Seth Ackerman wrote:
>
> Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> > But almost everything Chomsky writes runs against the "common sense"
> > of Americans. [...] And you can't fight that ingrained common sense
> > through repeated factchecking. It's great for the base, but beyond
> > that, you might as well be speaking Frisian.
> >
>
> Chomsky doesn't claim that ingrained common sense can be fought through
> repeated factchecking. His answer isn't necessarily sufficient, but
> least he has an answer: He says common sense can only be changed through
> mass participation in social movements. Yeah, but isn't that hard? Sure,
> but you have to try. Usually you'll fail, but sometimes you'll succeed.
> I think that's the Chomsky prescription in a nutshell.
Didn't I say in one of my posts that common sense (ideology in my terminology) can only be confronted in practice! One of the areas in which the priority of practice to thought emerges. Again we have the question of genre. Chomsky writes in a certain genre (or spread of genres), and he does magnificently in those genres, which have their limits. This is not a criticism of Chomsky but an attempt to _place_ him in the vast spectrum of left activity, all of which is necessary.
Carrol