Current Events > Noam Chomsky replied to my email.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I can now die a happy man.

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Be sure to not post what he said!

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FDR? lol You're not even trying

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The world's most famous linguist doesn't punctuate the end of his sentences in emails. how about that.

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Uh huh

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I expected eloquence. I did not get anything close to that.

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berlyman101 posted...

The world's most famous linguist doesn't punctuate the end of his sentences in emails. how about that.

That has nothing to do with linguistics.

Smackems posted...

Uh huh

Hes well known for responding to emails

EyeWontBeFooled posted...

I expected eloquence. I did not get anything close to that.

I mean hes known for responding and probably gets many

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indica posted...

FDR? lol You're not even trying

Its literally his opinion. You can email him yourself if you dont believe me.

Shezarr posted...

Hes well known for responding to emails

This.

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au_gold posted...

Its literally his opinion. You can email him yourself if you dont believe me.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2012/12/21/chomsky-on-civil-liberties-obama-and-the-future-of-progressive-politics/

Well, damn, I take my comments back. Maybe I will email him...I'm kind of interested in why he'd pick FDR, I mean he mentions his social reform policies but what about the concentration camps, the atomic bomb and his positive views of fascism and Hitler...

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Chomsky replies to pretty much everyone. Someone should send him Sonic fanfic and see how he reacts.
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I'm tempted to email him on why leftists are so obsessed with Pinochet when there are so many other despots of the 20th century (including his next door neighbors) who were far worse.

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ugh, he uses Indian for american native tribes

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catboy posted...

ugh, he uses Indian for american native tribes

That is concerning...

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I grew up on a Reservation and Indian is a commonly used term among Natives. If you aren't Native it's really not your place to decide which terms should or shouldn't be used.

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ssjevot posted...

I grew up a Reservation and Indian is a commonly used term among Natives. If you aren't Native it's really not your place to decide which terms should or shouldn't be used.

good point

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ssjevot posted...

I grew up on a Reservation and Indian is a commonly used term among Natives. If you aren't Native it's really not your place to decide which terms should or shouldn't be used.

alright, but I'm still gonna use Native American to avoid confusion

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ssjevot posted...

I grew up on a Reservation and Indian is a commonly used term among Natives. If you aren't Native it's really not your place to decide which terms should or shouldn't be used.

I'm a real Indian, not a fake Native American.
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catboy posted...

alright, but I'm still gonna use Native American to avoid confusion

I'll just add that I've often been confused for Native American and have a few Native American friends, and while the term "indian" is commonly thrown around it still has a derogatory aspect from people using it who are not Native American themselves. Also, never, ever use the term Eskimo as that is a total racial slur

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Puglia77 posted...

I'm a real Indian, not a fake Native American.

And that's also why it gets confusing...if you're Indian American

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catboy posted...

alright, but I'm still gonna use Native American to avoid confusion

Very few people would be upset by that. I don't live in the US anymore but all my friends growing up were Native for obvious reasons, and I still remain good friends with many. Some definitely prefer Indian or American Indian more specifically, but I can't think of anyone who would be upset by Native American. You have signs welcoming you to the Indian Reservation, so it's kind of hard to ignore, plus organizations like AIM. Growing up in the middle of nowhere with little exposure to people who weren't Native I wasn't able to appreciate the extent of racism in the US until college, which is often viewed as a bastion of tolerance, but that's when I first met people who outright hated you for your race.

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I guess I shouldn't judge people for saying indian, though. Thanks for giving me perspective.

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catboy posted...

I guess I shouldn't judge people for saying indian, though. Thanks for giving me perspective.

I think it's probably best not to judge anyone, only try to help people do less harm to themselves and others

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I only know of him from the NOFX song Franco Unamerican:

https://youtu.be/ZSb3nG4oTNQ

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This is actually a badass topic @au_gold and now I feel like you're one of the real ones.

@ssjevot I have also tagged you as a real one.

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Based

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Chomsky is one of the greats. I suggest you guys email him too, since we dont know how much longer well be blessed with his presence.

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I wonder what I should ask him. Maybe something that allows short answers would be more likely to get a response.

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People complaining about minor punctuation errors don't know the meaning of the phrase

descriptive grammar


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catboy posted...

ugh, he uses Indian for american native tribes

He's like 900 years old

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I got an email the other day. From someone named Undergraduate Student. He asked me whether US imperialism would ever cease, so I directed him to page 36 of the New York Times' 1989 May 12th issue.

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Ive written him a few times and he always replies. Great guy. He was on a podcast with Lawrence Krauss recently where he pointed out how stupid (and morally wrong) it is to cancel people. Its rare to find someone who still believes in free speech anymore. Love Noam Chomsky forever. I see him as the spiritual successor to Bertrand Russell. Hes getting old. Ill probably cry and call off work when he does. Legitimately a hero to me.

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Well I just emailed him my question I'll let CE know if I get a reply back.

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I got my reply here's a copypasta of my original email and Dr. Chomsky's reply.

Greetings Dr. Chomsky,

Over the past decade or so I've been perplexed at how leftists on internet message boards heavily focus on the crimes committed by Augusto Pinochet when compared to many other dictators and tyrants of the era including some of his neighbors Pinochet was a relative lightweight. For example Jorge Videla of Argentina had a far bloodier and briefer reign in Argentina yet he is rarely mentioned in the same capacity as Pinochet. Another example would be the genocidal actions of Alfredo Strossner during his time as President of Paraguay.

Even taking into account the role the CIA had in helping Pinochet overthrow the democratically elected government I find heavily emphasizing Pinochet to be quite strange. Compared to US meddling in Chile the coups the CIA did in the 1950s in Guatemala and Iran have had far more severe if not catastrophic consequences.

I'm not asking you to try and downplay the atrocities that Pinochet's government inflicted on the Chilean people, I'm just perplexed by the spotlight that he has considering how there are so many despots of our times that were so much worse. The only explanation I can come up with is that Pinochet came to power on September 11 1973. Had the coup happened a week later I don't think Pinochet would have as much notoriety among the left (at least not with millenials) that he does now.

I hope to hear from you on this topic.

Sincerely,
ForsakenHermit*

Ive often called the Pinochet coup the first 9/11, but Ive found that no one knows what Im talking about. The reasons I think were different. The Guatemala coup was in the 50s, when there was very little political activism. The lies about defense against Communism were readily accepted. It received little attention. The US was only peripherally involved in Paraguay and Argentina. The Chile coup was a major state-corporate enterprise overthrowing an international-known and respected social democratic figure at a time when 60s activism had civilized a large part of the population and the broad significance was far greater. Pinochet was the idol of the libertarians who took it to be the model for the neoliberal programs that swept over the world a few years later always suppressing the fact that their policies quickly crashed the economy. Quite different from the other cases.

*Real name left out for obvious reasons

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