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this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2026
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Imagine if all the physics Hawking wrote became invalid because he knew a sex trafficker. Why even bring that up.
Fuck yeah! Faster than light travel!
It isn't just that he "knew" a sex trafficker, it's that he tried to help a sex trafficker white-wash his reputation for sex trafficking. It's not guilt by association, it's guilt by his specific actions.
I ask you again, of what relevance is that to the topic being discussed? The obvious relevance seems to be that it is a blatant ad hominem. I don't care if Chompsky is a boy scout or a boy scout rapist, in the context of evaluating his arguments.
I don't care about any of that, I'm sure Chomsky's takes suck as well, but my point is that he sucks and you're trying to minimise what he actually did with a half-baked analogue.
If you really want my opinion on what he said in the original comment then sure, I think it's misguided in the age of the internet where the overton window covers all sorts of extreme views to suggest censorship is a pervasive issue. It wouldn't surprise me if the story of this journalist getting fired got far wider coverage than any of the pieces that got her fired. Even in the quote it's dubious because Chomsky is apparently sitting right next to the person he implies wouldn't be there if he had Chomsky's beliefs.
But again, I don't want to waste time debating the articulations of a faux-dissident loser like Chomsky because he's just a mouthpiece for common truisms you can find around ever corner being peddled by people who don't have the same reputation of being an asshat. Like, I'm sure those people would also be brainrotted populist freaks, but at least I wouldn't be dunking on them for being pedo defenders.