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Thread: I hate Chomsky

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    Default I hate Chomsky

    He is an idiot.
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    Which chompsky?

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    Quote Originally Posted by rmcnew
    Which chompsky?
    There's another Chomsky besides Noam?
    That faith makes blessed under certain circumstances, that blessedness does not make of a fixed idea a true idea, that faith moves no mountains but puts mountains where there are none: a quick walk through a madhouse enlightens one sufficiently about this. (A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.) - Friedrich Nietzsche

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    Quote Originally Posted by rmcnew
    Which chompsky?
    Good one
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    He seems to be one of those people who either you really like or you really hate.

    Why do you hate him?
    All Hail The Flying Spaghetti Monster

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    His ideas are disorganized, he has no theme, no purpose, besides putting others' down.

    His ideas are all ad hoc and mainly plagiarized (or "borrowed") from other thinkers throughout the ages.

    He critizes the US government as an end in itself, for any reason, at any time.

    He spreads malicious doubt aimed to destroy other peoples' lives.

    PS: Oy did you just get a new job? How is that working out?
    Well I am back. How's everyone? Don't have as much time now, but glad to see some of the old gang are still here.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dioklecian
    PS: Oy did you just get a new job? How is that working out?
    It's going great so far but it's only been the first week, thanks for asking

    What about his work with language evolution?

    Personally I like him, but I never read him in depth and I haven't read anything of his in years; are you having to read him for school?
    All Hail The Flying Spaghetti Monster

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    Quote Originally Posted by oyburger
    Quote Originally Posted by Dioklecian
    PS: Oy did you just get a new job? How is that working out?
    It's going great so far but it's only been the first week, thanks for asking
    Is it like the last one you had? Did you have trouble getting the job without a reference from the last one?

    What about his work with language evolution?

    Personally I like him, but I never read him in depth and I haven't read anything of his in years; are you having to read him for school
    My econ prof is sort of a miniChomsky so I have developed a profound distaste for the poison that they spread. I sincerely hope that they drop dead.

    They are sort of like miniTrotskys that go around telling people to f up their lives for ideological reasons. I hope that some roman emperor throws them to the lions after crucifying them.
    Well I am back. How's everyone? Don't have as much time now, but glad to see some of the old gang are still here.

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    according to the crazies he's a big part of the Zionist conspiracy. Which is funny since he's an anti-zionist.

    I'm no linguist but his work in natural language ability seems to be important.

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    I am just having a look at his language theories.

    They are poor, rehashing wellknown concepts from what I can judge.
    Well I am back. How's everyone? Don't have as much time now, but glad to see some of the old gang are still here.

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    We went over his language theory in one of my Social Science classes. Not really anything mind-blowing or complex about it.

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    Talking of Troskite enemies of humanity:

    When Chomsky was ten years old he wrote what is believed to be his first published work, an editorial about the fall of Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dioklecian
    I am just having a look at his language theories.

    They are poor, rehashing wellknown concepts from what I can judge.
    your just a hater

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bionicgoat
    Quote Originally Posted by Dioklecian
    I am just having a look at his language theories.

    They are poor, rehashing wellknown concepts from what I can judge.
    your just a hater
    No really, I profoundly hate their teachings, but I am truly interested in their theories. Chomsky is not a heavy weight.
    Well I am back. How's everyone? Don't have as much time now, but glad to see some of the old gang are still here.

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    This statement

    Universal grammar is a theory of linguistics postulating principles of grammar shared by all languages, thought to be innate to humans. It attempts to explain language acquisition in general, not describe specific languages. This theory does not claim that all human languages have the same grammar, or that all humans are "programmed" with a structure that underlies all surface expressions of human language. Rather, universal grammar proposes a set of rules that would explain how children acquire their language(s), or how they construct valid sentences of their language.
    is logically equivalent to this one:

    all humans can learn to speak a language
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dioklecian
    Quote Originally Posted by oyburger
    Quote Originally Posted by Dioklecian
    PS: Oy did you just get a new job? How is that working out?
    It's going great so far but it's only been the first week, thanks for asking
    Is it like the last one you had? Did you have trouble getting the job without a reference from the last one?
    It's graphics, but graphics for the government. When employers call about references from past employers they're only allowed to ask "were they ever late?" and "would you hire them back?". I was never late and obviously the last question wasn't needed as I got the job. A masseuse comes in on Fridays, it's really an interesting place.


    If I remember correctly, a lot of the language theories that Chompsky came up with that seem trite now were profound at the time, just like saying "gravity pulls things down" as understood by five year olds was once profound too. Also, if I remember right he is the heavy weight in language theory.
    All Hail The Flying Spaghetti Monster

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    Masseuse mmmmm tasty

    Chomsky is a big annoyance as far as I am concerned, his theories have no value whatsoever for me. The fatc that his theories were big in the states in the 50s' only tells me that at that time education there must have not been that good
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    bye
    IEI - the nasty kind...

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    Quote Originally Posted by mustachio
    perhaps i am being redundant but chomsky cannot be ignored so easily. the fact that his linguistic theory is so obvious does not make it dumb. in fact, it makes him seem even smarter. what we take for granted today, didn't seem so back then. other researchers simply built over it. it is one of several sparks to what is now a bonfire.

    let's see. Chomsky states that one must study the mechanism of a sentence. a sentence must have a coherent structure.

    example: a) colorless yellow ideas snooze furiously.
    not
    b) yellow furiously by ideas snooze colorless.

    a sentence cannot simply be a sequence of random ideas. there must be structure, like a tree. a coherent tree.

    .
    The obvious is just that, the obvious. Any 3 year old has to develope theories like those of Chomsky in order to learn to speak. Chomsky probably elaborated on those ideas but I don't see what their value is to me, what is possible today linguisitcally that was not possible 30 years ago?

    also, Chomsky champions the downtrodden in our society. he reminds us that the system is made to keep the lower classes down to the higher ones' benefit. i agree with him: american society is hypocritical and rotten in its fake wars of all kinds(covert conquest and enslavement of all mankind) and garbage bin idealism aimed at keeping its plebs docile and absurdly proud
    Champions of the downtroden are many. I prefer it when the downtroden themselves become such champions and not pampared babies like Chomsky.

    As to american foreign policy, no need to bother, it will soon be less rrelevant.
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    BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A senior U.S. diplomat said the United States had shown "arrogance" and "stupidity" in Iraq but was now ready to talk with any group except al Qaeda in Iraq to facilitate national reconciliation.

    In an interview with Al-Jazeera television aired late Saturday, Alberto Fernandez, director of public diplomacy in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the State Department offered an unusually candid assessment of America's war in Iraq.

    "We tried to do our best but I think there is much room for criticism because, undoubtedly, there was arrogance and there was stupidity from the United States in Iraq," he said.
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    From stupidity to stupidity:

    was now ready to talk with any group except al Qaeda in Iraq to facilitate national reconciliation.
    Well I am back. How's everyone? Don't have as much time now, but glad to see some of the old gang are still here.

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    I don't know if you have seen this:

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=g17SZv5KR...elated&search=
    Well I am back. How's everyone? Don't have as much time now, but glad to see some of the old gang are still here.

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    Well I am back. How's everyone? Don't have as much time now, but glad to see some of the old gang are still here.

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    wow isn't that kind of a multi-message spam or something

    anyway I agree, Noam Chomsky is a douchebag

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    bye
    IEI - the nasty kind...

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    This is Cohen himself singing the song above :

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=2oKeAt0yB2Q
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    There;s something I don't like about Chomsky either, something smells fishy.

    I haven't read all his work, only a couple of his books (and those not on linguistics). But one of the basic lines of his theories seems to approach and support the position that the human mind is not a tabula rasa when it first comes into contact with the world, only doing so from the point of view of linguistics. I understand this is a core position in his linguistic work? Though his handling of this issue from the point of view of language may be novel (not sure if it is), the general position it supports has certainly already been around for a long time, so nothing tremendously revelatory about his theories.

    Aside from this, from the beginning I kept having the impression that there is something disingenuous about him, especially after having watched some of his lectures and TV interviews. I can;t quite pin it down though. However, reading an exhange of emails between him and the owner of a website on philosophy (i think it was friesian.org?? not sure) my impression of another mr Chomsky, seemingly hiding behind a mask was only reinforced..
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    suspicious of Chomsky?!

    hmmm, this is interesting.

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    I like Chomsky's theory of language, especially his discovery of inborn language structures in the human brain. By proving that fact, Chomsky launched a good challenge to numerous "nurturists".

    On the other hand, his political views are naive, if not worse. For example, about 25 years ago he in numerous articles and interviews doubted Pol Pot's crimes in Cambodia and proclaimed his regime as "progressive" and "belied by imperialists".
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    I am suspicious of him for two main reasons:
    the first is related to his political views. I am not sure if the naivety that Dimitri described is just that, or if there is something more cinister there.
    The second is related to the way in which I have seen him argue with others who pose what (to me) seemed as perfectly legitimate questions: he simply refuses to enter the discussion and repeatedly dismisses others' views as more or less "stupid". To me, this creates an impression of intellectual arrogance and timidity and only helps titl the scales away from the "it's just ideological naivety" side, in so far as the first issue about his political positions is concerned.
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    To me, this creates an impression of intellectual arrogance and timidity and only helps titl the scales away from the "it's just ideological naivety" side, in so far as the first issue about his political positions is concerned.
    Seems that you are right. Just one remark: there are only few people like Chomsky in the US (or at least people like him are usually not public figures). By contrast, in France such kind of behavior is considered to be quite normal for intellectuals and is cultivated. It is quite normal for French intellectuals to blame the power in all cases and in all conditions. Imagine Arabs set to fire tens of buildings, what will a French intellectual say? "Look, those bastards in the government made life of these people so unbearable that they had to protest". Chomsky is in many ways similar to those French frothy speakers. Maybe in his behavior he just copies one of his French idols, whether it may be Daniel Cohn-Bendit, André Glucksmann, Jean Paul Sartre or any other loudmouth of that sort.
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    Yep, seems to me like you have a very good point there Dmitri.
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    i mostly dislike him because his work in linguistics is really tedious to plod through. i like everything related to generative grammar, though. (: government and binding theory was pretty fun (although i hate to admit this.)

    i used to hate his guts when i was in highschool, though.


    try stephen krashen if you're looking for a linguist to love. <3

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    Quote Originally Posted by Grek0
    There;s something I don't like about Chomsky either, something smells fishy.

    I haven't read all his work, only a couple of his books (and those not on linguistics). But one of the basic lines of his theories seems to approach and support the position that the human mind is not a tabula rasa when it first comes into contact with the world, only doing so from the point of view of linguistics. I understand this is a core position in his linguistic work? Though his handling of this issue from the point of view of language may be novel (not sure if it is), the general position it supports has certainly already been around for a long time, so nothing tremendously revelatory about his theories.

    Aside from this, from the beginning I kept having the impression that there is something disingenuous about him, especially after having watched some of his lectures and TV interviews. I can;t quite pin it down though. However, reading an exhange of emails between him and the owner of a website on philosophy (i think it was friesian.org?? not sure) my impression of another mr Chomsky, seemingly hiding behind a mask was only reinforced..
    If I may suggest, that is a brilliant analysis of Chomsky and many other pseudio academics. They play a role, a part, in lie and expect others to take them seriously. But they themselves don't take themselves seriously, inthe sense that they often don't really believe what they say. There are straw men in my opinion, they create a "persona" for themselves, much in the same way that Pamela Anderson creates a persona, with fake implants, with porn videos, etc etc, and then she markets that image, but its' not real in my opinion.
    Well I am back. How's everyone? Don't have as much time now, but glad to see some of the old gang are still here.

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    Noam Chomsky is like many LIIs his ideas are intriguing and well thought out, and they fall apart in the real world.











    The Barnum or Forer effect is the tendency for people to judge that general, universally valid statements about personality are actually specific descriptions of their own personalities. A "universally valid" statement is one that is true of everyone—or, more likely, nearly everyone. It is not known why people tend to make such misjudgments, but the effect has been experimentally reproduced.

    The psychologist Paul Meehl named this fallacy "the P.T. Barnum effect" because Barnum built his circus and dime museum on the principle of having something for everyone. It is also called "the Forer effect" after its discoverer, the psychologist Bertram R. Forer, who modestly dubbed it "the fallacy of personal validation".

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