I am a follower and admirer of Noam Chomsky (hexbear.net)

submitted 2 months ago by FearsomeJoeandmac@hexbear.net to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net

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come at me.

Manufacturing consent turned me into a full blown leftist

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[-] muad_dibber@lemmygrad.ml 50 points 2 months ago

He has plenty of anti-communist rants, and considered the Bolsheviks a ruling intelligentsia who only wanted to gain power for themselves.

It can take years to deprogram someone from his brand of college-student oriented idealist "anti-authoritarianism", into an actual class and materialist way of looking at the world.

[-] ReadFanon@hexbear.net 11 points 2 months ago

Oh ummm... haha, that's weird. Imagine this comment describing what happened to you. That would be super awkward and uncomfortable. Probably. Idk it never happened to me, I'm just talking in hypotheticals.

[-] Spongebobsquarejuche@hexbear.net 41 points 2 months ago

parenti

[-] comrade_pibb@hexbear.net 26 points 2 months ago

"read Blackshirts and Reds"

[-] LanyrdSkynrd@hexbear.net 36 points 2 months ago

[-] TheBroodian@hexbear.net 33 points 2 months ago

Good start, now read Parenti

[-] DivineChaos100@hexbear.net 9 points 2 months ago

I've read Parenti but the two are more complementing each other rather than disproving so i never understood the whole Parenti-Chomsky "feud" apart from being sectarian shitstirring.

[-] TheBroodian@hexbear.net 14 points 2 months ago

It's less a feud and more a graduation away from Chomsky's faults and limitations toward Parenti who is unabashed in his defense of peoples' defense and liberation with an explicit practice of historical materialism

[-] DivineChaos100@hexbear.net 2 points 2 months ago

Nah, it's definitely a sectarian feud. You calling those "faults and limitations" tells me that you're on one side of that feud.

[-] macabrett@lemmy.ml 14 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

It's not a feud, it's just two writers/lecturers and one is a socialist while the other is not.

[-] DivineChaos100@hexbear.net 1 points 2 months ago

Another one on one side of the feud.

[-] anarchoilluminati@hexbear.net 9 points 2 months ago

What about power dynamics?

[-] TheBroodian@hexbear.net 6 points 2 months ago

Noam is wrong about a lot of things, important things, if that sets me on a "sect" apart from him, so be it

sans-shrug

[-] FearsomeJoeandmac@hexbear.net 4 points 2 months ago

You arent a true parenti fan

[-] Findom_DeLuise@hexbear.net 19 points 2 months ago

Oh, you're a Parenti fan? Name three bad VHS rips of his lectures. party-parenti

[-] TheBroodian@hexbear.net 13 points 2 months ago

I am too

powercry-1

[-] anarchoilluminati@hexbear.net 30 points 2 months ago

memes-2811529

[-] HelltakerHomosexual@hexbear.net 27 points 2 months ago

He had connections to jeffery epstien

[-] InevitableSwing@hexbear.net 24 points 2 months ago

When asked about his relationship with Epstein, Mr. Chomsky replied in an email:

“First response is that it is none of your business. Or anyone’s. Second is that I knew him and we met occasionally.”

In March 2015, Epstein scheduled a gathering with Mr. Chomsky and Harvard University professor Martin Nowak and other academics, according to the documents. Mr. Chomsky said they had several meetings at Mr. Nowak’s research institute to discuss neuroscience and other topics. Two months later, Epstein planned to fly with Mr. Chomsky and his wife to have dinner with them and movie director Woody Allen and his wife, Soon-Yi Previn, the documents show. Mr. Chomsky said...

“If there was a flight, which I doubt, it would have been from Boston to New York, 30 minutes. I’m unaware of the principle that requires that I inform you about an evening spent with a great artist.”

https://archive.ph/lT9No

I did a bit of editing to improve the formatting.

[-] Hexboare@hexbear.net 21 points 2 months ago

In 2018, Chomsky asked Epstein for help with a “technical matter” regarding the disbursement of common funds relating to his first marriage, the Journal reported.

He went on to confirm that in March 2018, he received a transfer of approximately $270,000 from an account linked to Epstein, telling the Journal that it was “restricted to rearrangement of my own funds, and did not involve one penny from Epstein”.

In 2018

[-] DivineChaos100@hexbear.net 4 points 2 months ago

Cringe but if you believe that this is why mainstream media cared (especially since the story very not suspiciously popped out after Chomsky going full anti-US propaganda on Ukraine), i have a bridge to sell you.

[-] Hexboare@hexbear.net 10 points 2 months ago

Bill Clinton has been a rapist since he was Bill Clinton, doesn't make Chomsky have better takes

[-] BurgerPunk@hexbear.net 20 points 2 months ago

can-excuse-1 i can excuse Epstein, but not having dinner with Woody Allen

[-] Findom_DeLuise@hexbear.net 8 points 2 months ago

Quick, get the luigi-dance board! We need to know how many times Chomsky went to dinner with Phil Spector and Roman Polanski!

[-] Vampire@hexbear.net 3 points 2 months ago

Everybody did. Like lots of people attended the same parties as Epstein or were in a photograph with him.

[-] SeekTheDeletion@hexbear.net 1 points 2 months ago

Yeah lots of rich pedophiles

[-] ButtBidet@hexbear.net 26 points 2 months ago

He was instrumental in radicalising me. I watched the "New War on Terror" interview, as a saved video file before YouTube existed, probably a dozen times. But honestly I started to move past him in 2003. Also most the books with his name as the author are just typed up interviews and are terrible to read. It's as if they tried to monetise the Chomsky name as hard as they can.

[-] CarbonScored@hexbear.net 16 points 2 months ago

He had a lot of great deconstructions of capitalism, in his earlier years. I don't think anyone can deny that. I think he frequently speaks a lot of sense.

However, especially currently in his senile age, he has many hmm takes. Like advocating for Biden, partially defending Epstein and being very critical of AES countries.

I'm not really sure any single public figure warrants uncritical support, because they're humans with varying ideas and flaws.

[-] christian@hexbear.net 6 points 2 months ago

I'm not really sure any single public figure warrants uncritical support

Excuse me, I am posting publicly right now.

[-] Voidance@hexbear.net 15 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I love that clip of him where he tries to explain to Andrew marr that capitalism and journalism in particular self selects for obedience, and Marr is just like shocked-pikachu . But I don't trust someone as smart as he is who claims not to understand dialectics and used to hang out with Jeffrey Epstein

[-] Ram_The_Manparts@hexbear.net 5 points 2 months ago

I wonder if his "I don't understand dialectics" thing actually means "Marx was a bullshitter and no one should read him". Just more of his typical anti communism.

[-] 2812481591@hexbear.net 13 points 2 months ago

Manufacturing Consent was written by Edward S. Herman

[-] lil_tank@hexbear.net 13 points 2 months ago

Noam Chomsky is like Mao because he has good takes and bad takes. Noam Chomsky isn't like Mao because he's a white US academic who never lead any popular movement

[-] Mardoniush@hexbear.net 12 points 2 months ago

He has bad takes but we still like Treebeard.

[-] Ram_The_Manparts@hexbear.net 11 points 2 months ago

Lol, no.

[-] GarbageShoot@hexbear.net 10 points 2 months ago

Good for you, however:

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5be5a25929711449ca9950d4/t/5df7ff1ef8dcf22406cca2ec/1576533792709/Noam+Chomsky+and+the+Compatible+Left.pdf

[-] Ram_The_Manparts@hexbear.net 4 points 2 months ago

Thanks for this, finished part one and it's a good read. Feel like it deserves its own post tbh

[-] Vampire@hexbear.net 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Rational, nice-smelling comrades: Let me hear and consider what this person has to say and if I agree with it or not, regardless of what he said yesterday.

Internet goblins: Let me find one flaw in something this person said from cradle to grave and dismiss everything they every said, with plenty of recreational name-calling thrown in.

Part of it is basic human shittiness, part of it is the slant of the medium, where glib put-downs work well and careful thoughtful arguments do not. Like if the discussions were taking place as a back-and-forth of journal letters we would discuss things in a better way.

I hate the left tbh, always trying to condemn. It seems to be a hobby for some of them.