Question about Chomsky' ssupposed beleifs...

[booley]

well I really shouldn't even put any stock what soeme people say but was wondering if anyone ever heard of these 'facts" about Chomsky...

1. Even though he is "Jewish" he "has no opinon either way" when asked about the holocaust
2. Called the Cambondian Killing fields "American propaganda" just a few months before they were discovered to be real
3. Claims "30 million are in deep hunger in the US" which is more than 10% dispite the fact that we are the worlds fattest country in history
4. Claims to be a communist yet makes millions a year
5. Will not be interviewed nor will he debate anyone who doesn't rubberstamp what he says
6. Claimed we would never sign NAFTA because "we are a highly racist country that would rather do business with blonde haired, blue eyed Eastern Europeans" This was just a year before we signed NAFTA.
 
Given Chomsky's rather laboriouse way of speaking and the Right's habit of totally and intentionally misinterpreting what thier opponents say, was wondering if any one could shed soeme light on where these ideas may have originated or what Chomsky really said about these things.

For instance, I'm betting the Holocaust thing may have it's roots from when Chomsky went to France to defend a holocaust denyer's right to speak (not his theories, just his right to say what his thoeries are..)

[Devlzown]

1. I don't think Chomsky's a communist.

He's an anarchist if I'm not mistaken. I don't know how much money he makes or what he does with it, though.

[Snappy]

2. Research

Instead of relying on what "some people say" about him, I suggest that you go to his Web site and find out directly.

[Devlzown]

8. Here you go.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky

[Wonk]

11. more...

http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/index.cfm

[Devlzown]

13. Cool, thanks!

Saving that one!

[tomorrowsashes]

19. He is an anarcho-syndicalist

He's an anarcho-syndicalist, as evidenced by the fact that "For Reasons of State" started with a Bakunin quote, and contained his essay "Notes on Anarchism". In the 2nd edition of this essay, he declares that his views on the subject haven't changed.

Essay can be found at:
http://www.spunk.org/library/intro/sp000281.html

More on him and his anarchism at:
http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_archives/chomsky/Chomskyarchive.html

If you prefer listening, go here:
http://tvset.org/mp3/Chomsky%20-%20USIP/

[Devlzown]

21. Thanks.

Lots of good stuff there too!

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Room101]

4. Question about booleys supposed beliefs

1- Instead of actually reading a persons work he calls what he heard second hand “facts”

I’m tired of these lazy people who throw the word “fact” around like it’s a greeting.

“An unexciting truth may be eclipsed by a thrilling lie.” Aldous Huxley

[booley]

17. There was a reason the word "fact' was in quotation marks...

so instead of attacking me becuase I wanted actual facts (without the quotations) from people who have read Chomsky's work why don't you help provide some of them.

How can you accuse me of misrepresenting Chomsky while misrepresting what I said?

yes, I have bad typing. But apparently everybody else figured out what I was asking. Get over it.

[Dogmudgeon]

5. The same old same-old

1. Chomsky is Jewish. He does not practice. He is also not a holocaust denyer. Most of this kind of crap comes from the otherwise liberal Alan Dershowitz, who hates Chomsky because he doesn't support the Israeli government's behavior toward the Palestinians.

2. Chomsky claimed that the numbers were inflated to allow the Department of Defense to get bigger appropriations from the Congress (which it did). At the time the DoD was claiming 2 million had died in Cambodia, the best evidence said that 250,000 had died; the number was revised upwards several years after the "scandal".

3. Here we go with the "bad fatties" thing again. 30 million people in the USA have been gravely hungry at some point during their life. In fact, one such person is writing this right now. And let me tell you, while I'm fat today, that wasn't always the case. Hunger sucks.

4. Chomsky is an anarchist and is strictly non-violent. Orthodox Marxists routinely take him to task. And he does not make millions a year; but he may have saved up a couple of million over the course of his 50-year career.

5. He stopped being interviewed because so many of the interviews became hit pieces. See below, about l'affair Faurisson.

6. The crack about NAFTA and blond/blue Europeans sounds mighty bogus.

Lots of people hate Chomsky. Many of them hate him for his defense of Robert Faurisson's right to speak -- Faurisson was the holocaust revisionist who faced prison in France for his ideas. Chomsky got in trouble over what was pretty much a misquote. (Or the interviewer's lie. Take your pick.)

Of course, Chomsky is his own worst enemy most of the time. He's got to be one of the most icily arrogant people around. The reason why he remains popular is because he usually is right. The guy is brilliant. If Chomsky says it, it's probably at least half-right. At least.

--bkl

[Kathy in Cambridge]

6. Chomsky spoke here in Cambridge Friday night-some DUers went

I have seen him speak before and he usually is right on the money. Thanks BKL for dissuaging heresay and third-hand gossip.

I saw Howard Zinn last Wednesday night-I'm sure booley has heard some things about him too!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. Besides, it is possible to be fat and malnourished at the same time

I used to work with street kids, and some of them lived on cheap convenience store food like potato chips and candy bars and pop. Other poor people live on beans and pasta or other fattening foods.

If you see a fat person, don't assume that they're not malnourished.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

16. That's exactly right, Lydia. Ramen noodles are cheap

Organic vegetables and free-range meats aren't.

[RaulGroom]

20. Chomsky & Dershowitz

First of all, I like Dershowitz. He's arrogant, and he has a problem with stretching the truth at times, but he is a good mind and gives some insightful analysis about legal issues.

Now, I say this because you are actually incorrect about why Dershowitz doesn't like Chomsky - it's a personal thing. Chomsky caught him in a lie and publicly exposed his lie. Dershowitz had basically presented an article from a Hebrew publication as if it said the opposite of what it really said, assuming falsely that no prominent Hebrew-speaker in the U.S. would bother to verify it. He forgot about Noam.

Chomsky submitted a piece to the Boston Globe basically exposing Dershowitz, and they ran the piece. Then Dershowitz published a rebuttal, and then the Globe got fed up with it (Dersh and Chomsky were basically saying opposite things) and checked into it themselves. They found that indeed Dershowitz had completely misrepresented his source and told him that they weren't printing any more of his articles because he had been caught in a lie.

Alan didn't handle this very well and ever since he has spent a lot of time and energy attacking Noam and trying to defame him. The feud arose around the I/P issue but it doesn't really have anything to do with Israel/Palestine itself.

On the Cambodia thing, this is a complicated issue that arises from Noam's work in comparing the East Timor genocide with the Cambodian genocide. It is a complicated and scholarly work and if you are really interested in what it says, you should read it. You can't get the sound from a story in a magazine, as they say.

I've never read the "30 million hungry" thing. I do know that life expectancy in the U.S. is impacted much more heavily by malnourishment and lack of clean drinking water than it is by cancer. For example, if we cured all cancer tomorrow, it would extend U.S. life expectancy by about 2 years. If we provided nutritious food and clean water for everyone tomorrow, it would extend life expectancy by about 9 years. So that shows that in fact, despite our obesity problem, there is a problem with access to nutritious food and clean water in the U.S. The 9 years/2 years statistic is cited in New World, New Mind, a book you can get on Amazon and which everyone should read.

I don't know what Chomsky makes in a year and I don't care. I doubt he makes millions, however; I'm not sure where all that money would come from.

As for his refusal to be interviewed, I know he dislikes shows like Bill O'Reilly where you have 8 seconds to say what you want and then the interviewer starts yelling at you. He talks about this at length in a lot of the interviews he does do (he does one every couple of months.)

And I'm with BKL on #6, I've never read that, and I've read most of what Chomsky has put out in the political arena. He may have made some joke about NAFTA once that sounded something like that. But he very, very rarely makes predictions (I should be so lucky) so I doubt he said anything serious about whether we would ratify NAFTA.

[earthman dave]

7. I'll try number five

Imagine your work was really time-consuming, and imagine that you were deluged by requests from people to debate you, and you took time out to meet them, and they trotted out a bunch of tired old pro-government propaganda. Would you waste your time? It's the same reason a lot of people refuse to feed trolls, IMO. Life's too short, and Chomsky isn't a young man.

[Tinoire]

9. Now that's funny...

5. Will not be interviewed nor will he debate anyone who doesn't rubberstamp what he says

Funny... He was on Charlie Rose just last month. If you search diligently you might find the DU threads about it.

The Communists appellation is really funny. Must be his defense of the poor that some take objection to.


"When I give food to a hungry person, I am called a saint, but when I ask why the poor are hungry, I am called a communist!"

Archbishop Oscar Romero -murdered by graduates of the SOA for speaking up for the poor

You should just read and make up your own mind. Won't take you long to debunk those myths.
http://www.synaptic.bc.ca/ejournal/chomsky.htm

[Lydia Leftcoast]

12. Also, I know that he answers letters from readers

I know a couple of people who have gotten responses from him.

[SeveneightyWhoa]

18. Yup, he responded to my email about Wes Clark.

..Said that he doesnt know enough about him or his campaign to make a judgement. But if Moore likes Clark, then who knows?

I've heard that Chomsky spends 2 to 3 hours a day just responding to emails!

[KG]

15. chomsky isn't a 'my country right or wrong'-er .

he dares to advance the notion the the US causes havoc the world over in its pursuit of a life of comfort and convenience for its citizen.

seems some people object to that portrayal. but rather than debate the issues they'd rather just try to discredit him by spreading lies.

[SeveneightyWhoa]

14. I've just seen him in two interviews.

As someone just said, he was on Charlie Rose, and he had a great interview on CBC Newsworld's "Hot Type" book show, both to promote his new book. I'm sure he did a lot more interviews than just those two.

Also, when the hell did Chomsky ever claim to be a communist? Have you been reading right-wing forums again?

[solinvictus]

22. Chomsky Audio

If you're a Rhapsody.com subscriber, the bulk of his audio recordings are available for listen and download. The man's sharp and insightful.