Chomsky Q&A at Roxbury Community College (1/6)

Noam Chomsky answering questions at Roxbury Community College

Sponsored by Bikes Not Bombs
http://bikesnotbombs.org

Recorded Jan. 31, 2008
Recorded and edited by Charngchi Way aka Chomskyan

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Noam
• Chomsky
• Bikes
• Not
• Bombs
• Iraq
• war

[BryanB02]

anyone catch that guys' moose-knuckles in the beginning of the video?

[Chomskyan]

wow yes, that was unpleasant....

[theMAXILOPEZpsycho]

I wish he could talk about a slightly wider range of topics. He has such encyclopedic knowledge of science, language, history, philosophy, social science, international relations, the media etc etc...yet, having read about 10 of his books, watched plenty of his interviews, I can predict how he'll respond to every question, what he wants to say, even the nuances in his voice!...surely he'd be more valuable to us all if he vaired it up a bit!

[Chomskyan]

First of all, he does talk about a variety of topics, more than most intellectuals out there. But in a Q and A or an interview, the audience or questioners has a lot of say on what direction to take the discussion.

Many of his books are transcripts of talks and interviews, so again he doesn't get to select the topic all the time.

If you want fresh new material, you can try emailing him with a question you want answered. Or try some of his scientific talks.

[Chomskyan]

One antidote: I was talking to Norman Finkelstein (scholar on the Israel-Palestinian Conflict) this past summer, and I asked him why he doesn't talk about a wider range of topics, because I think he would be great at it. He said "Well, I don't have Chomsky's range. I find that for me to be effective I need to understand all the details and nuance of a specific topic."

[timcoles]

The sound is fine. Thanks for posting it. I love the bizarre, ominous trombone music that introduces it.

[Chomskyan]

they were a band thrown together with local activists, they opened for Noam that night, played about 5 songs. The atmosphere of the talk was great, so much energy compared to a talk in Cambridge or something.

[t0kt0k]

Sound's not great, but it's a lot better than nothing! Thanks for sharing this.

[arijitrule]

See we now live in a world it is not important that he makes us more informed, while liars like Dershowitz are important.

[theH0UNDSofD00M]

Right, neither is he Mr Shomsky but Chomsky.

[guruartist]

I am sure you are completely in agreement with Socrates "Apology" (so am I), but I am afraid, Mr Shomsky is No Socrates...

[joekool4422]

As Socrates stated in his 'apology', he could have indeed pursued a trade and been successful in it. Or have pursued a seat in the senate. But that would have taken far too much of his time of which he needed to ponder and teach the most valuable lessons of life.

[mlee0326]

He shares his intellectual knowledge and educates young students.

Does this not apply to your sense of the word "tangible"?

[guruartist]

Mr Chomsky, have you done anything really tangible to change the world apart for your righteous rethoric??? Anyone can go around spreading books with utopic contents such as your ideas (which I accept, as I am also an utopist), but is there any real action from your part to make those ideas take at least a semi realistic form? Philosophers "may" also use their wealth to help those in need!

[Marly61]

Chomskyan, No doubt Noam's material covered is very varied within topics and among topics. For example, the books: "Understanding Power" (covering a couple hundred topics) and "The Essential Chomsky" (25 or so). I am confused because "theMAIL" listed Noam's "encyclopedic knowledge of science, language, history, philosophy, social science, international relations, the media etc etc...yet" then said "he'd be more valuable if he varied it up"? Isn't that a contradiction?

[KentAllard]

theres some reverb, but I can hear it all fine

[theunholysoul]

Mate it is not that bad. Thank you for sharing this vid.

[futsal1958]

It helps to wear headphones. At least that worked well for me.

[Chomskyan]

Sorry about the sound, I don't have the equipment to do good sound in that setting. In the fall I will acquire better audio stuff.

[spartan2600]

terrible reverb, nearly inaudible.