Note that the site is in archived, read-only mode. You can browse and read, but posting is disabled.
Welcome to Anarchy101 Q&A, where you can ask questions and receive answers about anarchism, from anarchists.

Note that the site is in archived, read-only mode. You can browse and read, but posting is disabled.

Categories

–6 votes
Noam Chomsky has written so much about politics and I want to know what's your favorite aspect of Chomsky. He's a former professor of one of the most important universities in the world. He's definitely an intellectual of the highest caliber. If you are not familiar with his work, here's some links:

http://monthlyreview.org/author/noamchomsky

http://www.alternet.org/election-2012/noam-chomsky-how-progressives-should-approach-election-2012

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/01/noam-chomsky-if-i-were-in-a-swing-state-id-vote-for-obama/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oan8te8Q_Bs

Please discuss.
by (230 points)
you don't make a compelling argument for discussing chomsky. you also sound like you're selling something.
you clearly haven't read much on this site if you think that professors or "important universities" carry much weight around here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daMi-ird8Yg
Have you even considered Anarcho-Syndicalism ?
would you like to tell me why i should?
How about rephrasing your question thus:
"What is your least unfavorite thing about Chomsky's work?"
My answer would have to be this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectivity_and_Liberal_Scholarship
and even that's not stellar. Blasting liberal history of the Spanish Civil War (most specifically by invisibilizing the revolution) is a slow-moving target, but his most important work has always been written for liberals and progressives, not radicals. He knows his audience; he's one of them.
Wish I could vote down your fake question more than once.

2 Answers

–7 votes
His understanding of language fundamentals and innovation by way of neologisms is what makes him great. I love his sense of direction, purpose, and poetry in his literary works. He speaks to the center of one's intellect, and he's easily grasped by those with only the basic knowledge of the american english spoken language. Thank you. Out.
by (-150 points)
+3 votes
My favorite aspect of Chomsky's work is that he made anarchism a thing that people heard about in the days before the internet. Kinda. He was an access point to radical(ish) thinking, and sometimes even used the a-word, though he never actually offered much up that would allow someone to delve further. I sometimes appreciate his encyclopedic memory regarding international affairs & statecraft (which is a decidedly non-anarchist field of study).

After I initially posted this answer (a minute ago) I noticed that you not only talk about him as a professor, but as one from "one of the most important universities in the world," and I feel like I need to address this in particular - Chomksky's prominence and the prominence of MIT are two very different things. Whatever my criticism of him and his politics, his lefitsm is severely out of place at MIT, a school whose importance in the world has far more to do with the research and work done to support the military industrial complex that Chomsky is so critical of, as well as their work in furthering the technological developments of the information age (that term makes me want to upchuck), which, I expect, Chomsky is wholly uncritical of. To use his association with MIT as an attempt to prop up his credentials doesn't do him any favors.

Here is some stuff that might be worth reading as a curative to Chomskitis (inflamation of Chomsky):
http://theanarchistlibrary.org/topics/noam-chomsky

Here is another question that might explain some of the ambivalence most of us have about the profess'r:
http://www.anarchy101.org/4310/is-noam-chomsky-an-anarchist-or-libertarian
by (22.1k points)
edited by
...