[Vision2020] Noam Chomsky

[Tbertruss at aol.com]

Dave Budge wrote:

"Noam Chomsky (hey, anybody who ever endorsed Pol Pot qualifies as "really 
scary.") "

I have followed Chomsky from the late 1960s till the present day, both his 
work in linguistics and its implications for theory of mind, and his political 
analysis and investigations.  I read his extensive analysis comparing the 
media's reporting of the horrific human rights abuses that were committed in East 
Timor in the 1970s, abuses committed by Indonesia with military aid from the US 
government, compared to how the media reported Pol Pot's psychotic rampage in 
Southeast Asia, in "Manufacturing Consent."  

Chomsky is fairly regarded as one of the greatest thinkers of the last 
century, primarily due to his work in linguistics.  But his political writing is 
rich in detail and documentation, his logical capabilities are superb, and he 
will take unpopular positions on principle, which has caused him significant 
grief.  He defended the free speech rights of a writer who was arguing that the 
holocaust was a historical distortion, and for his "politically incorrect" 
defense of said free speech principle for a politically unpopular opinion, was 
publicly dragged through the mud.

Chomsky never "endorsed Pol Pot."

I can see why Chomsky's formidable political and economic arguments that 
contradict your approach would cause you grief.  But asserting that he "endorsed" 
psychotic dictators like Pol Pot is simply unfair and false.  

Your aside about Chomsky strikes me as an expression of libertarian "group 
think."  He is on a short list of the thinkers and writers that libertarians 
must delegitimize and denigrate to maintain the integrity of their own political 
ideology.

Ted Moffett
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