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What does the skeptic community think of Noam Chomsky?

Paranormal Inquirer

Critical Thinker
Paranormal Inquirer
Joined
Mar 8, 2008
Messages
282
I've read a few of his books and articles and I know he's quite persuasive, but I'm not so sure that he has sufficient evidence to prove his political points.

Many of the points he asserts in his books sometimes sound "conspiracy theory-ish", but not exactly. And that's not to say it means it's invalid; only that one should contest his claims more thoroughly. I can't say that I have the time, nor resources to actually dissect many of his main political arguments, so I'm wondering if any of you found his claims to be, well, ********.

And if you don't know who Chomsky is, this video should give you a rough overview of where he stands politically: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE25W83tChM
 
I like him, too. There's no doubt he's extremely intelligent. The only thing I'm worried about, however, is that I could easily be played for a fool and not have a clue. I'll admit my ignorance upfront and I want to know if there's something iffy about this guy.

I mean, some of the ideas and solutions he advocates are considered quite radical, and for good reason. These are not the kinds of writings you want to take lightly.
 
Conspiracy is a very successful human adaptation, so that any scientist who wants to fully explain human group behaviour at a national, political or ethnic level is going to have to eventually include paradigms that sound at least somewhat "conspiracy"-like.

Noam Chomsky tends to inflate the lethal consequences of America's actions, but that is only because the lethal consequences of the actions of America's enemies are always highly inflated, he probably thinks it is only fair.
 
Personally, not much.
His whitwashing of the Pol Pot regime..despite the attempts of his followers to deny he did that....pretty much made me lose confidence in him.
And he seems to be a Anarchist who advocated total Socialism...sort of contradictory, don't you think.
 
To me, he's too much work for a skeptic. When he is speaking to his field he is reportedly very knowledgeable.

But when he is speaking politics, news, social commentary you have to check his each and every line to make sure he's not putting out either outright lies or huffpoworthy spin
 
He repeats himself, sometimes has trouble sticking to the topic, and sometimes uses confusing quotes-within-quotes where it's hard to tell if he's quoting the quoter or the quotee. Other than that I really like him.
 
pipelineaudio said:
To me, he's too much work for a skeptic. When he is speaking to his field he is reportedly very knowledgeable.

But when he is speaking politics, news, social commentary you have to check his each and every line to make sure he's not putting out either outright lies or huffpoworthy spin
Click to expand...

Really? Every time I've fact checked him, he's proved accurate. I don't always agree with his opinions, but I definitely find him informative.
 
dudalb said:
Personally, not much.
His whitwashing of the Pol Pot regime..despite the attempts of his followers to deny he did that....pretty much made me lose confidence in him.
And he seems to be a Anarchist who advocated total Socialism...sort of contradictory, don't you think.
Click to expand...

as well as his whitewashing of the Bosnian Serbs, who were butchering people a day's drive from auschwitz :eek:

And he also gave support to dubious regimes such as North Vietnam :eek:

While he has been excellent on truthers. :cool:
 
Can you provide sources for these supposed whitewashings (preferably direct quotes of Chomsky's)?
 
Chomsky is an strong advocate of the purposeful use of propaganda, then he follows this up with a wide array of comments on modern events and politics. All of the latter follows the form, and fashion, of the former.
 
Chomsky's view of history is skewed by his belief that the communist regimes like the Soviet Union never did anything wrong. In a lot of ways, his thinking seems to me like some crackpot Nazi-boy, whose description of D-Day would be "US illegally invades France!"
 
Brainster said:
Chomsky's view of history is skewed by his belief that the communist regimes like the Soviet Union never did anything wrong.
Click to expand...

OK, look, I know people have their opinions, but the above is just completely at odds with reality.

If you're going to criticize the guy, at least read his articles before you say something so obviously incorrect to anyone who has even a passing familiarity with what he's had to say.
 
Cleon said:
OK, look, I know people have their opinions, but the above is just completely at odds with reality.

If you're going to criticize the guy, at least read his articles before you say something so obviously incorrect to anyone who has even a passing familiarity with what he's had to say.
Click to expand...

Cleon,

You and Professor Yaffle are just cheating! Everyone knows that the right way to work out what a chap means is not to quote what he ascertainably said but to quote what someone else said he said or what that someone else is quite firmly of the opinion he said or would have said if subjected to that someone else's forensically elegant examination.

Now, if you get your way, there will be demands for sources and evidence and stuff of that sort. Where will it all end?
 
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