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CHOMSKY_DONT_ROCK
October 9, 2007
One of the remarkable things about
Chomsky is that he's inspired a lot
of hatred among the right, but the
only smears they've been able to
come up with are rather minor, and One of the
fall apart rather quickly given any funniest I've
attention whatsoever. stumbled across:
Chomsky likes Pol Pot! "Chomsky is
emotionally Evidence: he
Well no: he argued that Pol Pot's cold!" doesn't get
atrocities were exaggerated, rock n' roll!
and that comparable crimes among But then, if
US allies have been ignored. he wasn't
"cold" they'd
There don't appear to be call him (And try reading
any Chomsky quotes from "shrill". Chomsky writing
any period of time where in praise of
Chomsky expressed sympathy Bertrand Russell.)
for the Khmer Rogue.
If there were,
the right would
presumably have
turned them up
by now.
Chomsky likes
Faurisson! (He likes who?
Like I was
Well no, he saying: these
defended are really
Faurisson's small beans.)
right to
free speech,
despite not
agreeing with
him. That's called
"integrity",
you know?
Now, consider how *long* Chomsky has
been politically active, and think
about the various unfortunate
obsessions the left has been afflicted
with over the years.
Was Chomsky an apologist
for Stalin or Mao?
Did Chomsky call for violent
revolution during the
Vietnam war era?
Did Chomsky become obsessed
with impenetrable, ungrounded
post-modern critical theory?
The answer to all is "no".
For a "radical extremist"
Chomsky has been very Which is not to say
consistently level-headed. Chomsky has never said
anything stupid... I got
a bad impression of him
from a sound byte
in defense of Bill Clinton:
"All business is corrupt,
and by the standards of
(from business the corruption
memory) involved in Whitewater
is quite small."
This struck me as an
offensively stupid
characterization of
business. In what
Of course, sense, for example,
that was could Apple Computer
back before be declared "corrupt"?
uncle stevie
played games It also struck me as
with back- an absurd mischaracter-
dating stock ization of the events
options. surrounding Whitewater,
which included a money
There *is* laundering scheme where
the tale Hillary pretended to be
about him prescient about cattle
ripping off futures.
the Woz for
$100 in the
early days.
Still, none of those
blemishes are up at
the level of the
Clintons at play in
Arkansas.
The facts Chomsky
raises never seem
to be challenged.
Neither are his
main political
assumptions:
o We should be cognizant
of the failings of our Does Chomsky neglect
own country. to ever focus on the
positive aspects?
o "Consistent foreign
policy" is more important Perhaps, but why
than Realpolitik. should he? Jingos
are common, critics
rare... why shouldn't
he focus on criticism?
To me, this just means
that Chomsky is not the
only voice you should
hear.
(June 9, 2009) Certainly, rigorous
critical thinking doesn't
A possible critique of Chomsky: exhaust the spectrum.
He doesn't get that the idea of
America can still be inspiring, even
if the actuality has consistently
disappointed.
The vision thing, you know?
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