Chomsky speaks on Human Destiny

[Ody]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSxYEzSpFdc&mode=related&search=

 

[Radio Frequency X]

ugh - I forgot how much I hated that guy.

 

[Valjean]

Why would you hate Chomsky? His historical works are meticulously fact-checked and footnoted. They're certainly more accurate and give a broader view of history than anything you read in High School (or is this part of the problem?) His views on society and capitalism, somewhat extreme 40 years ago, become more and more prophetic and mainstream as the years go by.

Do you also hate that pinko Eisenhower for his Chomskyesque warning about the military-industrial complex?

 

[Radio Frequency X]

Why would you hate Chomsky? His historical works are meticulously fact-checked and footnoted. They're certainly more accurate and give a broader view of history than anything you read in High School (or is this part of the problem?) His views on society and capitalism, somewhat extreme 40 years ago, become more and more prophetic and mainstream as the years go by.

Do you also hate that pinko Eisenhower for his Chomskyesque warning about the military-industrial complex?

I don't have much feeling about Eisenhower. From what I've read he was a great man and a great leader who spent his entire life serving our country, and who instituted the Interstate HWY System. Chomsky is not what I would consider a sophisticated thinker. Political Science students will read more advanced and more interesting authors in their freshmen year. When I say I hate Chomsky, I'm being somewhat unfair. He's unconvincing and insipid, but he works hard to fight the good fight, so to speak. It's the tedious hordes of college kids who follow him blindly, quoting him like scripture, that truly infuriate me. It's professors who forbid papers from being read in class that criticize Chomsky, Marx, or Engels that frustrate me. It's a culture of impractical, mechanical, anti-individualist, anti-capitalist, opposition to free trade and free people.

 

[Valjean]

Interesting. I've never got the impression of an impractical, anti-individualist when reading Chomsky. And he is distinctly "free people."
He does have issues with American capitalism and certain aspects of free-trade economics, but his objections are well researched and supported. One might challenge his data and conclusions, but I see no reason for animosity against him.

 

[Radio Frequency X]

Interesting. I've never got the impression of an impractical, anti-individualist when reading Chomsky. And he is distinctly "free people."
He does have issues with American capitalism and certain aspects of free-trade economics, but his objections are well researched and supported. One might challenge his data and conclusions, but I see no reason for animosity against him.

Firstly, the problems are well researched and supported, not his objections and certainly not his "solutions". But as I explained before, the animosity is not entirely directed at Chomsky, but the entire convoluted culture that has sprung up around him. Chomsky does a lot more complaining than he does problem solving, which is common amongst philosophers, political scientists, and economics of every stripe (liberal and conservative), but it still feels insipid. Furthermore, Chomsky isn't doing much research. For the most part, he takes the research of others and then complains about it. However, I think people should read Profit over People and Secrets, Lies and Democracy, because they have laid out what has become the fundamental language and philosophy of the Democratic Party in the media and on the campaign trail (to a much, MUCH lesser extent once they are elected).

 

[Quiddity]

I don't know much about the guy, but his political philosophies at a glance seem wack. For someone who seems to understand human behaivor pretty well, he seems to ignore it in his political leanings. He takes autonomy to an extreme...Good Luck with that!