Putting Chomsky in his Place
- tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE — February 22, 2022
I’m an anarchist. An anarchist is a person who’s against rule-by, in other words: against rule imposed on anyone by an external ‘authority’. I’m also working class, I worked for 47 years to support myself, fairly poor most of that time. Noam Chomsky, despite his reputation to the contrary, is not an anarchist. He believes in rule by an elite, an elite that includes himself. Chomsky has been an illuminating analyst, a person with a very clear mind, a person who can look at & analyze international political situations & see their oppressive sides & the lies that’re used to justify these oppressive sides. He’s also someone who’s fairly wealthy, someone who’s been told his whole life what a genius he is, someone who flies to wherever the political action is. People dote on him — but more of these people should realize that if they can’t even afford the public transportation where they live but Chomsky can afford to take a jet to talk with them that there’s an important class difference at work. Chomsky will never lead the life they do — so, no matter how intelligently he seems to address their struggles, he’ll never truly get it. NEVER.
I remember reading an anecdote from Chomsky, probably in a book entitled Understanding Power — The Indispensible Chomsky, in which he mentioned that he lives in an upper middle class neighborhood. The story goes on to say that a less financially well-off friend of his was driving to visit him when he was stopped by the police & interrogated: what was he doing in this neighborhood? Chomsky recognized that this was an injustice — but did he really get it?! I don’t think he’d ever be able to. Such things have happened to me many times, I get it.
Chomsky has come out against anti-vaccination people. That would include some of the blockading truckers. He’s suggested that the unvaccinated be put in isolated areas so that they don’t pose a danger to the rest of us. He further suggests that ‘we’ aren’t responsible for feeding them. This ‘we’ is, apparently, the royal we, Chomsky is speaking for the people because he fancies himself their representative.
The funny thing about this is that Chomsky does not represent the people who grow the food, after all he’s not a farmer, nor does he represent the people who transport the food, after all he’s not a trucker. So if anyone’s in a position to stop the food supply to anyone it’s the very people that Chomsky’s against. If the truckers are interfering with the government because they feel oppressed by that government, I suggest that it’s because they ARE oppressed by that government & that as pragmatic people who have to do pragmatic jobs that keep things going they’re doing something pragmatic to put an end to this oppression. Chomsky, on the other hand, a supposed anarchist, has come out in favor of government & against the worker. Fancy that. Maybe that’s because he’s an Ivory Tower Intellectual, a member of a privileged elite who’s never had to get up at 5AM day-in & day-out to do grueling physical labor.
Here’s one online version of what Chomsky has supposedly said:
““People who refuse to accept vaccines, I think the right response for them is not to force them to, but rather to insist that they be isolated. If people decide, ‘I am willing to be a danger to the community by refusing to vaccinate,’ they should say then, ‘Well, I also have the decency to isolate myself. I don’t want a vaccine, but I don’t have the right to run around harming people.’ That should be a convention,” said Chomsky.
““Enforcing is a different question. It should be understood, and we should try to get it to be understood. If it really reaches the point where they are severely endangering people, then of course you have to do something about it,” he added.
“Speaking on YouTube’s Primo Radical on Oct. 24, Chomsky said that for the unvaccinated people who are segregated from society, how they obtain groceries should be left up to them. “How can we get food to them?” asked Chomsky. “Well, that’s actually their problem.””
Note that he initially says “I think the right response for them is not to force them to, but rather to insist that they be isolated” but then goes on to say “If it really reaches the point where they are severely endangering people, then of course you have to do something about it”. So what, exactly, is this “something” that ‘has to be done’? It seems like use of authoritarian force to me.
It’s obvious that Chomsky believes in the dictates of the ruling elite that he belongs to. He believes in the Medical-Industrial Complex. People DON’T “decide, ‘I am willing to be a danger to the community by refusing to vaccinate,’” they decide that vaccination is a danger to themselves & reject it on that basis. Chomsky makes it seem as if people are deciding to be “a danger to the community” & that that’s their sole reason for choosing to not be vaccinated. I doubt that there’s a single person in the world who fits that description — & Chomsky’s propagandistic use of such false logic shows him for what he is — just another propagandist for ruling elites.
I’m sure that one skill Chomsky still has is the ability to read. I highly recommend to him that he read Eleanor McBean’s The Poisoned Needle — but not just in any edition — some of the editions suspiciously deface major aspects of the book. I suggest that he read an edition that includes the page numbers, the illustrations, the correct formatting, the index, the bibliography, etc. Then I suggest that he reconsider his received opinion that vaccination is safe & for the good of everyone. It isn’t. & lose the royal we while you’re at it, won’t you?! Asshole.
Of course, Chomsky is far from alone. If they’re preaching to you from on high, regardless of whether it’s Bill Maher or Amy Goodman, looking at their social position should be enough of a clue as to whether they can be trusted or not.
According to Wealthy Gorrilla:
“As of 2022, Bill Maher’s net worth is $140 million.
“Bill Maher is a famous American political talk show host, who has worked on numerous television networks as a commentator including FOX News and CNN.”
- https://wealthygorilla.com/bill-maher-net-worth/
As one staunch democrat friend of mine told me not-so-long-ago: “All’s fair in love & war” — but my retort to that is that there’s no love in war & if love isn’t fair what good is it?
I don’t mean to neglect the competing propagandists such as Tucker Carlson. Carlson’s despicable but I’m concerned here with ‘keeping house’, with pointing out the despicability of people who purport to speak for the likes of me. They don’t. I respect much of Chomsky’s analysis & I get the occasional laugh out of Maher — but I’d never be so foolish as to think that they’re working class or on the side of the working class. They aren’t, they’re propagandists working for the elite institutions that they’re part of.
It’s interesting to note that Tucker Carlson’s net worth is reputed to be considerably less than Maher’s:
“Tucker Carlson is an American political commentator, author and TV personality. Tucker Carlson’s net worth is $30 million. Tucker was a CNN commentator from 2000 to 2005. From 2005 to 2008 he hosted a show on MSNBC. He went to work at Fox News in 2009. He began hosting a nightly talk show called “Tucker Carlson Tonight” in 2016. Outside of television, Tucker is the co-founder of the website The Daily Caller. He is also a published author and columnist.” — https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-politicians/republicans/tucker-carlson-net-worth/
Of course, I got that info online, I have no way of knowing how accurate it is.