Noam Chomsky (1928- ) is an American intellectual. Along with the likes of Cicero and Marx, he is one of the authors most cited by university professors. He has written many books on the nature of language and the evils of American power abroad.
In the 1950s he helped to make the study of language into something more like a real science. He studied English syntax – the rules English has for putting words together in a certain order. But he was not so much interested in English as in the nature of language itself and what it can tell us about the inner workings of the human mind.
He pushed beyond the mere rules of English to the deeper rules that govern every language in search of the universal grammar. Such a universal grammar, he said, could not be universal unless it was built into the human brain from birth.
This has set him against fashionable thought in two quarters.
First, against those who think they can build a computer that possesses more intelligence than man. Both computers and languages work by applying a set of rules. But the rules a computer can apply are much simpler than the sort that govern human language. That means that no matter how much memory or power you give a computer, it can never match the human mind. Its design is too simple for that.
Second, it put Chomsky against left-wing thinking about human nature. Although Chomsky himself is a leading intellectual on the left, he thinks that much of what makes us human is built into the brain – it is not largely a matter of upbringing and education as most on the left believe.
Chomsky is good at following a line of argument to the bitter end, using reason alone where most are guided by received wisdom instead.
He applies this style of thinking to everything, including foreign affairs and the use of American power abroad. He believes in democracy as well as world justice as the equality of nations: America should not do unto other countries what it does not want to have done unto itself. When America breaks this rule, as it often does, he calls it immoral.
Such talk delights those who hate America, like Hugo Chavez and Nasrallah.
Chomsky is not only against the war in Iraq, he was even against the American war in Afghanistan after 9/11. In the 1960s he was against the Vietnam war. He is also against Israel, even though he is Jewish.
He reads the New York Times, the Guardian and other such newspapers, but he reads between the lines, noting what is not being said as much as what is. He even has a propaganda model to account for what gets reported.
His writing style is dreadful. While it is the common style among American professors, you would think he would know better, with his understanding of language. Nevertheless, you are willing to make your way through it because his arguments are good, sometimes even surprising.
See also:
How has no-one commented on this yet? Chomsky is The Shit, I’m glad you think so too. Also, he was born in 1928, not 1925. He speaking style isn’t great either, although you get into the rhythm of it if you listen to enough of his lectures. It forces you to read him carefully and with the same consideration with which he reads five or six newspapers a day.
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Thanks for the correction.
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Yeah , Legion ? Well, Hugo Chavez means differant to me…and chumpski doesnt have a clue to what happened in South America..
Ask yourself really, why there arnt dictatorships in South America , but, the Castro brothers still have an iron grip on Cuba
You do know that Fidel and Che killed more people than Brazil and Chile combined in their military dictatorships
Do you want to do a little research ? Something I already have…will it make any diferance in how you think?
Goggle up “farc hugo chavez” or “hugo chavez guns farc”
google up “pcc farc” “fernando beiramar farc”
“farc bus burnings” “onibus queimado santa catarina”
“brazil number one user of crack”
read up a little on this and then lets start having a real conversation about hugo chavez and what moan chumpski didnt tell you because of his agenda
Im not sure , Abagond, if you were being straight up about that , but, if you were, I agree…..seriously, we just went through a month of bus burnings and shootings in my state, from organised coke and arms gangs, with blatent ties to the pcc in Sao Paulo, who have direct ties to Farc…and, then you google “bus burnings” and “farc” and bingo, its like a page right out of their playbook
and Hugo Chavez, at one time aided and abetted Farc, who have raped Brazil, and were called “freedom fighters” by chumpski in his big thesis on Colombia and the USA military industrial complex…oh yeah, everyone is so afraid the USA is going to invade South America , but, its Farc, kidnapping , thug arms and coke drug dealers, hooked up with huge organised crime drug gangs in Brazil who are really decimating society down where I live…
“freedom fighters”!!?? Farc are “freedom fukers” anyone fighting for marxism is “fuking freedom”
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@ Legion
It just shows there will always be things we agree on as well as disagree on!
Your comments and appraisals of Hugo Chavez here were thoughtfully and accurately presented. And I couldn’t agree more with them. Hugo Chavez was a true champion of not only the Venezuelan people but the African and African descendants of the Venezuelan people too. He understood this link and pro-actively promoted and supported it.
I’s also agree with this observation you’ve made of Abagond’s post here:
“…Abagond speaks of Chavez’ hate. In fact it is the US government that has acted a form of hatred throughout Latin America for decades…
Hugo Chavez was well aware of the United States role in the affairs of Latin American countries and its abuses of power all over the globe. He sort to escape this, and of course, was hated by the controlling elites in the US, just like Iran is today.
I covered my own tribute to him on FB here:
And YES! I do believe he was induced with cancer by the CIA or some other covert secret agency of the US. This as we already know from “cointelpro” is precisely how they do and can operate.
Finally, I personally believe Abagond would be failing, and grossly uniformed, in his duty as a dedicated blogger of racism and its injustices to ignore coverage of this courageous man.
But thats just my opinion of course!
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fernando-espuelas/hugo-chavez-is-no-hero_b_2814642.html
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http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2011/05/20115115856153893.html
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http://www.fas.org/blog/ssp/2006/12/venezuelas_military_build-up_w.php
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http://www.insightcrime.org/groups-venezuela/farc-in-venezuela
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/10/world/americas/10venezuela.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&
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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/world/americas/08venez.html
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Legion,looks like its you who is wallowing in ignorance and all too willing to drink the kool aid by people like chumpski
Very telling, you wont even read or go to the links I suggest, yes, bury your head in the sand , dont try to find out the whole truth, just go lock step into half truths and lies…and then try to insult me…you cant carry my jock strap when it comes to knowing what is really going on down in Brazil because of Farc and the support people like Chavez have given them
Kwamla, you dont really know the true dynamic on the ground where I live….just amazing, the willingness to not try to find out the whole story
Thank god I live in a place that I can get the kind of real education you just cant get only reading one sided looks at the truth…and beleive me, those one sided looks are in huge abundance down where I live…that is what gives me so much insight, looking at the bs straight in the face
Thank god Im not going to just cover my eyes and lock step into political agendas that cant even look at the truth in the face
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If only President Obama could have had the same presence of mind and awareness of the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. This is the type of President African-Americans were hoping for. But we all now know reality of what they really got…..!
(Taken from Sep, 2005)
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Im not even happy Chavez died, I never wanted him assasinated, I know he was elected, even though he did indulge in very questionalble actions against his oponents…
I just want his BS BROUGHT OUT IN THE OPEN!!
I feel the same way about his death as when Chenney or W will die…people who have done really wrong things to promote their agenda and wealth and power….
I cant wallow in hypocracy, just any old blow hard who comes down the pike railing at the USA, and giving cheap handouts , isnt going to get my support…Chavez could have done so much more, its just that the leaders before him were so bad , it make the little he did look good…but, he has driven his country down , even inspite of social programs to help the poor…which are a good thing…but, many other aspects about health for his country have deteriated and only will make the poor people suffer in the long run…if the oposition wants to really win in Venezuela, they are going to have to come up with solutions to help the people
Chavez screamed about American imperialism…his actions were the definition of imperialism…the hypocracy boggles the mind
I can talk about American dirt in the world, but, I can also talk about the dirt of the opisition also…its the whole truth..and I need the whole truth to make my opinion
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“asassinated” doesnt mean I think he was assasinated now….gees, that is some real bs set in motion
go ahead and swallow that crap if you want to….how can you stand the taste? the taste of bs? it must be like chomping down on boo boo crust breath
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If only people like you, Kwamla, would just look at some of the other truth out here…you have brought in some of the weakest opinions and links against America…filled with concpiricy theory and weak on facts…and your link didnt come in on this one…try again
No , Im happy America wouldnt play into the Chavez bs…they were both happy to do lots of business together…hades, Im happy Lula, even being a great freind of Chavez, played both sides against the middle and got some prosperity for his country….that is how you do it right
You really dont know what is happening down here in South America, do you , Kwamla?
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@ B. R
This is a “generalised” view of FARC which you keep referring to in your long-winded posts about the “other side of things” everyone here (including me) “keeps missing” or “doesn’t get”
And further….
Both quotes taken from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FARC
Given the above information and you can correct it if you feel its a miss-representation.
My simple question to you B.R is this:
Who is or what is the biggest threat to global World Peace on this Planet today?
Is it FARC? And the assistance and association Hugo Chevaz and countries like: Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, and Nicaragua have given to them?
OR
Is it the United States of America with its unchallenged global military and political dominance in the affairs of every nation in World?
Are the FARC (and their backers) really more influential than the USA in world affairs? Is this what I am not getting?
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Oh man, Kwamla, let me clue you in, the ideaology that Chavez , and Che and Fidel are following, really has nothing to do with stopping racism…or really getting to the real roots of stopping prejudice
Didnt you get the memo about the black scholors and artists from various countries condeming racism in Fidel’s Cuba?
He mentions Brazil, sorry, but, racism in Brazil is horrible
Just look at any pictures of the Communist party or PT party in Brazil and the overwelming majority of party members are white and fighting racism is not the priority of their agenda
what a cheap position to think to not like Chavez is being racist or something (his implication in the interview)….that is an absurdity and hiding behind race to excuse his bs….it sure isnt because he is black that I dont like the bs of Hugo Chavez
Dont you get that Che was a racist but knew how to apeal to the black American activist movement?
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Kwamla, first of all, Chavez did a lot of maneuvering to distance himself from the very incriminating information of him tied to Farc
He tried to broker peace talks, it was now in his interest to get Farc into a more non violent organisation to get political power like he has, and Farc broke off the negotiations, and wanted the coco plant to be legal so they can carry out their huge traficing on countries like Brazil
The damage Chavez did by aiding Farc , was done in the last 12 years or so, and I saw the steady build up over a period of time, of coke, crack and arms and violence being peddled into Brazil from people like Farc, they werent the only ones, but major players, and Chavez supported them in many many ways…
See how they make it seem like they released the “last 10 prisoners”, that is a play on words, it was about one incident they took hostages, they are dragging close to 700 hostages throught the slimy jungle , chained together in the most inhumane conditions
Kwamla, what is the most dangerous thing in this world is something we are all suposed to be vigilant about…if it manifests in the USA military industrial complex, with people like Chenney making millions off of war, and the corporacracy, by all means we need to talk about it and reveal it
and by the same token , if there are people setting off bombs in markets based on who is for their fundamentalist version of their beleifs, in many places in the world,then we need to be vigilant of that
and, we were suposed to be vigilant when we found out that in countries under ideaological beleifs, eliminated millions and millions of people, way more than the USA ever did, and they threatened to bury us and nuke us into oblivion, and we were suposed to confront them around the world…thank god where I live didnt turn into a Che revolution…they sure tried
and, we are suposed to be vigilant when people are screaming about American imperialism and creating the USA as the boogy man, when behind the back , they are doing their own imperialistic behaviours and contributing to flooding markets in other countries with coke/crack (really devastating to society , not like marijuana) and arms, and making huge connections with large violent organised crime organisations (and you know, the people they are busting down where I live , as setting fires to buses, right out of Farc playbook, are white, part of the organised crime, this is no poverty war against the system, its organised crime getting rich on steroids from hookups with people like Farc) that are decimating that countries society more than any false notion of a USA invasion, which many of these supporters of these ideaologies are screaming about
and the numbers of dead innocent children, mostly black, killed from lost bullets in these drug wars, keep mounting up…and the dead in Brazil from these kind of violent deaths actualy is close to those in Iraq…during the Iraq war
I think its all relative, Kwamla, and we need to look at the whole truth
Yeah, america is dirty, but , there is huge dirt on all sides to go around for all….I want all the truth , not some…I am no gung ho America right or wrong…but , I see a whole lot of hypocracy and half truths and lies being peddaled out here in the world these days
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by the way, Brazil is a victom of Farc and its past support from Hugo Chavez….there are political ideaologists in Brazil who wont condemn Farc and admit the real problems that are decimating society and affect our daily lives…but, Brazil is the victom of this hypocracy, they are the cash cow that people like Farc absolutly flood the market with coke/crack and arms…what is the result? Brazil is now one of the highest consumors of crack cocaine in the world…deaths from drug wars are immence…I watched this go down over a period of years, this decay in society based on this market flooding
Brazil is a cash cow for these people
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Dear. Looks like I should do a post on Chavez.
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@ Legion
By “hate America” I mean they do not like American policy and act against it. Not hate as a personal feeling but the anthropomorphic foreign policy metaphor of friends and enemies.
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I have been informed I hate America too.
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@ Abagond
Does that mean we should expect to see a post on the late Hugo Chavez soon then Abagond?
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I will have a post on Chavez up by tomorrow morning New York time (Friday 14.00 GMT), God willing.
If anyone has sources they would like me to look at let me know.
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You can find plenty of in depth commentary in my own compilation here:
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Yeah, ok, Abagond, absolutly look at the links I brought in, and, how about suitcases of money:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2008/sep/21/usa.venezuela
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http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/07/world/la-fg-wikileaks-nicaragua-20101208
that was Argentina, here is to Ortega in Nicaraugua
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http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-11-03-514744894_x.htm
here is the conviction for suitcases to argentina
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Abagond, I didnt say you hate America, I said you buy into anti American bias..which you do…I have brought in link after link about truth from the other side of the picture in South America and from the Talaban, I have proved Qubt and Che and Fidel’s regime are racist…
why hasnt anyone else in the comments been able to state the simple available information I can find?
At least Ann gave us great info about people fleeing the Cultural Revolution in China to fight communism in Viet Nam, and that the Korrean war was a good example of how it could have worked and how 10 South Viet Namese solders were killed for each American, making Michael Moores 4 million statistic ridiculous…in Viet Nam, a lot of South Viet Nam solders were killed by the communists, so they have to take responsibility for that
I just want the whole truth on the table, not skewed half truths and lies by one side…I hate hyper predatory capatalism as much as communism, but, capatalism with a concience is very desirable for me…its not like capatalism is all bad..
so , im asking you to include all the information I have brought in about Chavez and his hook up with Farc,and how Farc is decimating Brazil with its coke/arms hookups with huge organised drug gangs, his suitcases of money for political campains outside of Venezuela…
or , dont worry, Ill make sure to bring it in
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too bad people cant read or understand portuguese because here is the real deal about the PCC in Brazil with Farc…its all there
this is just to show you how the hook up comes to Brazil
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http://www.cfr.org/brazil/brazils-powerful-prison-gang/p11542
“In 2001 or 2002, Beira-Mar introduced the PCC to the FARC, Colombia’s main guerrilla group. The FARC’s interest in Brazilian organized crime is primarily its arms-for-drugs trade, though the FARC has also provided kidnapping expertise to the PCC, which is thought to be responsible for 75 percent of the kidnapping in Sao Paulo. Logan says there is also evidence the PCC obtains guns from Paraguay’s organized crime groups”
Here is a better article and that Paraguyay group has been linked with Farc also. this also implicates Fernando Beiramar , from the giant Rio gang, this is proof of all these hookups
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(http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG4eXobJhDr-t1KANtJ8SOWxLb7Fx7I7I)
better link to the portuguese language history of youtubes of what Im talking about
this stuff is for real…im living it…my buslines, and i dont have a car, have been under seige last month, and the terminal is a crack den now…my family uses the bus
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http://www.iiss.org/publications/strategic-comments/past-issues/volume-17-2011/august/brazils-porous-jungle-borders/mobile-edition/
people may not want to give this report any notice but here is a very detailed account of what is happening, and how Farc has a sophisticated network coming in throught the Amazon as well as with the big drug gangs in the big cities
this information just cant be denied…and it sais 80 percent of the military and 70 percent of civilians are worried about an invasion from an army like the USA, but, the real invasion is going on right now…decimating Brazil
this is the reality I live with…come down here and smell the flowers of truth
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The Chavez post will be delayed till 1:00pm New York time (18.00 GMT). The whole Jorbia thing on the African Queen thread got me off track.
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haha, I can hardly wait, Abagond
I wonder, Legion, are you going to be able to refute my facts with a better argument than calling me imbecil? haha haha
that is just lovely when I bring in basic facts and you insult me…that really makes your point
economics? you do know they say chavez is worth about 2 billion, that is way more than chenney made off iraq…i feel the same about the both of them
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@ Legion
Good idea. I will post it when I am happy with it instead of just trying whip something out. So maybe later today or tomorrow.
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The Chavez post is up at long last:
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/hugo-chavez/
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Legion, I almost missed this…hey, no problem, and Im sorry too for any feeling of tension between us…knowing you have dug jazz always is in the back of my conciosness with you
You know, we all get involved in these discusions and emotions run high….I want you to know , I didnt hold it against you, or anyone else on this blog for tense feelings…I promise to not use “chumpski ” again on here….only other places…ok?We can still agree to disagree…
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I just read about this Chomsky film.
Noam Chomsky Wants You to Wake Up From the American Dream
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/noam-chomsky-wants-you-wake-american-dream
Anyone see it? Good?
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