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He was very inspiring. But he broke my heart when he supported Chavez unconditionally. Even if years later he retracted support for some journalist being jailed
by alecco 6y ago
He was very inspiring. But he broke my heart when he supported Chavez unconditionally. Even if years later he retracted support for some journalist being jailed. Too little, too late.
Be sure to check out Manufacturing Consent (90s) and his criticism of the raise of (Maoist) Posmodernism in academia (interviews and lectures from the 80s). Do it before it gets removed.
- maroonblazer 6y ago>his criticism of the raise of (Maoist) Posmodernism in academia (interviews and lectures from the 80s) Are there links you can recommend?
- alecco 6y agohttps://duckduckgo.com/?q=chomsky+on+postmodernism https://duckduckgo.com/?q=chomsky+on+postmodernism The results are a good start. I read all this a long time ago so I don’t have a list of links. I’d stay on his work and opinions before 2000. The Documentary “Is the man who is tall happy” is easy to watch. His academic material is borderline incomprehensible. There was a Chomsky generator somewhere.
- TaylorAlexander 6y agoYou’re right about his academic work. I read one book with Chomsky cited as the author that was actually a transcription of some interviews of him. And then I read a book he wrote and it was a very different style! I find his speaking to be clear and easily digestible, while some of his writing can be very difficult to read.
- krapp 6y ago>and his criticism of the raise of (Maoist) Posmodernism in academia I'm sorry but in a country where people call Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton communists without a hint of irony I can't help but at roll my eyes at such a premise.
- alecco 6y agoThis was 30 years ago. And Chomsky is far left. I’m not. I like to read far and wide, as long as it’s not propaganda. Older works tend to be better.
- sudosysgen 6y agoHave you read enough to realize that Maoism is incompatible with postmodernism?
- abalone 6y agoThis is a completely reasonable and realistic premise. Within the Left community there are plenty of Marxist-Leninist academics and there was a significant overlap with postmodernists, perhaps owing to its roots in the Parisian intellectual scene. Chomsky is a Libertarian Socialist.
- sudosysgen 6y agoMarxist-Leninst academics are quite ferociously opposed to Postmodernists - postmodernism is completely incompatible with Marxist intellectual frameworks which are thoroughly modernist. It's not a reasonable and realistic premise - it's word salad trying to scare.
- a0-prw 6y ago> It's not a reasonable and realistic premise - it's word salad trying to scare. Thank you for that, sir :) True and funny at the same time.
- alecco 6y agoMany of those self proclaimed Postmodernists have Che Guevara t-shirts and portraits of Mao, unironically. What they say does not match what they actually support and do.
- a0-prw 6y agoChomsky identifies himself as an anarchist not a "libertarian socialist".
- TaylorAlexander 6y agoAh yes Manufacturing Consent is a good one! And you’re right I should start pulling down some backups of these videos.
- abalone 6y agoSource? Chomsky has been quite critical of Chavez.[1] As with most things in the world there are pros and cons but I would be interested if you could cite an example of “unconditional support.” [1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jul/03/noam-chomsky-hugo-chavez-democracy https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jul/03/noam-chomsky-h...
- alecco 6y agoPlease read your own link. Chavez waved Chomsky's work at UN and asked for him to be named ambassador to Venezuela. Chomsky supported Chavez' oil sector and other seizures. He turned a blind eye when Chavez armed civilian militias in 2005. Ignored all the blatant election fraud and growing corruption, and the long list of growing human rights abuses. But he took issue when Chavez jailed an opposition journalist. He did this 180 turn in 2011, as per your own link. After over a decade of support and close friendship. That's why I said, too little, too late. Chomsky also supported many other messianic personalistic murderers like that in Latin America. It's sad, but he is just human and very, very old.
- abalone 6y agoThat is Chavez supporting Chomsky, not Chomsky “unconditionally” supporting Chavez. You offer no support or citation for your claims.
- sudosysgen 6y agoBe very wary of people trying to somehow link postmodernism with Maoism/Marxist modes of analysis. Indeed, postmodernism itself was a reaction to the perceived failure of Marxism (the failure of liberalism was already accepted in most academic circles), and the two are violently opposed. Attempts to somehow liken the two are generally motivated by classical liberals trying to guilt-by-association all post-liberal ideologies and critical frameworks.
- alecco 6y agoChomsky says once the atrocities of Mao and USSR were known in the 70s, the millions murdered, these intellectuals morphed into Posmodernism. He stated it's the same people. He even gives the specific names. Watch the interviews and lectures from the 80s and early 90s.
- sudosysgen 6y agoGo ahead, give me specific names. There were a lot of people that after the atrocities of the USSR and Mao simply stopped being hard-line Marxists and became Postmodernists. Others became revionist Marxists to attempt to learn from those disasters. That doesn't mean being both at the same time, and Postmodernism itself is quite a ways older than them.
- alecco 6y ago[edited] Instead of a bunch of links to academic works, why don't you go to "liberal" academia and see what is imprinted in tshirts and who they have in their portraits.