Noam Chomsky and Our Collective Responsibility

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Gary Childress
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Noam Chomsky and Our Collective Responsibility

Post by Gary Childress »

Noam Chomsky is "up there" in years. Considering the influence his political writings have had on some of us, I sort of wonder what his legacy will leave for the United States and the world at large once he is no longer here to personally defend himself from his many political detractors. Politically he is of course a dissident of US foreign as well as many domestic policies. He's also rather famous for answering what must be an enormous influx of correspondence from people all over the world. I sent an email with a few questions of my own for him back in January and received a response. Below is an except from that email I'd like to share:

My question:
Isn’t it the “responsibility of intellectuals” to openly “call out” bad behavior and such wherever it is found regardless of whether it is “us” or “them” who are responsible? And as much as we perhaps need to hear of our own shortcomings is it wrong to say to someone else, “you’ve got it wrong” when, for example, they apparently believe that homosexuals should be stoned to death for being homosexuals or whatever?
Noam Chomsky responded:
It’s the responsibility of everyone, “intellectuals” included, to distribute finite energies so that they can do most good. That means primarily on actions for which we share responsibility and can influence. [My emphasis] The dissidents in enemy states whom we honor to go an extreme: Sakharov, Havel and others not only did not condemn horrendous US crimes (to my knowledge), but at times at least extolled US crimes. We can do much better than that, which is why I and others constantly condemn very harshly the crimes of official enemies. Constantly. Just yesterday, for example, I had an interview on Iranian TV in which I harshly condemned the policies of the government, the role of the clerics, etc. – anything comparable on US TV would be inconceivable.
Noam Chomsky makes many of us uncomfortable when he discusses in his political writings the more scandalous things that are done in the names of our own states. Because of this feeling of discomfort many of us tend to react very defensively toward those writings. But he is right to bring our attention to our own crimes which we (as well as himself he admits) share culpability in. Our world seems to grow more and more interconnected every day and we are all dependent upon each other for survival. I think Chomsky can probably be called a "cosmopolitan"-a citizen of the world-par excellence and a role model for anyone who wishes to also be a good citizen of the cosmos.
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Re: Noam Chomsky and Our Collective Responsibility

Post by Gary Childress »

Melchior wrote:
Gary Childress wrote:Noam Chomsky is "up there" in years. Considering the influence his political writings have had on some of us, I sort of wonder what his legacy will leave for the United States and the world at large once he is no longer here to personally defend himself from his many political detractors. Politically he is of course a dissident of US foreign as well as many domestic policies. He's also rather famous for answering what must be an enormous influx of correspondence from people all over the world. I sent an email with a few questions of my own for him back in January and received a response. Below is an except from that email I'd like to share:

My question:
Isn’t it the “responsibility of intellectuals” to openly “call out” bad behavior and such wherever it is found regardless of whether it is “us” or “them” who are responsible? And as much as we perhaps need to hear of our own shortcomings is it wrong to say to someone else, “you’ve got it wrong” when, for example, they apparently believe that homosexuals should be stoned to death for being homosexuals or whatever?
Noam Chomsky responded:
It’s the responsibility of everyone, “intellectuals” included, to distribute finite energies so that they can do most good. That means primarily on actions for which we share responsibility and can influence. [My emphasis] The dissidents in enemy states whom we honor to go an extreme: Sakharov, Havel and others not only did not condemn horrendous US crimes (to my knowledge), but at times at least extolled US crimes. We can do much better than that, which is why I and others constantly condemn very harshly the crimes of official enemies. Constantly. Just yesterday, for example, I had an interview on Iranian TV in which I harshly condemned the policies of the government, the role of the clerics, etc. – anything comparable on US TV would be inconceivable.
Noam Chomsky makes many of us uncomfortable when he discusses in his political writings the more scandalous things that are done in the names of our own states. Because of this feeling of discomfort many of us tend to react very defensively toward those writings. But he is right to bring our attention to our own crimes which we (as well as himself he admits) share culpability in. Our world seems to grow more and more interconnected every day and we are all dependent upon each other for survival. I think Chomsky can probably be called a "cosmopolitan"-a citizen of the world-par excellence and a role model for anyone who wishes to also be a good citizen of the cosmos.
Is there a name for what is wrong with you? Maybe you should see an entomologist! How can you write this crap day after day? Why are you even on this site? Chomsky? Are you fucking kidding me?
Hi Melchior,

I would hope a relatively intelligent person as yourself can do better than slinging non-sequiturs and ad hominems. In any case I'm not sure what entomology has to do with anything. It's the study of insects. Did you perhaps mean epidemiologist or perhaps a simple doctor?

In fairness, perhaps you can explain your position a bit. What you say of Chomsky, Soviet commissars probably said the same thing of Sakharov et al. Do you think Soviet dissidents were wrong for speaking out against the crimes of their own government? Were those citizens of the USSR who listened to dissidents like Sakharov wrong to listen to them? Or what does Chomsky say that you disagree with? Are you in disagreement that we ought to "distribute [our] finite energies so that [we] can do the most good" by "primarily [focusing] on actions for which we share responsibility and can influence?"
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Re: Noam Chomsky and Our Collective Responsibility

Post by Dalek Prime »

I take no responsibility for what the rest of you do. I'm just here for the ride. Typical liberal to spread the guilt. Makes them less culpable.
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Re: Noam Chomsky and Our Collective Responsibility

Post by Gary Childress »

Dalek Prime wrote:I take no responsibility for what the rest of you do. I'm just here for the ride. Typical liberal to spread the guilt. Makes them less culpable.
Maybe you can define "liberal"?
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Re: Noam Chomsky and Our Collective Responsibility

Post by Dalek Prime »

Gary Childress wrote:
Dalek Prime wrote:I take no responsibility for what the rest of you do. I'm just here for the ride. Typical liberal to spread the guilt. Makes them less culpable.
Maybe you can define "liberal"?
I'll do better than that. Typical ass who has his own finger in the pie, and wants to ease his conscience by saying we are all responsible. Happy now?
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Re: Noam Chomsky and Our Collective Responsibility

Post by Gary Childress »

Dalek Prime wrote:
Gary Childress wrote:
Dalek Prime wrote:I take no responsibility for what the rest of you do. I'm just here for the ride. Typical liberal to spread the guilt. Makes them less culpable.
Maybe you can define "liberal"?
I'll do better than that. Typical ass who has his own finger in the pie, and wants to ease his conscience by saying we are all responsible. Happy now?
Finger in what "pie"? What are you talking about? :?:
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Re: Noam Chomsky and Our Collective Responsibility

Post by Dalek Prime »

Noam Chomsky himself has stated he benefits immensely from his upper middle class status, and his white male hood. I don't see him surrendering his good fortune to ease his guilt. I see him writing what is, and spreading the blame for earth's ills on the rest of us with zero say.

Anyways, what are you trying to get at Gary? Are you saying I should shoulder or share the guilt with the lot of you? If so, do tell why, specifically, and not as a generalization.


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Re: Noam Chomsky and Our Collective Responsibility

Post by vegetariantaxidermy »

Gary Childress wrote:
Finger in what "pie"? What are you talking about? :?:
He doesn't even know what liberal means, so don't expect a sensible answer from him about anything.
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Re: Noam Chomsky and Our Collective Responsibility

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Again, just for you, here's how the bullshit works. I'm a fat cat sucking on the teat of mankind, getting vastly more than what I deserve, whilst depriving the majority. I'm happy about what I have, and don't want to be anything else, yet I have issues tugging at me because of my last bit of humanity left in me. I'm the cause of the suffering, or at least have a say in it. People listen to me. But instead of concentrating on myself, I'll point the finger at all the.lesser shits who can't do a thing about the status quo, because the status quo is me. But if I can get them to believe they are just as responsible for the situation as my sorry fat arse, I'll sleep better at night, after shifting and sharing the blame and responsibility.

So, all I said was I'm not accepting the burden. And you want to nitpick at the way I said it.

Is it clearer now?
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Re: Noam Chomsky and Our Collective Responsibility

Post by Dalek Prime »

vegetariantaxidermy wrote:
Gary Childress wrote:
Finger in what "pie"? What are you talking about? :?:
He doesn't even know what liberal means, so don't expect a sensible answer from him about anything.
I'm not saying what liberal means, because it's a loaded word, and he and you are picking on it instead of understanding what I'm talking about, because you two have bought into exactly the guilt propaganda Chomsky is trying to ease his establishment fat ass with.
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Re: Noam Chomsky and Our Collective Responsibility

Post by Gary Childress »

Dalek Prime wrote:Jesus Christ Gary, are you that thick, or are you a parrot?

Noam Chomsky himself has stated he benefits immensely from his upper middle class status, and his white male hood. I don't see him surrendering his good fortune to ease his guilt. I see him writing what is, and spreading the blame for earth's ills on the rest of us with zero say.

Anyways, what are you trying to get at Gary? Are you saying I should shoulder or share the guilt with the lot of you? If so, do tell why, specifically, and not as a generalization.
Thank you for spelling it out. Your other remarks were rather cryptic and I'm unfortunately not a mind reader.

Chomsky, who is one of the most quoted authors on Earth, who has written hundreds of books and pamphlets, traveled, lectured, taught, advocated, answered doubtless thousands of emails asking the same questions over and over again has a net worth (If I am to believe an article I saw posted a while back) of about 2 million dollars. I suppose he could make do with much less but considering his relatively astronomical success as an author and public figure it seems that he probably could have had a heck of a lot more had he chosen.

My understanding is that Chomsky has devoted a lifetime to educating ordinary people on many of the scandals that have been carried out in the name of power and greed. As voters in a democratic nation we theoretically have the power to change things. And so that is what Chomsky advocates, grass roots change by people who are informed of what is going on in the world at large around them. Chomsky often offers us the other side of the story that we don't get from watching Fox News or even most "liberal" media. Unfortunately that doesn't make him a very popular person with many and so he's spent much of his life a virtual pariah to the US media where he's been afforded little respect.

I'm sorry if somehow Chomsky's writings make you feel guilty for whatever reason. I'm sure it's not your fault that there are scandals in the world. Should he just stop writing about the injustices of the world, rather than speak out about them? Would that solve the problem of injustice, simply not mention it. Then as ignorant Americans we can just sit and wonder perplexed at why so many people in the world seem to be angry at us?
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Re: Noam Chomsky and Our Collective Responsibility

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And for the record, Melchior is, generally, a fuckwit.
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Re: Noam Chomsky and Our Collective Responsibility

Post by vegetariantaxidermy »

Dalek Prime wrote:And for the record, Melchior is, generally, a fuckwit.
Well, I did ask Melchior a question, and you answered, so I put two and two together. And because Americans have ruined the word liberal I avoid using it, since the morons can't work out what it means. That's why no one will define it.
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Re: Noam Chomsky and Our Collective Responsibility

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Gary, stop acting so god damn superior. Obviously you do not normally read what I write about, or you'd know exactly how I feel about the life system, suffering, and how to solve them.

Are you a parent Gary? You know how shit life is, yet for no reason but your own, you created someone else to wade through the shit, when it needn't have been. If you're not a parent, then ignore that. (Parents are also more statist then others, on average, and support the status quo to a. Keep their children safer, and b. Because they believe in hierarchy, the family being the first of them.)
Last edited by Dalek Prime on Mon May 16, 2016 7:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Noam Chomsky and Our Collective Responsibility

Post by Dalek Prime »

vegetariantaxidermy wrote:
Dalek Prime wrote:And for the record, Melchior is, generally, a fuckwit.
Well, I did ask Melchior a question, and you answered, so I put two and two together. And because Americans have ruined the word liberal I avoid using it, since the morons can't work out what it means. That's why no one will define it.
Everyone here has a horrible habit of answering questions directed at another, and I share in that. As do you, when answering for Gary.

And yes, Americans have destroyed the word (says the Canadian to the Brit).
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