• zante@lemmy.wtf
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    28
    arrow-down
    6
    ·
    3 months ago

    Not at all and criticising him like this is churlish - and putting him next to Kissinger is grotesque misrepresentation of him.

    He’s been completely clear on his views on America, and why they are the subject of his focus. He, together with Herman, have revised their initial comments on The Khmer Rouge (which were not exclusive to them but held by many academics of the time) but stand by their criticism of the general media narrative at the time.

    You can read this in Manufacturing Consent

    No one is perfect and there are errors in his work, but no one has written more truth about American imperialism and likely no one will.

    Perhaps for this reason, there are continual and considerable motivations to discredit him.

    • NoiseColor@startrek.website
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      12
      arrow-down
      6
      ·
      3 months ago

      He is making it easy to discredit with comments he made even about Ukraine.

      Don’t get me wrong, I still really respect the man, but as I got older, I see him as an academic. I don’t see him as someone who can explain how the world really works.

      • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        3 months ago

        I haven’t read probably 99.9% of what Chomsky’s wrote, so I don’t have a strong opinion, but from what I have read his position always ends up being much more nuisanced and reasonable than the random billionaire-owned MSM articles or social media comments who’ve led me to believe a more extremist denialism.

        Also, he is 95 for fucks sake! I could not give two shits about his opinion on Ukraine because, based on my experience with 80+ year olds, he may not even be able to remember what happened 5 minutes ago most days. You’d be a fool to judge someone’s life and character based on their opinions in their twilight, when they are at their most intellectually vulnerable.

        • NoiseColor@startrek.website
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          3 months ago

          For sure, I agree. Much respect to chomsky, a great man that influenced a lot of people for good, but I don’t think he would mind a jab from me on this relatively obscure social network 🙂.

      • blurg@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        3 months ago

        someone who can explain how the world really works.

        And that person is?