Noam Chomsky

In my local bar where I am often found keeping a seat warm, often discussing everything from sports to beer to politics, I feel at home. I love the pub, the PUBLIC HOUSE - such a great idea; it's communal. It is the birthplace of discourse. That might not be true, but it should be and it sounds true enough to say it. Hell, truth is overrated.

So today, I was the dissenter in the political debate. This is typically the case. I am left of democrats in many ways, in most ways, but also a big fan of concepts that are considered libertarian, such as personal freedom. Now to be clear, I am not a fan of the American Libertarian movement. Mostly because they are boring, but also because I find them wrong and short-sighted.

Today like most days in these discussions I was reminded what I love so much about Noam Chomsky. He has always been principled. He doesn't care who's in office; he cares what's being done. Now this doesn't put him in some isolated class of people. But he has always been the guy I've gone to to understand global politics. While I prefer the beauty of the statements made by Continental philosophers like Derrida and Agamben, Chomsky is always clear. He's always concerned about human suffering. I don't know how to think about politics in any other way.

Recently I was watching one of my favorite shows: Curb Your Enthusiasm. And they totally misconstrued the Isreal/Palestinian problem. Sure it's a comedy show - Larry and his agent Jeff were eating at a Palestinian restaurant and since they were both Jews this provided moments for beautiful comedy. And it was hilarious. But the joke was that all Palestinians just irrationally hate the Jews because of who knows why. And that's bothersome. Now I'm not offended in the sense that i think they shouldn't be able to make jokes.

But it reminded me again of the beauty of Chomsky. Every time I watched them misrepresent the situation of the oppressed I realized that I wasn't upset because I was an ideologue - I was upset because I have basic, very simply principles about human suffering. I don't need to quote Heidegger or Nietzsche here.

And just to prove a simple point: I've emailed Noam Chomsky on more than one occasion and I've always received a reply in less than a day, even when I was totally wasting his time. I've emailed third rate professors from Buffalo and never gotten a reply.

So I will end by simply suggesting people watch the documentaries Manufacturing Consent and The Corporation, both made by the same people, and both have been documentaries that I have taught.