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Noam Chomsky?


papatree84

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Am I the only one who finds this guy unintelligible? Maybe it is his droning monotone voice but I have major problems listening to him. I also can't seem to pin down his views. He seems to be described as an Anarchist online but I have heard him be very critical of capitalism. He seems in many regards to be just a stuffy intellectual/critic. 

 

It could also be that he is way smarter than me and what he is saying just goes over my head. 

 

Thoughts on the man?

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I think focusing on individuals while in the pursuit of truth is far less valuable than the truth itself. If person X says something insightful, I reflect. If that person instead says something foolish, I move on. Unless the person is in a position to be close to me personally, I don't spend any time worrying about who they are as a person. I'm sure Mr. Chomsky has said many intelligent things and many foolish things.

 

All that said, it wouldn't surprise me that if he does claim to be an anarchist but speaks out against capitalism, he may in fact be referring to the coercive markets we have today. Though I wouldn't make excuses for him if he lacks the integrity to differentiate the two or be clear to others as to the distinction.

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All that said, it wouldn't surprise me that if he does claim to be an anarchist but speaks out against capitalism, he may in fact be referring to the coercive markets we have today. Though I wouldn't make excuses for him if he lacks the integrity to differentiate the two or be clear to others as to the distinction.

 

 

Do ya ever heard about anarcho syndicalists? Those dudes are actually communists. You can refuse capitalism and still be an anarchists in the same way as you can be an atheist without being a mass murderer.

 

Why would you even worry about his integrity if the morality of someone wasn´t an issue in the pursuit of truth?

 

I think focusing on individuals while in the pursuit of truth is far less valuable than the truth itself.

 

 

Yeah, you could examine everything by yourself but it is still a little bit too much to process for a single person, therefore you need experts in the field. Therefore you need to know where this person is coming from to determine wether or not it has something important to tell.

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I don't know what to make of him these days. Certainly he is good at the stuff he's always been good at. Understanding US/European foreign policy, particularly in relation to the Middle East and Israel. Beyond that, not a lot else (at least within this forum).

 

I'd put him up there with Christopher Hitchins, Sam Harris and Dawkins. Although they may all differ on their views about interventionism. These are the popular thinkers of our time that have all attempted to be game changers to varying degrees of success.

 

I guess we should treat it as an honour (if philosophy allows for such a thing) that he has been on the show twice now. Given his eminence in this regard, it can only help enhance the reputation of FDR.

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Most don't realize that Anarchism does not prescribe a certain ideology. It is a framework in which people people voluntarily live together in groups based on ethniticity, culture, religion, ideology. People are free to choose in which group they want to live in. The succesful groups will thrive, while dysfunctional will die out. One can imagine that Anarchist Socialists will not fare well in the free market of ideas, but only future will hopefully show.

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  • 3 months later...

(^ not sure what the previous vid has to do with Chomsky)

Even if Chomsky had something brilliant to say, his style of communicating is a like running your fist over a cheese grater.  BTW, I also found the late William Buckley to be similar.

 

It's a shame in a sense as the guy is obviously very intelligent. But when you have a captive audience (college kids), your incentives to adapt to the market is removed. It's no wonder the guy hates capitalism.

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I'd put him up there with Christopher Hitchins, Sam Harris and Dawkins. 

 

Don't compare Chomsky to Sam Harris. Sam Harris is one of the worst(/best?) Sophists out there.

 

As for Chomsky's anti-capitalist stance, it's mostly due to the commodity fetishism and cultural recreation that most Marxists talk about mixed with his own Libertarian vision of anarchy. The Chomsky-Foucault debate on human nature is a great and easy read for some of Chomsky's big ideas.

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