Video of a Q&A session with Noam Chomsky yesterday, sponsored by the MIT Faculty Forum: http://slice.mit.edu/2015/01/14/faculty-forum-online-noam-chomsky/
The questions cover a wide range from activism to some fine points of linguistics to nuclear nonproliferation - something for everyone and surprisingly positive overall. I spotted at least one small factual error, fairly minor in the grand scheme of things.
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Looking for Some Controversy? Try Noam Chomsky
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(Score: 1) by Bill, Shooter Of Bul on Friday January 23 2015, @08:39PM
Do you have to be that guy that points out a minor error when some one regarded as intelligent speaks to try and make yourself look smart? It just makes you look badly. If its minor, don't even mention it. If its not then go into more detail in a blog post, academic paper or something.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 23 2015, @09:08PM
chomsky says something like, usa has no military in latin america -- well, there is gitmo, and i think a few others
is that the minor error?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 23 2015, @08:42PM
Chomsky is among the most widely noted people in all of history. [google.com]
--gewg_
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 23 2015, @09:10PM
TFS will help, but he still has a long way to go to catch Oprah (seventh place) or Donald Trump (sixth).
(Score: 0, Troll) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday January 23 2015, @09:31PM
He's also tool who has little clue what he's talking about. He'd have to be for progressives to quote him so often though. Anyone who knew what they were talking about wouldn't believe the things he does.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Friday January 23 2015, @10:07PM
The acid test for absolute shitstaininess of a pundit is to spend an hour trying to identify a time when they made a public prediction that turned out amazingly wrong.
My mental model goes
A. Genuinely skilled academic discussing their focused area of expertise in full context: 2 in their career.
C. Typical pundit: 2 any given month
F: Fox news host pundit: 2 any given day.
Where's Chomsky fall on that line?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday January 23 2015, @10:52PM
I don't know much about his Linguistics work but I do know that it is widely respected.
I don't actually know but speculate that his interest in politics grew out of the twisted use of language for political propaganda. It's not just the Communist and NAZIs who used propaganda. Have a look at United States propaganda regarding The Red Scare, The Yellow Peril as well as The Hun.
C.S. Lewis was heavily into that one should make precise use of language, that is, one should take great care to always say what one really intends to express. While I do take Lewis' advice to heart, I find it a huge pain in the ass to actually practice what he preaches, so I only do so in my more-formal writing.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by CirclesInSand on Saturday January 24 2015, @05:11AM
one should take great care to always say what one really intends to express
Oh yes!
I find it a huge pain in the ass
Oh...no...hrm...
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Saturday January 24 2015, @09:52PM
Maybe he's found a way to talk out of that orifice? :P
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 1) by art guerrilla on Saturday January 24 2015, @10:53PM
2 any given decade ? ? ?
personally learned a *lot* from reading chomsky/hermann, parenti, et al...
critics of Empire, such as he, are attacked by the eee-vil minions of doom no matter *what* they say/do...
do not agree with him on everything, but would trust him to make good judgments as a political leader...
of course, that will only happen in an alternate universe about 1 billion over...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 23 2015, @11:22PM
> He's also tool who has little clue what he's talking about. He'd have to be for progressives to quote him so often though.
It's not difficult to figure out why Conservatives on the Internet tend to be more intelligent. It takes quite a bit of an independent streak and some world class critical thinking skills to break yourself out of the overwhelmingly Liberal echo chamber that is the online community.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday January 24 2015, @07:37AM
Conservatives on the Internet are more intelligent because they are totally unaware of how stupid they really are. For example, young earth creationists? They talk to their fellow creationists, and think they are right. Stupid. Global warming! Conservatives all agree that this is a liberal conspiracy, so they do not have to look at actual data: morons. Gold standard? How stupid do you have to be to think that anything has intrinsic value that humans could base their currency upon? Wait, don't answer that. John Stuart Mill, a smart guy, said that while it is not true that all conservatives are stupid, it is true that all stupid people are conservative. If you don't believe me, look it up. And thus it is true, that all conservatives on the internet are stupid people, by the principle of reduction. Mathematically true. Metaphysically true. Orgasimasically true. Just true. So Chomsky is wrong because stupid on-line conservatives cannot understand him. Hmmm. Stupid conservatives. Liberal children will beat yours on the admission to actual universities.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 24 2015, @03:12PM
It is really disheartening that every time that gets posted it always ends up backfiring.
Try googling it.
(Score: 3, Informative) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday January 23 2015, @08:55PM
I read most of "Deterring Democracy" but just had to put it down as a result of such charming tidbits as that the United States threatened to embargo Thailand, when Thailand forbade tobacco imports so as to protect the health of the Thai people.
I recommend Chomsky highly.
Read but one chapter at a time, maybe just one page at a time, then spend some time playing with a kitten, walking your dog, or staying up all night then watching the sunrise.
Otherwise you are certain to commit suicide, or perhaps to take up arms against your oppressor.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by zugedneb on Friday January 23 2015, @10:38PM
There are a number of his talks on youtube...
The on about how US fucked Haiti is priceless...
The problem with US, that Chomsky does not seem to address, is that US is neither a nation or a country. It is not a nation because it's demography, and it is not a "country" because the way it is run. It is a corporation. As such, no "national" contracts or agreements will hold US, and no one can do anything about it...
I am not saying that being a corporation is bad by default, what I say is that in the same way the market needs several actors, a nation-corporation would need one or more sparring partners... China and Russia seem to have stepped in some shit, so they will not be around for a while...
As for the rest of the european countries, well, I would continue writing, but am to ashamed...
old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday January 24 2015, @07:47AM
Consider how I feel myself when a European puzzles over "American Cheese".
There is a sort of cheese-like chemical preparation that is often used where rational intelligences would use actual cheese, which is so far from being true cheese, that even in These United States, one is forbidden to refer to it as "cheese" on the product packaging.
Often wonder if there ever really was such a thing as Nacho Cheese. I expect there was, at least at one time.
In the US, Nacho Cheese comes in a pump-bottle, rather like the ones used for ladies' hand lotions.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1) by zugedneb on Saturday January 24 2015, @08:43AM
wut?
old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 25 2015, @06:15AM
must admit i kinda have nfi what #MichaelDavidCrawford is on about, but its pretty funny and i agree with the comment below about #2339 being a decent commenter here
(Score: 0) by t-3 on Sunday January 25 2015, @03:56AM
You are my favorite commenter on this site. Thank you for your contribution, if I had karma or modpoints I would send them your way.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 23 2015, @09:21PM
I'm sure the brain trust here will be sure to find and point out the rest of them. [rolls eyes]
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday January 23 2015, @09:55PM
one small factual error, fairly minor in the grand scheme of things.
This should have been the main headline.
For Chomsky to utter more than a few sentences without a factual error is almost unheard of.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Friday January 23 2015, @11:19PM
Ask for controversy, get the frojack! Strangely appropriate.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday January 24 2015, @01:02AM
Yeah, heaven forbid anyone disagree with your little world view.
Why don't you just post your own little manifesto so everyone else knows which egg shells not to step on.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by aristarchus on Saturday January 24 2015, @05:59AM
Fro! You misunderstand me! I am merely suggesting that if we want controversy, we go to you. This is purely based on past experience. The point is that I, or anyone else, need not post our manifestos, since you will be there, reliably, to controvert them. This is why you are a valued soylentil, the best of your kind, and we all value your contributions. (Just don't step out of line into factual inaccuracies, okay?)
(Score: 2, Informative) by idetuxs on Saturday January 24 2015, @03:19AM
Could he talk slower?? Speed the video to 1.5, works like charm.
offtopic, but a tip to make the video watchable.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 24 2015, @04:23AM
FWWI, Last I checked, youtube's interface can't do that.
But if you drag-and-drop the youtube URL into VLC you can do it there.
Works on any youtube video that isn't DRM'd.
(Score: 1) by idetuxs on Friday January 30 2015, @12:27AM
I found that changing the user agent to Chromium or Chrome does the trick, I use Iceweasel. But also, after I disabled flash in my browser (I suppose using HTML5 now) the option appeared without changing the user agent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 24 2015, @11:13AM
Try MIT slice!