My letter to Prof. Chomsky

[A'isha]

Courier has been trolling and posting about cooking recipes in this thread.
Get informed.

Courier's post that you replied to there was not a cooking recipe.

 

[Watanabe]

The highlighted sections are such ********.

BS

Did you give attention to the 300 children killed by US drones in Afghanistan?
Did you give any attention to the Palestinian tortured by Israel with US complicity?
Did you give any attention to the 60000+ victims of Operation Condor, the CIA-sponsored operation for target killings of political activists in South America?
Did you give any attention to the victims of Saddam use of chemicals in the 80s, when the US was supporting him?
You are an American citizen I assume. What did you do for the above atrocities?
Did you protest, did you do political activism, did you tell that it is wrong to your colleagues and friends or you juststayed silent?

 

[Watanabe]

Courier's post that you replied to there was not a cooking recipe.

He post at least 5 cooking recipes in this thread.
Get informed.

I am not entartaining troolls and people who support them

 

[Courier]

Courier has been trolling and posting about cooking recipes in this thread.
Get informed.

The cooking recipes were posted when the thread was in the Forum Community section, where cooking recipes and photos of rubber duckies are not agaonst forum rules.

I'd still like to know why you chose to email Chomsky again after you already conversed with him months ago. Is it your intention to pester him until he agrees with your POV?

 

[Elizabeth I]

BS

Did you give attention to the 300 children killed by US drones in Afghanistan?
Did you give any attention to the Palestinian tortured by Israel with US complicity?
Did you give any attention to the 60000+ victims of Operation Condor, the CIA-sponsored operation for target killings of political activists in South America?
Did you give any attention to the victims of Saddam use of chemicals in the 80s, when the US was supporting him?
You are an American citizen I assume. What did you do for the above atrocities?
Did you protest, did you do political activism, did you tell that it is wrong to your colleagues and friends or you juststayed silent?

That was not what you said. You said people care only when it's their family, their community or their country. I gave you examples to show that people do care about other people far away, and take steps to help.

Could people be more politically active? Certainly. Does that mean nobody anywhere cares about anyone else? Certainly not. Stop talking in absolutes.

 

[Courier]

BS

Did you give attention to the 300 children killed by US drones in Afghanistan?
Did you give any attention to the Palestinian tortured by Israel with US complicity?
Did you give any attention to the 60000+ victims of Operation Condor, the CIA-sponsored operation for target killings of political activists in South America?
Did you give any attention to the victims of Saddam use of chemicals in the 80s, when the US was supporting him?
You are an American citizen I assume. What did you do for the above atrocities?
Did you protest, did you do political activism, did you tell that it is wrong to your colleagues and friends or you juststayed silent?

I marched against the Iraq War several times.

My father marched against the Vietnam War.

What wars have YOU marched against?

Which Japanese war-crimes have YOU protested?

 

[Elizabeth I]

Courier has been trolling and posting about cooking recipes in this thread.
Get informed.

Carlitos was the one who posted the recipe for menudo, and it was split off to Abandon All Hope when the thread was moved to Non-USA Politics, as were two of my own posts.

Get over it.

I hope you notice that this thread was moved to a more topical sub-forum, and that many off-topic, possibly trolling posts, were moved to AAH - which kind of knocks in the head your theory that you get no respect because you are critical of the U.S.

 

[Courier]

This discussion with Chomsky appears to be nothing more than a sad example of a holier-than-thou attitude. We have yet to hear any examples of the author of the OP standing up for justice & human rights. All he has shown us so far is his passing judgement against others.

 

[angrysoba]

His final reply:

You’ve told me your speculations before. I’ve told you that I haven’t the slightest idea why you choose to obsess about your belief that that the human race doesn’t rise to your level of magnificence. Now that we’ve both made our positions clear, there is surely no more reason to continue repeating ourselves.

I think I am someone who is more sympathetic to Chomsky than most people here.

I disagree with a lot of what he has said and I find some of his positions to be inexplicable.

But, I generally think that he has a genuine concern for a lot of people, far more of a concern with everday people than most of his detractors, and one of the reasons why he doesn't wholescale condemn people in the way that you do, Watanabe, is that he may appreciate the difficulties that a lot of people have in their lives. He may also realize that there are a lot of people out there in the world who spend a lot of time caring for the homeless, or sick relatives, or children in their neighbourhoods who can't read or who have learning disabilities and he may think, as I do, that such causes are going to use up a lot more of their energy than petitioning about JFK airport being renamed. I mean, so what about JFK?

There was an amusing joke made by a guy called Peter Hitchens on a programme on the BBC called Have I Got News For You in which he said it was ironic that the Apache helicopter, named after a group of people who were ethnically cleansed, was being deployed in Kosovo to save another group of people who were being ethnically cleansed. If they renamed JFK Sitting Bull Airport would that amount to much? No, I don't think so.

So, congratulations Watanabe, you have probably made Chomsky more popular here than he has ever been at any time by basically winding him up. I myself have also written to Chomsky once in the past and received a friendly reply, and it seems quite a few others here have done so. After Chomsky indulged you for a few rounds, in what seems to be a reasonable and friendly way, you didn't give him anything to work with. You kept sanctimoniously banging your own drum and eventually pissed him off, which is quite an achievement given that you have complained so often that the only reason you get singled out for criticism is because of your attack on US foreign policy. Who could be expected to be more sympathetic to you than Chomsky? And yet, even he seems to think you are being an arse.

Given these facts it may be wise to reassess your strategy, at the very least, if not your opinions. What is it you are doing that is rubbing up even your nominal allies the wrong way?

 

[Watanabe]

That was not what you said. You said people care only when it's their family, their community or their country. I gave you examples to show that people do care about other people far away, and take steps to help.

Could people be more politically active? Certainly. Does that mean nobody anywhere cares about anyone else? Certainly not. Stop talking in absolutes.

Not absolutes, you are right
Maybe we can say that not 100% but 99%+ care [almost] only when it's their family, their community or their country?
I mean, where "caring" is little bit more than saying "ooh pure guys".

 

[Neutiquam Erro]

Not absolutes, you are right
Maybe we can say that not 100% but 99%+ care [almost] only when it's their family, their community or their country?
I mean, where "caring" is little bit more than saying "ooh pure guys".

When your baby is crying, are you ashamed of yourself for tending to its needs, when there are also babies crying elsewhere in the world?

 

[Watanabe]

I think I am someone who is more sympathetic to Chomsky than most people here.

I disagree with a lot of what he has said and I find some of his positions to be inexplicable.

But, I generally think that he has a genuine concern for a lot of people, far more of a concern with everday people than most of his detractors, and one of the reasons why he doesn't wholescale condemn people in the way that you do, Watanabe, is that he may appreciate the difficulties that a lot of people have in their lives. He may also realize that there are a lot of people out there in the world who spend a lot of time caring for the homeless, or sick relatives, or children in their neighbourhoods who can't read or who have learning disabilities and he may think, as I do, that such causes are going to use up a lot more of their energy than petitioning about JFK airport being renamed. I mean, so what about JFK?

There was an amusing joke made by a guy called Peter Hitchens on a programme on the BBC called Have I Got News For You in which he said it was ironic that the Apache helicopter, named after a group of people who were ethnically cleansed, was being deployed in Kosovo to save another group of people who were being ethnically cleansed. If they renamed JFK Sitting Bull Airport would that amount to much? No, I don't think so.

So, congratulations Watanabe, you have probably made Chomsky more popular here than he has ever been at any time by basically winding him up. I myself have also written to Chomsky once in the past and received a friendly reply, and it seems quite a few others here have done so. After Chomsky indulged you for a few rounds, in what seems to be a reasonable and friendly way, you didn't give him anything to work with. You kept sanctimoniously banging your own drum and eventually pissed him off, which is quite an achievement given that you have complained so often that the only reason you get singled out for criticism is because of your attack on US foreign policy. Who could be expected to be more sympathetic to you than Chomsky? And yet, even he seems to think you are being an arse.

Given these facts it may be wise to reassess your strategy, at the very least, if not your opinions. What is it you are doing that is rubbing up even your nominal allies the wrong way?

You did not read what I wrote, right?

 

[carlitos]

So far, it's extremely hard to tell exactly what your point is. You are all over the place.

Do me a favor - Please prioritize the global issues that I should care about. Make a list. Then I will compare it to my actions, and we can see whether my life meets your high standards.

 

[Courier]

Not absolutes, you are right
Maybe we can say that not 100% but 99%+ care [almost] only when it's their family, their community or their country?
I mean, where "caring" is little bit more than saying "ooh pure guys".

Does that include you?

Are you willing to acknowledge that your condemnation of the actions of mankind in the face of brutality & evil includes your own failure to act?

 

[Watanabe]

When your baby is crying, are you ashamed of yourself for tending to its needs, when there are also baby's crying elsewhere in the world?

You mean, when my Government and my self are the ones allied with who bombed that family?
For example, when the US (with Japan tacit support) bombed civilians in Iraq outside of UN law we should have said nothing?
And spend our time looking at stupid TV programs?
I understand about when your baby is crying, but why spend time in front of TV dramas

 

[Watanabe]

So far, it's extremely hard to tell exactly what your point is. You are all over the place.

Do me a favor - Please prioritize the global issues that I should care about. Make a list. Then I will compare it to my actions, and we can see whether my life meets your high standards.

Does that include you?

Are you willing to acknowledge that your condemnation of the actions of mankind in the face of brutality & evil includes your own failure to act?

As I said, you were trolling in this thread until few hours ago.
Now you can not do it anymore as we are not in Forum Community anymore.

Get into another thread there and keep trolling there

 

[Courier]

You mean, when my Government and my self are the ones allied with who bombed that family?
For example, when the US (with Japan tacit support) bombed civilians in Iraq outside of UN law we should have said nothing?
And spend our time looking at stupid TV programs?
I understand about when your baby is crying, but why spend time in front of TV dramas

What did you do when the USA bombed civilians in Iraq?

How many protests did you participate in?

How many letters did you write?

 

[Sherman Bay]

I suggest you send your letter to Nim Chimpsky instead (or his successor). It will get the treatment it deserves.

 

[Courier]

Watanabe-

I appreciate your concern regarding the utter silence the world displays when others suffer. You are correct, we don't speak up enough.

I encourage you to lead by example. Teach us the right thing to do. Show us how to correct our behavior by participating in anti-war marches and pro-human rights events.

Send us pictures of your participation so we can see what we should be doing.

If you lead The People will follow.

 

[applecorped]

Chomsky ftw