Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Saturday, April 23, 2005
Noam Chomsky says:
Chomsky’s words in that article could have been uttered by any concerned, civic minded individual. Perhaps that’s why he gets misrepresented so often.
Posted by Harry on from 04/23 at 09:37 PMThey could have been uttered by literally anyone and that annoys professional intellectuals by taking away opportunities for quibbling over matters picayune. The misrepresentaion part may have more to do with professional mudslingers who have been much in the news lately...Here’s another quote from an interview Chomsky did during his trip to South Asia 3 years ago:
A philosopher friend once wrote a criticism of my work in which he said, with some annoyance, that the only “ism” I seem to believe in is truism. That’s rather accurate. I don’t feel that I have important messages to convey, beyond the obvious: in this case, think for yourselves and do not uncritically accept what you are told, and do what you can to make the world a better place, particularly for those who suffer and are oppressed.
Posted by sk on from 04/24 at 11:59 AMBoth Harry and SK have hit upon precisely the reason why I’ve been drawn to Chomsky and influenced by him.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 04/24 at 12:02 PMAnd it will continue to be difficult for folks to accomplish what Chomsky suggests --- especially in the quote that sk cites—with that TV powered on…
Posted by RT Griffith on from Houston 04/24 at 03:48 PMIt’s difficult not to admire Chomsky - perhaps difficult not to love him. I recall, some time ago, watching a documentary about him. They showed a large classroom at a university in Paris, in which sat the foremost child psychologists in the world - among them, Jean Piaget. At the blackboard, teaching them, a young Noam Chomsky, talking about his theories of language acquisition. Chomsky surely could have been very rich, very famous, and the darling of the mainstream… Instead, he travels coach, carries his own luggage and receives threats and insults and generalized harassment from the Right, the Middle and - all too frequently - the Left.
During an appearance with UberMind, William F. Buckley, Buckly basically threatened to hit him if he “stepped out of line...” During another interview, he sat with the President of Boston College, who angrily called him a liar.
Still, the great man continues - traveling wherever he’s invited, telling the truth and asking only that others do the same.Just having to ponder the horrors he reports in book after book, year after year, would leave most folks curled up in a foetal position in a cornor somewhere - in fact, that’s where I am now… But Chomsky just sucks it up and goes back to work. It’s said that, when Napolean met Goethe, he called some of his junior officers over and pointed to Goethe: “This - is a Man!” - he told them. The same should be said of Chomsky.
Posted by joe carpenter on from Grants Pass, Oregon 04/24 at 07:04 PMSpeaking of horrors that would leave one in a foetal position, one of the few charges that Chomsky has levelled which I thought may have been a bit rhetorical, was confirmed for me yesterday when I started reading ‘Hitler’s Prisons’ by Nikolaus Wachsmann: http://www.historytoday.com/dt_main_allatonce.asp?gid=30870&aid=&tgid=&amid=30216713&g30870=x&g30784=x&g30028=x&g20991=x&g21010=x&g19965=x&g19963=x
That is, the extremely shameful rehabilitation of a large proportion of Nazi officials (specifically judges, including those from the “People’s Court") in US administered West Germany after the War. Although Chomsky, Paul Fussell, and Chris Simpson among others had commented on the over hasty collusion with very unsavory military or intelligence related characters, this had been justified under the cloak of “national security”. But, one only begins to comprehend the scale of the amnesty granted to unreconstructed Nazis when one reads that virtually all judges and jail warders who were directly responsible for deathcamp like horrors, resumed their careers after the War and then drew pensions by working normally till the 1970s in some cases. If anything, Chomsky’s criticisms may have been too mild…Posted by sk on from 04/24 at 10:50 PM[Chomsky criticizes the] extremely shameful rehabilitation of a large proportion of Nazi officials (specifically judges, including those from the “People’s Court") in US administered West Germany after the War. Although Chomsky, Paul Fussell, and Chris Simpson among others had commented on the over hasty collusion with very unsavory military or intelligence related characters, this had been justified under the cloak of “national security”.
I just stumbled on to your site by mistake, but I have to leave this comment.
You hippies want to have it both ways, don’t you? So it’s shameful to rehabilitate Nazi officials after World War II, but it’s also shameful that Rumsfeld and Bremer (probably in unknowing deference to Chomskyite criticism) purged all the Baathists and disbanded down the Iraqi Army. I happen to agree that it was a tragic mistake to abolish the Iraqi Army; we should have set about reforming it in place. But the “establishment” can’t win either way—if the Baathists and Iraqi Army has been rehabilitated then the neo-conservatives would be “shameful” for keeping them.
Shame on you, and shame on Chomsky.
Posted by Brendon Carr on from Seoul, Korea 11/07 at 10:08 PM
Next entry: TV or not TV
Previous entry: Z is for Zimmerman
Copyright © 2005-2007 Mickey Z.
