[lbo-talk] Is this the new left?

info at pulpculture.org info at pulpculture.org
Fri Jul 21 13:44:40 PDT 2006


At 03:32 PM 7/21/2006, Doug Henwood wrote:


>>This if bloody fucking depressing. Half-wit punks with a web site can
>>actually suggest Chomsky, of all people, is an "idiot"?!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrios

He's not a half-wit punk, any more than Chomsky is an idiot. (I am not saying I care for his site or his politics. Just explaining who he is and why he probably doesn't think he's a halfwit punk.

"Black obtained a PhD in economics from Brown University[citation needed]. He has worked at the London School of Economics, the Université catholique de Louvain, the University of California at Irvine, and, most recently, Bryn Mawr College. He is now a Senior Fellow at the media research group Media Matters for America.

Black began his online political life in the forums of The WELL[citation needed]. For several years he remained pseudonymous as Atrios and joked that he was actually a high school gym teacher. According to Black, the name "Atrios" is actually a (misspelled) reference to a character named Antrios in the Yasmina Reza play Art who paints the play's key "white painting on white canvas"."

Sounds like he's probably mid 30s to mid 40s.

As for Berube, even after reading Dennis, I didn't get the outrage. I'm not a Chomsky devotee for reasons I've explained. I learned his analysis way before I heard of Chomsky, so I find him a yawn and his writing obnoxiously twisting, turning, and taking forever to get to the godamned point. I'll take Butler any day over that guy.

that said, I am still not getting the outrage. Berube thinks that he said something that gives too much credence to people who sound like they're off the deep end. Is he wrong about "off the deep end". It sounds like he wants Chomsky to be a little more careful in how he steps because, to my mind, Berube thinks Chomsky doesn't agreed with the ppl of the deepend, but he gives credence.

It reminds me of Carrol's arguments about not giving any credence whatsover with conspiracy theory.

PLEASE NOTE: I am not a chomsky fan, but I don't hate chomsky either. I agree with him on just about anything i've ever read. I just find it boring to read.

I am also not wedded to my interpretation above, I just want someone to help me understand what is awful about what Berube said. As much as I love DP, I don't think Berube is engaged on Chomsky bashing and I don't think he is using logical fallacy, smearing by association.

So... After all that, if this is going otturn into an idiot-fest telling me how wrong I am to be a Chomsky hater, I will ignore your asses. HA

I'm asking a legit quetions: I honestly don't understand the outrage with Berube. I know nothing about Black, don't care about him. But Berube I admire and respect a great deal.


>Amazing, isn't it? Berube's not a bad sort otherwise, and I don't
>know why he has to do this. But it seems like denouncing Chomsky is a
>way to be taken "seriously" by the mainstream - even when he cites
>impeccable sources (as on Yugo), and the denouncers can do nothing
>but say "Lies!" Or if not taken seriously, at least to differentiate
>yourself from the allegedly loony left, despite the fact that the
>relentlessly logical and informed Chomsky is about as un-loony as you
>can get.
>
>Doug

Bitch | Lab http://blog.pulpculture.org



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