Industrial Worker (IWW Newspaper) interviews Noam Chomsky (4/4)

The editor of the Industrial Worker, Diane Krauthamer, spoke to Noam Chomsky at his MIT office in Cambridge, MA, on October 9th, 2009.

The Industrial Worker is the official newspaper of the IWW (the Industrial Workers of the World), a radical union.

For more info, please visit:
The IWW official website
http://www.iww.org

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Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Noam
• Chomsky
• IWW
• wobblies
• labor
• union
• workers
• social
• movements

[erby1kabogey9]

Noam needs to be interviewed at least once every week by different people from different backgrounds with different questions and all should be posted to try to help bring the rest of us up to his speed so we can all share with the people around us in an educated clear thinking way!

[AndrewMann552]

Revolutionaries need to unite. The capitalists will not relent. Just look at Latin America, already Obama is surrounding Venezuela with bases in Colombia.

[s0673451]

@erby1kabogey9 he is. check out chomskydotinfo and the youtube user copym3 for more videos

[Skeptic87]

This is the video that made me completely reject the right wing, I had at the time been weary about the right wing, but this just finished any sympathy I had with them, bastards blaming harmless people. Now I'm more left than 99% of people probably.

[mobilechief]

A peace of advise is, that you who are young need not be discouraged and many older people and me myself support you. Keep your faith!

[walterm85]

of course you do. ;) I respect that you say your thoughts and opinions of have changed over the course of 3 years. most of the "long, qualifying questions" were not questions. If you think pointing this out is "nitpicky", ok. neither it nor your name are issues of life and death, if that's what you mean. *comments* that are less severe than that can be legitimate. your name/content dichotomy is tricky, as a name is content. I wouldn't have viewed the intervue were I not interested in "content".

[Chomskyan]

@walterm85 and you know, I think you are being a bit nitpicky, like questioning whether this set of videos can be called an interview because the questioners used long qualifying questions.... or the name of the channel, this and that....

To be honest, where I was politically when I set up the channel 3 years ago, and where I am now, it is not identical. So would I use this name now? I am not sure. But again, I feel it is sort of secondary, compared to the vast problems we are facing today.

[Chomskyan]

@walterm85 I think there are many ways to frame an issue, by establishing bounds and assumptions.... the name is a minor part of it. Could it contribute to negative affects? Probably, but I think you are getting stuck on the name and not focusing on the content. I am not trying to dismiss your concerns, but I think it's misplaced somewhat.

[walterm85]

if yours were the only such instance, I might not care as much. And don't think I dislike you or your work, please. One lesson we can both take away from Chomsky's work, or most any of the world's ethical systems, is that we are to hold ourselves to a standard before we do so with others. I critique, correctly or incorrectly, as an ally, not an enemy.

[walterm85]

that's fair, though I think most that see this interview will not go to the extent that you suggest. Do you mean you deal with this issue personally, or in your videos? I will take you up on your suggestion. Your last point may be correct, though I'd be interested to know what Prof. Chomsky might think; From his work on mass media and the propaganda model, we both know that the framing of issues is indeed important, and things like your username are, quite literally, a frame...

[Chomskyan]

@walterm85 I would suggest you look into the content, of the channel and of me, to the extent we interact, before you make any judgements. For the record I think cults of personalities are odious. It's a constant theme I deal with, as I expand my political understanding.

And to the extent that a channel named Chomskyan unwittingly contributes to a cult of personality (I think very marginal), I think exposing more people to the type of institutional analysis he provides more than compensates.

[walterm85]

I won't argue that first, except to say that your, or any, channel page gives the username, then says "(username)'s channel", so there is a distinction. however, I don't pretend to know your heart here. I can only go by what I see. as to my judgement, the 'simple name of a channel' is one of its primary marketing weapons on youtube. I don't know you don't think about this stuff, nor did I say so, however, you obviously haven't concluded as I have if you have thought of it. my pleasure. :)