Noam Chomsky: Giving Up Hegemony for Lent

[AustralianLeprechaun]

Go Chomsky!!

[Cabronosidad]

What a wonderful human being Chomsky is - pure intellect & completely unencumbered by anything resembling an ego.

[VVillyVVanker]

what about the Gramsci perspective of Hegemony being the domination of the subordinate classes by the subject class through alliance and gain of popular consent?

[CaptainBluebear08]

"Socialism or barbarism". (Rosa Luxemburg)

[ImEuanAndIGotsSkeelz]

i agree we in the western world live in a hegemony, but not a capitalist one, its corporatism plain and simple, capitalism means corporations are not subsidised, the economy is a free market and thus the large corporations cant get away with what they get away with because if they mess up they come tumbling down and the next guy doesnt make the same mistakes. negative freedoms are a right and our means to gain positive freedom, a right to positive freedom violates our negative freedom.

[mogem]

@ImEuanAndIGotsSkeelz What the fuck? “Negative Freedoms”, Positive Freedoms...what are you going on about? Either you ARE free, or you ARE NOT free. Is English your first language? I've read your paragraph three times and got a headache each time.

[ImEuanAndIGotsSkeelz]

@mogem define free, and if you dont know what im on about google the terms its easy enough, if you cba positive freedoms = free lunch, negative freedoms = free to buy lunch yourself

[Schniddo]

@ImEuanAndIGotsSkeelz Except negative freedom is a completely abstracted concept when in reality our opportunities are not equal; it's called class.

[ImEuanAndIGotsSkeelz]

@Schniddo and with positive freedoms class would somehow dissapear? no, you'd simply have the political classes rewarding themselves massive "positive freedoms" at our expense, dont agree? then your a greedy capitalist pigdog...

[Schniddo]

@ImEuanAndIGotsSkeelz Go ahead and argue against all the straw men you want - I won't try and stop you. Forgive me for disagreeing with your narrow conception of democracy. I think you'll find you are the one who is intolerant to views that differ from your own. Does that make me a "pinko bastard"?

[ImEuanAndIGotsSkeelz]

@Schniddo so basically you've made a hazy reference to a straw man argument without saying what you mean by it, you've told me you disagree with my narrow conception without telling me what is narrow about it, and now because i have voiced my disagreement to your position, i am labelled intolerant as if i would like to have you silenced, and to top it off you try and make me out as a stereotypical militaristic redneck with "pinko bastard" now lets hear why you think my last comment is wrong

[Schniddo]

@ImEuanAndIGotsSkeelz You started with your capitalist pig-dog comment. The first comment I made was really very simple, I am sorry if you found it vague. I never said that 'with positive freedoms class would disappear' - that is the straw man I was referring to....(cont)

[Schniddo]

@ImEuanAndIGotsSkeelz (cont) I imagine your conception of democracy to be narrow because you inferred that my position must be one of concentrating power in the hands of a political class, which is not my position at all. My basic disagreement with you was over you unconditionally championing negative freedoms above positive ones, I obviously have my own opinions but one doesn't have to agree fully with my position in its entirety to agree with that basic premise.

[Schniddo]

@ImEuanAndIGotsSkeelz If you would like to start again and have a more grown up discussion then we can do that and suspend our prejudices about the other (which we have both been guilty of) so consider this an olive branch. If that is the case then by all means let's move it to a different forum (i.e. pms or something). Regardless, New Year's greetings to you. Let's hope that this is a better year for all of us

[marcusmalone]

All he needs is a 'The end is nigh!' placard...

[BLEOS33]

You are right and I agree with you that the direction of the United States policy of dominion militarily could cause an end to peace in the future. But if we where to depolarize and integrate more races and beliefs into our political standard then the United States would cease to be as Hegemonic as its present. I've come to believe life always tends to be hegemonic even down to our cells and I believe the only way to cease being striated is to cease existing.

[Schniddo]

@BLEOS33 I think you've misunderstood the terminology slightly. The point is to challenge dominant attitudes and idea therefore one does not speak of abolishing hegemony but of establishing a different hegemony.

[Schniddo]

@BLEOS33 The best authority on that is Antonio Gramsci who is credited with popularizing the term. If you want a clear analysis of the practical and revolutionary Marxist tradition that is to be found in Gramsci (he wrote much of his work from prison when Mussolini took power so unfortunately a fair deal of it is coded) read Peter Thomas. There's a ODF available online called The Gramscian Moment: Philosophy Hegemony and Marxism.

[seditionape]

Fuckin pseudo intellectual way past his prime

[krissu01]

seditionape, what qualifies this thinker as a pseudo-intellectual in your mind? Does he not meet international standards of citation? Does he not engage peers in intellectual debates over controversies? Does he not draw upon credible sources of knowledge and data, regardless of the intellectual position he takes? Is he not long standing tenure academic at MIT?

Please qualify your statement in an intellectual manner or you risk becoming exactly what you condemn.

[seditionape]

krissu01... I dont risk becoming what i condemn, I already am. Im dumb as wood, and it takes one to know one. Hence my assessment of this proposed intellectual. I find him intelligent, but not intellectual.

[bewaver]

My guess is that you are wasting your time, try to argue with somebody that fails to see what is blatantly evident, it's in the dictionary, at intellectual you've got prof. Chomsky. It's not even worth answering this kind of comment.

[derekded]

While I feel that Noam Chomsky is a very well educated and intelligent man, I think that he is wrong to believe that American hegemony over the planet is wrong. I think that it is inevitable for one country to eventually end up ruling the world, whether directly or indirectly, and that the US is the best option among the possible countries.

[willesnille]

The idea that women and non-white people should be allowed was once thought impossible. As was the idea that he should be able to say these things and not go to prison. That one nation should rule the world by ruthless force and suppression of democracy worldwide is not a law of nature. A lot of things have changed for the better, so can this. It's not "inevitable". As for the US being the best option; It's true if you live in a country with a mainly white population. (see next comment)

[willesnille]

For the people of the Middle East, and above all the people of South America US foreign policy have devastated them. It's certainly not true for them.

[Kegofbeer]

what is this from? he said something about never doing this before. is it a podcast or something?

[REGWHY]

this guy is the man i TELL YOU ,

QUE VIVA LA REVOLUTION OF REAL THINKERS

[Nederlandac]

Viva la revolucion social negra.

[Chick6517]

haha!! I loved it! It was awesome! Wait is there a bigger word for awesome? How about the video was incredible!!! :)

[italstal07]

folks--this country is broke, who do you think is funding the trillion plus per year military industrial zionist complex..

[faltudaid]

Organize......

[Marly61]

Love you Noam!

Sorry, if the survival of a decent world is dependant about a policy change by US elites to stop militarization of everything and provide decent lives for EVERYONE then I am doubtful our grandchildren will avoid that destruction based on continuity unless US citizens finally wake up and change the how structures and systems of power function. Meaning, implement democracy based on popular ideas, change economic power to allow for less inequality,etc..Venezuela is doing it well

[KentAllard]

US military expenditure is the equel to, or greater than, the rest of the worlds total military spending.

[alwayswilling1232000]

I try to educate so many people on your point, but no one believes me.