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How do you respond to Noam Chomsky? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKwJI9axblQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKwJI9axblQ

aaron-lebo 9y ago
Chomsky pretty regularly exaggerates his positions regarding politics. For a long time he was defending the Venezuelan government. He has popular appeal in a lot of communities, but his expertise is linguistics not politics. No objective historian would say that the US is responsible for all or most of the violence in South America, nor that it has been innocent. The violence is not due to the US but rather is largely a result of the divide between the landholding elites and poor and the economic/social system the Spanish set up. To add to their examples, political violence was common in Mexico from 1900 onwards, and that was largely self-inflicted.
- aylmao 9y ago
  Funny you bring up political violence in Mexico from 1900 onwards. Mexico had a revolution at the beginning of the century. It lasted 3 years at first, and then the US ambassador was involved in the murder of the President, which extended the violence for at least another 4 years. Mexico has a cartel problem now. It also happens to have in its northern neighbour the biggest consumer demand for drugs in the world. And said neighbour will rather export its problem and fund a war south of the border with billions of dollars, torture training and illicit arms smuggling [1], than address its public health issue. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mérida_Initiative#Criticism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mérida_Initiative#Criticism
cryptonector 9y ago
Mostly by ignoring him.
- coredog64 9y ago
  Your ideas are intriguing to me, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
  - dang 9y ago
    Please don't post unsubstantive comments here, even when someone else has done so. It only makes the thread even worse.
  - cryptonector 9y ago
    Scroll up. I gave a lengthy (for HN) exposition on why the U.S. is not to blame for Latin American violence of the past. The answer I got was a change of topic: what do I think of what Chomsky has to say? Asking me that is just a way to ignore the points I made.
- cryoshon 9y ago
  have you ever heard the falsehood that "my ignorance is as good as your knowledge?"

aaron-lebo 9y ago

Chomsky pretty regularly exaggerates his positions regarding politics. For a long time he was defending the Venezuelan government. He has popular appeal in a lot of communities, but his expertise is linguistics not politics. No objective historian would say that the US is responsible for all or most of the violence in South America, nor that it has been innocent. The violence is not due to the US but rather is largely a result of the divide between the landholding elites and poor and the economic/social system the Spanish set up. To add to their examples, political violence was common in Mexico from 1900 onwards, and that was largely self-inflicted.

aylmao 9y ago
Funny you bring up political violence in Mexico from 1900 onwards. Mexico had a revolution at the beginning of the century. It lasted 3 years at first, and then the US ambassador was involved in the murder of the President, which extended the violence for at least another 4 years. Mexico has a cartel problem now. It also happens to have in its northern neighbour the biggest consumer demand for drugs in the world. And said neighbour will rather export its problem and fund a war south of the border with billions of dollars, torture training and illicit arms smuggling [1], than address its public health issue. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mérida_Initiative#Criticism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mérida_Initiative#Criticism

cryptonector 9y ago

Mostly by ignoring him.

coredog64 9y ago
Your ideas are intriguing to me, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
- dang 9y ago
  Please don't post unsubstantive comments here, even when someone else has done so. It only makes the thread even worse.
- cryptonector 9y ago
  Scroll up. I gave a lengthy (for HN) exposition on why the U.S. is not to blame for Latin American violence of the past. The answer I got was a change of topic: what do I think of what Chomsky has to say? Asking me that is just a way to ignore the points I made.
cryoshon 9y ago
have you ever heard the falsehood that "my ignorance is as good as your knowledge?"