The great professor Noam Chomsky

[partytime2009]

Good evening,

I am wondering if anyone has listened to any of the speeches by professor Noam Chomsky from MIT. He's a linguistic professor who's a great social commentator. He touches on the democracy, Israeli vs Palestinian conflict, and capitalism among many things.

I have been addicted to his videos these days and wondering if anyone else is familiar with him?

[Sazafraz]

My brother is a fan of him, but I haven't seen any of his videos myself.

[LordofthePing]

You can't go through university without hearing about him- at least the social sciences, anyway. I can see this thread getting locked.

[partytime2009]

My brother is a fan of him, but I haven't seen any of his videos myself.

I definitely think you should listen to some of his material. I have always questioned what is going on in the world so I have known about some of what he says, but he explains it in ways that really drive it home for me. I think we all owe it to ourselves and each other to learn more about some of the things he speaks of.

[partytime2009]

You can't go through university without hearing about him- at least the social sciences, anyway. I can see this thread getting locked.

Why would it get locked? We are adults talking about a great intellectual.

[spookie149]

You can't go through university without hearing about him- at least the social sciences, anyway. I can see this thread getting locked.

+ a million. One of the most famous and respected professors out there.

[LordofthePing]

+ a million. One of the most famous and respected professors out there.

Famous, yes. Respected? By many, but certainly not all.

[partytime2009]

Famous, yes. Respected? By many, but certainly not all.

I don't doubt that there are many people who don't respect his views. For example, any and all people who hate their wrong doings exposed.

[45ED]

I don't doubt that there are many people who don't respect his views. For example, any and all people who hate their wrong doings exposed.

Chomsky's an incredible intellect, and I kick myself sometimes for not going to his live-feed lecture at York two years back. Regardless, stating that "any and all people who have their wrong doing exposed" as your first example of people who disagree with Chomsky is a grave mistake in thinking that all people are somehow inherent "wrong-doers". Even really nice people - inherently good people - will have people disagree with them and those that choose to disagree aren't necessarily bad people or people that have done wrong. I can name a few, but I rather not turn this into a political thread, something we're not suppose to do here on RFD forums.

Great people, great orators, great intellects - label them as you wish. But don't start putting others down just because someone disagrees with him (Chomsky). If one becomes too blinded by someone's greatness, then you close yourself to the chances that he might be wrong. And if he becomes wrong and someone becomes disappointed, who is to blame - Chomsky or the person who became too blind?

And I bet you anything that as confident as Chomsky is on his theories and beliefs, he does not want anyone to think he knows everything and is right about everything. Chomsky is knowledgeable, certainly, but not full of himself. And I like to think he would want his admirers to adopt that thought, too.

[partytime2009]

Chomsky's an incredible intellect, and I kick myself sometimes for not going to his live-feed lecture at York two years back. Regardless, stating that "any and all people who have their wrong doing exposed" as your first example of people who disagree with Chomsky is a grave mistake in thinking that all people are somehow inherent "wrong-doers". Even really nice people - inherently good people - will have people disagree with them and those that choose to disagree aren't necessarily bad people or people that have done wrong. I can name a few, but I rather not turn this into a political thread, something we're not suppose to do here on RFD forums.

Great people, great orators, great intellects - label them as you wish. But don't start putting others down just because someone disagrees with him (Chomsky). If one becomes too blinded by someone's greatness, then you close yourself to the chances that he might be wrong. And if he becomes wrong and someone becomes disappointed, who is to blame - Chomsky or the person who became too blind?

And I bet you anything that as confident as Chomsky is on his theories and beliefs, he does not want anyone to think he knows everything and is right about everything. Chomsky is knowledgeable, certainly, but not full of himself. And I like to think he would want his admirers to adopt that thought, too.

Well thank you for that response, I knew it was coming as soon as I clicked on "submit reply". I didn't mean to imply that anyone who agrees with him is a "wrongdoer", just wanted to make the obvious point that theoretically anyone who speaks against wrong doing will NEVER have 100% support. The few that profit from the state of the world today would never let that happen. Nevertheless, I am not an expert on all of his views but it is very difficult to disagree with his views on the middle east conflict or those on today's so called "capitalism".

[Sepiraph]

I heard of him, although I never took any linguistic course. I think I read a book on language structure that discussed some of his idea, but I'm definitely not familiar enough in that field to judge the merit of his work.

I suggest checking out another famous MIT prof. - Marvin Minsky on theory of intelligence.

[gmark2000]

I took linguistics and he was a famous proponent of Universal Grammar.

As a leftist, he also provides conspiracy fodder for the far-right Libertarians and their conspiracy theories (Council on Foreign Relations, Bilderberg, etc...).

[LordofthePing]

As a leftist, he also provides conspiracy fodder for the far-right Libertarians and their conspiracy theories (Council on Foreign Relations, Bilderberg, etc...).

What are you referring to?

[partytime2009]

I took linguistics and he was a famous proponent of Universal Grammar.

As a leftist, he also provides conspiracy fodder for the far-right Libertarians and their conspiracy theories (Council on Foreign Relations, Bilderberg, etc...).

Conspiracy fodder? Someone is definitely brainwashed. The real conspiracy is the carefully crafted fairy story you have been told about the world.

[Canuck32]

Nevertheless, I am not an expert on all of his views but it is very difficult to disagree with his views on the middle east conflict or those on today's so called "capitalism".

I'm not going to get into the political debate on this forum, but I take issue with such a blanket claim that it's "difficult to disagree" with Chomsky's views on the Middle East. There are some very intelligent people who do fiercely disagree, so it might not hurt to be a little more careful before stating that his views are anything more than opinion.

[partytime2009]

I'm not going to get into the political debate on this forum, but I take issue with such a blanket claim that it's "difficult to disagree" with Chomsky's views on the Middle East. There are some very intelligent people who do fiercely disagree, so it might not hurt to be a little more careful before stating that his views are anything more than opinion.

Denouncing human rights violations is not an "opinion" no matter where in the world it is happening, and whether it is being committed by our so called friends or enemies. An opinion is unsubstantiated belief, when you present a million facts to support such "opinion" it becomes what I call a fact of the situation. Have you listened to anything he has said? Have you been to these regions? Have you researched different avenues to try to understand what is happening in the world? I have and he is one of the few intellectuals that seems to be aware of and willing to speak of things that are uncomfortable to speak of.

I am in no way comparing what is happening in the middle east to what Hitler did, I just strongly believe that the status quo cannot continue. If more of us were more informed about the facts of these situations (including darfur, Somalia, Tibet, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran...) we would be able to use the great power that we possess in the west to benefit the world a little more. Nothing is black and white. There are no heroes and evil monsters, but if we take the prerogative to learn more about the facts than we can all be better informed.

What is it with people calling anything they don't understand and don't want to understand an "opinion". If you disagree with the number of casualties, level of oppression, and status of the peace negotiations in many parts of the world than say so. But to say that it is an "opinion" and not be able to refute ANY of the facts he puts forth is just childish.

We can either be blind to what is going on around us or try to understand it. Don't take everything thing he says at face. He is the first one to tell you that if anyone tells you a good story convincingly, DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH. I have and I have yet to catch him in one white lie. His description of what has happened in the past is pretty dead on. I just wish our society at large was more aware of what is going on in the world instead of blindingly sitting by and being content with living in their small bubble.

[45ED]

...and this :arrowu:, ladies and gents of RFD, is a reminder of why political topics are taboo for the forums - off-topic included. While Chomsky is known for linguistics, he is known more for his political beliefs and leanings. To speak of Chomsky and admire him, as the OP is, is to speak of politics. It is very hard to separate the two, to avoid politics and defend a guy known for his views on precisely that topic.

Not to mention that in two times we said that it is possible to disagree with Chomsky (not to say that he is inherently wrong), OP has insinuated that people don't know Chomsky as OP does. Well for what it is worth, I cannot take seriously, to any degree, one whose depth of Chomsky amounts to being "addicted to his videos (http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=724255)". I'll tell you, while Chomsky is admirable and writing him into my research papers is interesting, there are always things to debate with his writing. If you did your research well enough, you would know that. Everything in the world is debatable. Everything.

I won't list because, again, we're suppose to avoid interjecting politics into RFD - such things can become contentious. And given that you mentioned some of Professor Chomsky's political topics right from the get go, there can be no avoiding this. As I've said, to speak of him is to speak politics.

Perhaps it is best that this thread be subjected to a lock.

Edit:

For reference:



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[Phlegmbot]

This man is nuts.

He pretty much thinks that Pol Pot's agricultural revolution in Cambodia was no big deal.