to know about my email password, who I talked to and what I wrote in my emails because they have nothing to do with security. After all, one of the threats of government is domestic threat and its paranoia over its citizens to the point of intruding and getting our private information which is not necessary in protecting the country. According to Chomsky, almost all of government security documents that have been declassified do not entirely concern with security but rather just government’s penchant to peer on people. Chomsky spoke about missiles, cold war and in passing the Cuban missile in relation to security. This seems far fetch with my concern as a student who would just like to live a normal life after graduation. This however has relation to my status as a would be professional and entrepreneur because it now shows the government’s growing penchant towards arms race and correspondingly for war which more often than not are really not necessary. This concerns me because the resources that government use from the procurement of arms comes from the taxes that I pay which could have been used for other more important programs such as education, health and other social services. Better yet, government could reduce the tax that I will pay by avoiding arms race that only create new enemy that could led to a nuclear war which Chomsky vehemently spoke about in his speech. I personally believe that excessive arms by itself creates enemy and to survive it, we should reduce our arms to a minimum necessity to reduce the anxiety in the world. As a student, I am not being politically apathetic or disinterested about public discourse. It is just I find discourse about war, missiles and probably war and their corresponding justification to make it important to be unnecessary and disgusting. In the first place, Noam himself revealed that most government actions based on declassified documents were not really entirely about security. Especially in the closing part of Chomsky’s speech where he was discussing about cold war with Russia and the administration of Reagan on how he dealt with the “chilling” situation during his time which I find irrelevant in my pursuit as a student who would become a professional and/or entrepreneur someday. Personally, I even find them overstated and is just done for government and business to remain relevant. This was stated by Chomsky himself saying that policies imposed by economic elite represented by business with little concern for public safety as long as the public remains passive and obedient and threated by concocted ogres. Security is about power and profit and really has marginal concern for public safety. To survive this kind of government and mindset, we should not be passive, disinterested and blindly obedient which Chomsky identified as the breeding ground of selfish and sometimes false security concerns. 21st century is an insecure ear and I know it. I belong in a generation that is aware of our depleting resources and degraded environment which is the 21st century. I also belong in a generation that is most connected through technology. Never in mankind’s history were people so interconnected than today wrought by globalization and internet. We are also informed, sophisticated, and highly educated. The threat and danger that we face and confront today may be more and ominous but it does not mean that we cannot survive. We have the means and capacity to address and overcome no matter how these challenges appear to be ominous and dangerous. In sum, for a student and a would be professional and/or entrepreneur to survive the 21st century, it would mean a collective effort on our part to address issues that are global in nature. To survive the 21st century, it would mean healing the planet which requires collective effort. It would also mean ending the conflicts around the world that does not only cost lives and resources but also made living difficult. It also meant being vigilant against government which has tendency to abuse its power. It also mean being vigilant against business who has the tendency to abuse the environment and shortchange us for profit. It would mean enhancing our skills to have more options so that we can refuse a possible employer who would shortchange us by offering lower salaries and/or minimal benefits. To survive it, students must also learn to become producers or service generators. Meaning, we should not be dependent to business and government alone to give us employment and source of income. We can create value through our talent and initiative enabling us not just as survivors in the 21st century but victorious s as well. Works Cited "Durham Castle Lecture Series: Professor Noam Chomsky - Durham University."Durham Castle Lecture Series: Professor Noam Chomsky - Durham University. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Aug. 2014. . "Global Warming & Climate Change."Global Warming & Climate Change. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Aug. 2014. . "Noam Chomsky (2014) "Surviving the 21st Century" [FULL SPEECH]." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 7 Aug. 2014. . Read More