[lbo-talk] Re: Undecided Until the Last Minute Re: Dean'sSelf-Demolition

[Michael Dawson -PSU]

> On Sunday, January 25, 2004, at 01:35 PM, Jon Johanning wrote:
>
> > All too often, radical groups develop in what I would call a hot-house
> > atmosphere -- only talking and listening to themselves, only reading
> > literature on an approved reading list, looking down on the rest of
> > the world as ignorant, unenlightened, uninformed, etc., etc. They
> > assume that their communication process must be one-way -- they need
> > to communicate their truth to a world that doesn't yet know it, and
> > that world should just shut up and listen to them.
>
> How different is this, really, from the Chomskyite belief that once
> people know the facts (as we present them), they'll reach the right
> conclusions?
>
> All the best,
>
> John A

What's the deal with all the Chomsky bashing?  First of all, leftists'
tendency toward being in-bred and didactic is far different from what
Chomsky is trying to do, and not just at one level.  Leftist didacts neglect
mainstream thought, forget to show their path of arrival, and harangue their
victims with prescriptions for attitude, belief, and action.  Chomsky's work
is marked by his careful avoidance of all these evils.

More importantly, do you actually read and listen to Chomsky?  He certainly
hopes his presentations of information will help rouse his audience, but
there is nobody on Earth whose political thought is less rooted in an effort
to coerce others toward particular political conclusions.  He doesn't
pretend to know all the answers, and he pleads only for increased
information and democratic participation.

Methinks this is just another case of privates-envy (21st century word for
penis-envy).