Chomsky is what zero materialism does to an MFer. Here he is, literally arguing for MLism in a completely different context:
I’m not in favor of people being in cages.
On the other hand I think people ought to be in cages if there’s a saber-toothed tiger wandering around outside and if they go out of the cage the saber-toothed tiger will kill them. So sometimes there’s a justification for cages. That doesn’t mean cages are good things.
State power is a good example of a necessary cage. There are saber-toothed tigers outside; they are called transnational corporations which are among the most tyrannical totalitarian institutions that human society has devised. And there is a cage, namely the state, which to some extent is under popular control. The cage is protecting people from predatory tyrannies so there is a temporary need to maintain the cage, and even to extend the cage.
Who knows? Who cares to find out? Chomsky is an ideological windvane.
He’s… fine when he’s criticizing the US empire but there are much better sources out there and Chomsky is only useful for his prominence but much like Richard Wolff he’s got some really trash takes (barely) below the surface.
Is it because he’s an op? Is he a reflection of the ideological hangover from the New Left era? Is he just an opportunist? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
He’s such a strange, frustrating man. Generally a very smart, very educated person with genuinely good takes on some topics like, as you said, criticizing empire, but then he just still buys into that very empires lies even when reality is desperately smacking him in the face. It’s not even no materialism, but an enitrely inconsistent, unprincipled materialism.
Just how can someone that smart come that close to the point and then just…advocate for voting Dems every other year and regurgitate state department points about AES. Whether he’s an op or not, he really is an incredible testimony to the power of deeply ingrained propaganda.
What really gets me is that he wrote the book on propaganda and yet he’s a complete sucker for so much western propaganda and he promulgates it himself using his high-profile status.
Idk and I never will but that just seems awfully… convenient, y’know?
Exactly. Man didn’t just write some things about the US empire, he co-authored maybe the most well known book specifically about the mechanisms of propaganda in regards to regime change, war and foreign intervention which tend to happen in AES states and those attempting to become such. Then he somehow turns around and propagates these consent manufacturing points in some very particular cases…
that just seems awfully… convenient, y’know?
I usually hate the fed/op accusation, but Chomsky should be far too smart to not see the contradictions in his thinking, so yeah…seems terribly convenient. That or the propaganda and social repercussions are just that fucking strong.
Chomsky is what zero materialism does to an MFer. Here he is, literally arguing for MLism in a completely different context:
🥴
Is this an argument for neolib governments? Lmao. As long as no hammer and sickle it’s fine.
Who knows? Who cares to find out? Chomsky is an ideological windvane.
He’s… fine when he’s criticizing the US empire but there are much better sources out there and Chomsky is only useful for his prominence but much like Richard Wolff he’s got some really trash takes (barely) below the surface.
Is it because he’s an op? Is he a reflection of the ideological hangover from the New Left era? Is he just an opportunist? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
He’s such a strange, frustrating man. Generally a very smart, very educated person with genuinely good takes on some topics like, as you said, criticizing empire, but then he just still buys into that very empires lies even when reality is desperately smacking him in the face. It’s not even no materialism, but an enitrely inconsistent, unprincipled materialism.
Just how can someone that smart come that close to the point and then just…advocate for voting Dems every other year and regurgitate state department points about AES. Whether he’s an op or not, he really is an incredible testimony to the power of deeply ingrained propaganda.
What really gets me is that he wrote the book on propaganda and yet he’s a complete sucker for so much western propaganda and he promulgates it himself using his high-profile status.
Idk and I never will but that just seems awfully… convenient, y’know?
Exactly. Man didn’t just write some things about the US empire, he co-authored maybe the most well known book specifically about the mechanisms of propaganda in regards to regime change, war and foreign intervention which tend to happen in AES states and those attempting to become such. Then he somehow turns around and propagates these consent manufacturing points in some very particular cases…
I usually hate the fed/op accusation, but Chomsky should be far too smart to not see the contradictions in his thinking, so yeah…seems terribly convenient. That or the propaganda and social repercussions are just that fucking strong.
Very good point. Chomsky is highly inconsistent.