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Noam Chomsky on the Responsibility of Intellectuals

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‘It is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and to expose lies.’ Noam Chomsky lays out the idea that intellectuals’ relative privilege imbues them with greater responsibility—one that was to be the guiding principle of his intellectual life.

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Image courtesy of interviewee. February 7, 2023

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This video discusses the author's reflections on the Vietnam War, the representation of the conflict in mainstream discourse, and the role of intellectuals in shaping narratives around power. The author notes that much of the historical discourse frames the war as a defensive effort against North Vietnam, ignoring the significant destruction inflicted upon South Vietnam and Cambodia. This video revisionist perspective serves the interests of those in power by presenting the U.S. actions as justified.

The author emphasizes the failure to acknowledge U.S. aggression in Indochina and critiques mainstream scholarship that downplays the war's impact on Vietnam. The conversation transitions to the moral responsibilities of intellectuals, contrasting the roles of those who support or challenge state narratives. This video highlights that dissenting intellectuals often face marginalization or vilification, regardless of the societal context, whether in the U.S., Soviet Union, or elsewhere.

The author draws historical parallels, referencing the Dreyfus affair and other instances where critical voices were silenced or demonized. Ultimately, the text advocates for a commitment to truth-telling regarding political violence and the impact of war, asserting that those who challenge dominant narratives do so at their own peril.

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Here are some key quotes extracted from the video, which reflect the main ideas and themes discussed:

1. **On the Perspective of War**:
- "Very important Journal... very acute commentary in what was happening in the world quite different from the standard pictures."
- "the almost total subordination of the intellectual classes to the official doctrines about the war which actually remains right up until today."

2. **On the Misrepresentation of the Vietnam War**:
- "Try to find anything in the mainstream which speaks of US aggression in Indochina. The US attacked Vietnam, Cambodia... virtually destroyed them."
- "It's interesting... the Vietnam element of the war is reformulated so that it's called a war against North Vietnam."

3. **On U.S. Actions in Vietnam**:
- "The main attack was against South Vietnam. South Vietnam was by far the target of the overwhelming US destructive force."
- "I would say approximately a hundred percent close to it of discourse puts it in the frame of a defensive war against North Vietnam."

4. **On Intellectual Responsibility**:
- "There’s also a moral responsibility. Tell the truth about what's going on."
- "If you do that, you're not treated very well. Not just in the United States, any society."

5. **On the Role of Intellectuals**:
- "Kissinger put it pretty well... the duty of intellectual policy intellectuals is to articulate the conceptions and opinions of the powerful."
- "Sometimes called stenographers for power."

6. **On Consequences of Dissent**:
- "That's traditional. That's the history of dissonant intellectuals in just about every country."
- "If you're in El Salvador, you can get your head your brains blown out by US-run security forces... that’s yourself endure."

These quotes encapsulate the speaker's critique on the portrayal of U.S. military actions, especially in Vietnam, the responsibilities of intellectuals, and the consequences faced by those who dissent from dominant narratives.

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

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When I was in undergraduate back in the

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40s, I was reading Dwight McDonalds

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politics.

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Very important Journal not many

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readers but very acute commentary

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in what was happening in the world quite different

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from the standard pictures that are

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being impact influence and in

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the 1960s. It was rethinking that

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with the

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expansion of the

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US Wars in Indochina and the

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almost total subordination of

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the intellectual classes to the

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official doctrines about the war which actually

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remains right up until today.

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up until today, we're reaching the 50th anniversary

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of the

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US final withdrawal from the

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so called peace treaty in 1975. Well

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73 when

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the agreement was made to pull out.

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to this day

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Try to find anything in

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the mainstream which speaks of us

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aggression in Indochina us

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attacked.

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Vietnam those Cambodia virtually destroyed

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them

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But it was just a mistake.

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In fact, the it's interesting even in scholarship.

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The Vietnam element of

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the war is

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reformulated

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so that it's called a war against North Vietnam.

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There was bombing of North Vietnam, but it

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was on the side.

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The main attack was against South Vietnam.

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South Vietnam was by far the target of

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the overwhelming us destructive

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force, but

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that doesn't look nice if you can frame it as a

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war against the North.

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You can give it a kind of defensive cast. You

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can say the US was trying to

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defend the South against North Vietnam North

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Vietnamese aggression so much

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more convenient picture makes it look defensive.

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If you tell the truth saying it's

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a war against South Vietnam, which virtually wiped

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it out.

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Which then spread the North Vietnam blouse and

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Cambodia doesn't look so pretty so

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therefore.

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I would say approximately a hundred percent close to

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it of discourse puts it

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in the frame of a defensive war

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against North Vietnam.

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Which is pretty remarkable revision of

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the facts, which are not obscure. Let's

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take a look at the military

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history.

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overwhelmingly against the South

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and in fact the US war against South

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Vietnam pretty much succeeded.

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the National Liberation Front which

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was the resistance force in

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South Vietnam, but

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what we call the vietcon.

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is virtually wiped out country was

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left so that the only forces that

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remained were the North Vietnamese which

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did withstand the

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Lesser American attack us could never

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go all out against North Vietnam.

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There were embassies foreign embassies in

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Hanoi commercial relations.

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Hit chips and I found Harbor they

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could be foreign ships. So there were some

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restraints it was pretty awful. But some parts

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of North Vietnam or literally moonscapes. I've

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seen them.

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But around Hanoi kind of somewhat protected.

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Despite Nixon's Christmas bombings, but

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the South was just devastated.

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And as then of

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course the worst bread to those in

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Cambodia.

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the loss

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hasn't been playing plane of chores in Northern

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Laos isn't Community scattered communities

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just wiped out in

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Cambodia.

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Isn't your said it accurately?

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transmitted an order from his

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half drunk was Richard Nixon

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the order was

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massive

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bombing campaign in Cambodia anything that

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flies against anything that moves

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pretty hard to find

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Anything like that in the archival record?

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So basically a call for Mass general.

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You can read the transcript Sunday. It's

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Declassified.

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speaking to

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Hague L Hague Air Force

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director and they're kind of laughing about it.

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Isn't this funny, you know wasn't funny for

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the cambodians.

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a kind of an official responsibility

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the moral responsibility and there at

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odds

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the official responsibility is

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actually Kissinger put it pretty well. Is it

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specialist in the

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and the genre

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said the duty of intellectual policy intellectuals

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is to articulate the

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conceptions and opinions of the powerful shape them

05:51.700 --> 05:54.300
frame them and put them in a

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proper form.

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Sometimes called stenographers for power.

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That's what you're supposed to do if you do that.

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You get tenure get a job

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respected.

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great articles

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and get called by Thomas Friedman to

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give your opinion on things like this morning's column.

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There's also a moral responsibility.

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Tell the truth about what's going on.

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He could lies. Oh bring people

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to understand help them

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try to understand the reality the world.

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You do that you're not.

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You're not treated very well. Not just

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in the United States any society.

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every society has

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upper Hutchings and isn't that's

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where we call them in

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the Soviet Union commissors and

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didn't

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Of course in the case of enemy States,

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we revile the commissars be

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honor the distance at home. The values

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are reversed.

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And that's a pattern that runs through history. I

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mean take the term intellectually itself.

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The term intellectual in the modern sense began

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to be used at the

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time of the Dreyfus trial in France.

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the

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image of the

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his group The dreyfusards that were

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critical disintellectuals

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where they treated well, I mean now we honor them

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of course not at the time.

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they were villified demonized and

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it was all himself had to flee

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the country The Immortals of

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the

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academy phone services great intellectuals

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bitterly condemned these

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writers and artists

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who dare to attack the Majesty of

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the states and our great institutions and

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so on.

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Come to Modern period you

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get people like mature Bundy.

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former Harvard Dean National Security advisor

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for Kennedy and Johnson

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In 1968, he wrote an interesting

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right after the article did of mine

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that you mentioned he wrote.

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according to article in foreign affairs main establishment Journal

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In which he said he can

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understand criticisms of

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our war in Vietnam. We made

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tactical errors things. We didn't understand and so

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on.

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And then he said there are the wild men in the

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wings.

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People like me for example who questioned

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her motives and strategy.

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Wild and in the wings can't have anything to do

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with him.

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Well, that's traditional. That's the

09:03.600 --> 09:06.700
history of dissonant intellectuals

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in just about every country.

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Of course, they reactions are different.

09:13.300 --> 09:13.900
if you're in

09:15.100 --> 09:16.200
El Salvador

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you can get your head your brains blown out by us

09:20.100 --> 09:23.900
Run Security Forces like the

09:23.900 --> 09:26.900
six leading Jesuit intellectuals who

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were murdered in 1989.

09:31.500 --> 09:32.400
That's yourself endure.

09:32.900 --> 09:35.700
If you're in Russia, you could say and

09:35.700 --> 09:38.400
check the Russian satellite to be

09:38.400 --> 09:39.000
put in jail.

09:39.900 --> 09:42.200
Sometimes worse the United

09:42.200 --> 09:45.000
States you're not sent to the gulag. You know,

09:45.300 --> 09:45.900
you're not killed.

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It just kind of marginalized that

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you're a wild man in the wings.

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