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Chomsky has missed the mark more than once. His response to the NATO campaign against Serbia during the Kosovo war was what clinched it for me. He's come back t

Chomsky has missed the mark more than once. His response to the NATO campaign against Serbia during the Kosovo war was what clinched it for me. He's come back to apologize about being misunderstood in that he was only opposing NATO intervention because it would lead to a response (no shit) against ethnic Albanians by Serbs... Talk about missing the forest for the trees. The ethnic cleansing of Albanians in Kosovo had been going on for almost a century at that point - not all ethnic cleansing is militaristic. It can occur via political representation, whitewashing of one's history, meaning, presence, through educational systems, sidelined and ignored into oblivion, like so many cultures have been. I think he's taking a similar tone-deaf view of the Ukrainian conflict.

cmrdporcupine 3y ago
Agree 100%. FWIW I was in various left wing activist groups at the time and the Chomsky-type position was both mainstream, but one I disagreed with and one thing that pushed me further away from those kinds of groupings. It's a blind tribal positioning -- NATO / US bad, therefore everything it does bad. But this is in no way a materialist or logical method of analysis. Either you support the oppressed and minorities (e.g. Kosovan Albanians or Ukrainians etc) or you don't, and making abstract statements about right and wrong without having an actual tactical answer is irresponsible when people's lives are on the line. But, worse, we're finding there's people who not only have essentially abstentionist positions but also there's a large portion of "the left" that is explicitly pro-Russian through some sort of aesthetic and/or cultural attachment to some Russophile past related to the Soviet Union (e.g. "Tankies"), or just raging anti-American positions that push them in that direction (the George Galloway types) etc. etc. These people are... really messed up, but also way more prominent than I realized/feared. There is simply no excuse to support an authoritarian, homophobic, violent, quasi-theocratic, terrorizing gangsterist regime like Putin's... wow
- fishtacos 3y ago
  Like you, I've managed to navigate myself through the minefield of various activist groups I also subscribed to, at least in concept... It appears, to me, that one's alliances are teaching moments (months, years) that lead to a rather enticing, surreptitious, inward analysis of of the logic and values one considers primary. >>There is simply no excuse to support an authoritarian, homophobic, violent, quasi-theocratic, terrorizing gangsterist regime like Putin's... Not to pat each other on the back, but we are in agreement. To bring it down to a more simplistic, humane POV, follow the Golden Rule: do unto others etc... Russia has failed at the first 3 words of that written/said idea of reciprocity and is unfortunately, damn proud of it.

cmrdporcupine 3y ago

Agree 100%. FWIW I was in various left wing activist groups at the time and the Chomsky-type position was both mainstream, but one I disagreed with and one thing that pushed me further away from those kinds of groupings. It's a blind tribal positioning -- NATO / US bad, therefore everything it does bad. But this is in no way a materialist or logical method of analysis. Either you support the oppressed and minorities (e.g. Kosovan Albanians or Ukrainians etc) or you don't, and making abstract statements about right and wrong without having an actual tactical answer is irresponsible when people's lives are on the line. But, worse, we're finding there's people who not only have essentially abstentionist positions but also there's a large portion of "the left" that is explicitly pro-Russian through some sort of aesthetic and/or cultural attachment to some Russophile past related to the Soviet Union (e.g. "Tankies"), or just raging anti-American positions that push them in that direction (the George Galloway types) etc. etc. These people are... really messed up, but also way more prominent than I realized/feared. There is simply no excuse to support an authoritarian, homophobic, violent, quasi-theocratic, terrorizing gangsterist regime like Putin's... wow

fishtacos 3y ago
Like you, I've managed to navigate myself through the minefield of various activist groups I also subscribed to, at least in concept... It appears, to me, that one's alliances are teaching moments (months, years) that lead to a rather enticing, surreptitious, inward analysis of of the logic and values one considers primary. >>There is simply no excuse to support an authoritarian, homophobic, violent, quasi-theocratic, terrorizing gangsterist regime like Putin's... Not to pat each other on the back, but we are in agreement. To bring it down to a more simplistic, humane POV, follow the Golden Rule: do unto others etc... Russia has failed at the first 3 words of that written/said idea of reciprocity and is unfortunately, damn proud of it.