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Chomsky's “The Responsibility of Intellectuals”
- fleitz 16y agoIt's not a responsibility of intellectuals, it's a responsibility of individuals to think critically about what they are being told and for the most part ignore appeals to ethos and pathos. In theory the sophists were wrong, but in practice they were right. Assume that when a person speaks it is for their own personal benefit. Most people are talking their book.
- babeKnuth 16y agoi agree with the first half. tho not necessarily with the second. i have no idea where the illusion that writing books is a way to "get rich quick" came from. more like "get rich never".
- foenix 16y agoI realize that this is an especially old article (1967), but I found it pertinent when I read: > With respect to the responsibility of intellectuals, there are still other, equally disturbing questions. Intellectuals are in a position to expose the lies of governments, to analyze actions according to their causes and motives and often hidden intentions.
- grandalf 16y agoIt's a very appropriate article these days. How many of us donated to Wikileaks? How many will even go public (on Facebook) as supporting Wikileaks?
- hazzen 16y agoCareful there; you've gone from a fact about yourself to a generalization of everyone in a group. Down that road lies fallacy.
- grandalf 16y agoI realize not all HN readers support Wikileaks. I used it as an example b/c it is one of the few controversial entities left to support (or not). Pretty much everyone opposes slavery, hunger, etc.
- itistoday 16y agoI do, I'm sure there are many who do. You shouldn't be ashamed of standing up for truth (unless, of course, you feel that doing so is causing more harm than good, and there's the rub, but I feel Wikileaks is on the whole a force for good, and the world is better off with it than without). Just as an example of someone of prestige and integrity, standing up for Wikileaks and kicking ass while doing so (on national television), is Ray McGovern, "former high-ranking CIA official": http://www.juancole.com/2010/12/former-cia-official-ray-close-defends-assange.html http://www.juancole.com/2010/12/former-cia-official-ray-clos...
- babeKnuth 16y agoif you haven't seen it, the gentleman from texas also makes some lovely comments as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxPB9yy7IJ4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxPB9yy7IJ4
- jbooth 16y agoThe way the wikileaks thing went down made me want to grow dreadlocks and become a marxist. This guy comes out and contributes to what the press should have been doing the last 10 years, and what happens? The cable news networks spend all their time talking about his "motivations" and how "anti-american" he is or isn't. Or who on the washington circuit is saying he's anti-american and how that fits into the political gossip column. What about the damned cables!?
- MikeMacMan 16y agoI like this one: "The facts are known to all who care to know. The press, foreign and domestic, has presented documentation to refute each falsehood as it appears. But the power of the government’s propaganda apparatus is such that the citizen who does not undertake a research project on the subject can hardly hope to confront government pronouncements with fact." This speaks to the great failing of today's media. Who has time to stay current on all the world's events? I can hardly keep up with my Hacker News RSS feed! We rely on the media to do this research that Chomsky speaks of (or at least to use sources that have done said research). Given limitations on our time and focus, we have no choice but to accept what the media reports at face value. The more information proliferates, the more important becomes the filter.
- jdub 16y agoThe only thing which is different 40 years later is that corporations -- certainly together, some in cooperation, and some even alone -- maintain more power and apparatus of propaganda than the government. That is why populist Libertarianism (Randian muck) and the ghastly half'n'half-baked ideology of the Tea Party are so awfully (and often ironically) misdirected these days.
- babeKnuth 16y agocheck out the documentary on chomsky "manufacturing consent". this is partly addressed there. all these things are toys and distractions. it's up to you to choose what to follow: the false prophets or the real ones. the issues that actually matter or the ones that actually don't. the main thing i have found is that it all feels impossible/insurmountable in the beginning. but as with anything else, it gets much easier over time as long as the work and effort is there. e.g. "programming is too hard". but in reality EVERYTHING is "too hard". nothing is easy. nothing is black and white. etc.
- moogatronic 16y agoFYI - here's a link to this article with no ads/distractions: http://www.chomsky.info/articles/19670223.htm http://www.chomsky.info/articles/19670223.htm Readability still left a big graphic ad in the middle with the nybooks link.
- lwhi 16y agoIntellectualism is a luxury; those who are able to practice it should be aware that many people are just trying to make ends meet.
- Alex3917 16y agoThen again, the entire western intellectual tradition was started by a stonemason.
- jshen 16y agoYup, their trying to make ends meet between games of madden and starcraft.
- wladimir 16y agoPeople who only have time to make ends meet usually only 'recycle' quotes by intellectuals and those in power, they go with the accepted as they cannot afford to think about it deeper. I'm sure Chomsky acknowledges that. Even more back in the time he wrote the article, access to information and having the time to disseminate it was very uncommon. Which is why it is important that the people who have such a luxury use it responsibly.
- nir 16y agoSome of the most murderous dictators in recent century were celebrated by Western intellectuals - Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao. There's nothing about being an "intellectual", whatever this means, that makes you a better judge of reality.
- rdtsc 16y agoWhich is what Chomsky points out constantly in his writings -- how often Western "intellectuals" cheer and march under the drum beat of government propaganda, when one would expect them to expose and challenge the lies.
- nir 16y agoAll of these dictators were supported by Intellectuals taking a stance diametrically opposed to own their government's.
- guelo 16y agoPol Pot is the best example of anti-intellectualism so if anyone should be his admirer it should be you.
- nir 16y agoThat's correct. We disagree on the internet, therefore I must be an admirer of one of the biggest murderers of the 20th century.
- jshen 16y agoCelebrated by intellectuals with a vested interest in the outcome. Chomsky is talking about the other intellectuals that should see through this and make noise.
- warmfuzzykitten 16y agoAnother rambling, incoherent account from the master of propspeak.
- babeKnuth 16y agointeresting escher-esque self-referencing.
- michaelchisari 16y agoMuch of our conception of intellectuals is mired in the image of the Academic. And while intellectuals which come out of academic circles are important, I think we actually need to push instead for a popular intellectualism which is not just independent of academia, but actively pushes it's obsolescence. There have been scenes, areas and movements of popular intellectualism in the past. The Lower East Side in the 1910's for instance. I think Chomsky is an incredible political analyst and thinker, and I appreciate the work he's done immensely. But I think it's important also to consider how important it is that we do not separate ourselves or others from "The Intellectuals", that we don't acquiesce to a certain academic dilettantism instead of building a culture of intellectualism for ourselves and others. The major steps towards that are to first drop any pretense that intellectualism comes from a specific context, whether academia, the middle classes, white, male, etc. Wholeheartedly adopt, instead, the idea that anybody can and should be encouraged towards intellectualism. In short, replace The Intellectual, with a culture of intellectualism. Secondly, to encourage the importance of facts, the complexity of the world, and infinity of ideas. Intellectualism doesn't thrive when people choose strict ideologies, and argue them stubbornly. Instead, encourage people to accept being wrong, to revel in it, even, and to put their ideas up to scrutiny like a scientist. The internet puts us in an incredible point in history where facts are non-exclusive. We have all the facts we could ever need, and it's gotten easier and easier to locate them. This major barrier to being an intellectual, historically provided by academia, is almost completely gone. It's time we learned how to move forward with the rest of it.
- kevin_riggen 16y ago"This major barrier to being an intellectual, historically provided by academia, is almost completely gone." Wow, what an amazing conclusion. Well said and thanks.
- FluidDjango 16y agoI teach (mediocre) college students. And I disagree. It is not lack of access to information ('facts') that is a barrier to being an intellectual. It is a combination of inability/unwillingness to think analytically about information and ideas. IMHO.
- kevin_riggen 16y agoChomsky is an incredible writer. His style reminds me of Orwell (what do you guys think about that?). This is interesting, and something that (rather importantly) shatters many Americans' world views : "It surpasses belief, that is, unless we look at the matter from a more historical point of view ... No one would be disturbed by an analysis of the political behavior of the Russians, French, or Tanzanians questioning their motives and interpreting their actions by the long-range interests concealed behind their official rhetoric. But it is an article of faith that American motives are pure, and not subject to analysis". This ability to shatter a world view is why I appreciate and support Noam Chomsky and Wikileaks and Colbert and anything else that challenges the duping.
- krakensden 16y agoPerhaps it also speaks to the fact that the way we analyze the political behavior of other people is too simplistic and reductive? It took a long time to convince economists to stop treating people as rational automatons that always make the best choice available, maybe soon political scientists and historians will follow suit.
- mynameishere 16y agoThat comment is a banality and I'm pretty sure it was a banality in 1967. It is, and I think always was, for "intellectuals" at all levels of ability and arrogance to criticize their families/ethnicies/classes/governments/nations and embrace the "other" in every category. It's a really common pose.
- shmulkey18 16y agoIs it the responsibility of intellectuals to cheer-lead for Hezbollah? To label a Holocaust denier and anti-semite "a relatively apolitical liberal of some sort"? To minimise the Cambodian genocide? [Refs: http://oliverkamm.typepad.com/blog/2004/11/chomsky_and_hol_1.html http://oliverkamm.typepad.com/blog/2004/11/chomsky_and_hol_1..., http://econ161.berkeley.edu/movable_type/archives/000155.html http://econ161.berkeley.edu/movable_type/archives/000155.htm..., http://wernercohn.com/Chomsky.html http://wernercohn.com/Chomsky.html, http://www.jochnowitz.net/Essays/ExtremistPolReg.html http://www.jochnowitz.net/Essays/ExtremistPolReg.html] If so, then Chomsky -- the idiot-savant of the American far-left -- discharges his responsibility admirably. Being lectured by Chomsky on the responsibility of intellectuals is like being lectured on humanitarianism by Stalin. Members of the Chomsky cult may now begin sputtering...
- babeKnuth 16y agodisclosure: i'm not a chomsky fan disclosure++: i'm less a fan of lies or mudslinging or false conclusions or character assassinations with that said.... chomsky doesn't "cheerlead for hezbollah" chomsky doesn't deny the holocaust chomsky isn't an anti-semite the "criticisms" are similar to what the interviewer here keeps repeating (and constantly ignoring his answers): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM7IFBIfQ1M http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM7IFBIfQ1M http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uZ33Z483yo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uZ33Z483yo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSBFt-xtpBY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSBFt-xtpBY
- shmulkey18 16y agoYou say that you are "less a fan of lies ... or false conclusions... ". Thus, I will be charitable and conclude that, rather than willfully mischaracterizing what I wrote and ignoring the evidence for it, you simply didn't read it very carefully. 1) "chomsky doesn't "cheerlead for hezbollah" "Chomsky hails Hezbollah on TV" (http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=36210 http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=36210): 'Hosted by Hezbollah, leftist professor Noam Chomsky ended his visit to Lebanon with a tour of Al-Khiam Prison where he declared the terrorist group's success in removing Israel from the south was "a victory for all the peoples that fight injustice and oppression." In a broadcast by Hezbollah's Al Manar television Sunday, translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute, Chomsky was shown embracing Hezbollah leader Nabil Qauq at Al-Khiam, where Israel kept prisoners during its occupation of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah was credited with liberating the area after Israel withdrew in 2000.' 2) "chomsky doesn't deny the holocaust" I didn't say that Chomsky denied the Holocaust. But he engages in apologetics for those who do, specifically Robert Faurisson, who he knew denied the Holocaust yet termed him a "a relatively apolitical liberal of some sort" and referred respectfully to his work as "extensive historical research." 3) "chomsky isn't an anti-semite" I didn't say that Chomsky is an antisemite, but again, he throws in his lot with blatant antisemites. For example, Chomsky praised the Israel Shahak, a bizarre Israeli antisemite (really) who propagated slanders such as ""both before and after a meal, a pious Jew ritually washes his hands....On one of these two occasions he is worshipping God... but on the other he is worshipping Satan." Chomsky praised Shahak on the cover of the book in which this quote appeared as "an outstanding scholar, with remarkable insight and depth of knowledge" and went on to say "[h]is work is informed and penetrating, a contribution of great value."
- mkramlich 16y agoIt will be a sad day in America when this man passes on. One of my heroes anyway, and I wish we had more like him.
- babeKnuth 16y agoBe that which you admire.
- babeKnuth 16y agowhen i hear the word "intellectual", that's when i reach for my revolver...