That Jacobin article on #NoamChomsky was hot garbage.
The comparisons to #Marx are especially bizarre given that #Chomsky is probably one of the more prominent anti-communist liberals out there. He’s spent his career paying the most basic lip service to Marx and then ruthlessly criticizing socialist countries with no regard for larger historical context. He actually peddles the idea that Leninism is a right-wing perversion of Marx and referred to #Marxism as an “irrational cult.”
Noam Chomsky has not died (or passed on, choose your verb). I am his department head, and I texted with his wife an hour ago. The rumors and fuss in the media and social media are not helping him or his family, they're adding stress. Before you post something, please consider that he and his wife are human beings, and post with thoughtfulness. #NoamChomsky#Chomsky#AcademicChatter
🔴 There are emerging reports that #NoamChomsky is NOT dead, as reported by numerous outlets across the world, including the Spectator, and that the Spectator article may have been a pre-written piece by Varoufakis that was released without proper verification.
He was/is currently in a Brazilian hospital undergoing treatment for a stroke he suffered last year (he has property there with his Brazilian wife: married 2014).
Personally, I sincerely hope this news of his demise is inaccurate.
Reports of the death of Noam Chomsky appear to be untrue. The New Statesman and Jacobin published obituaries for the 95-year-old linguist, philosopher, activist and intellectual, who is known to have had a stroke last year, however Cauê Seigner Ameni, editor of Jacobin Brasil tweeted that he has spoken to Chomsky's wife, Valerie, and he is alive. The New Statesman has now taken down its obituary, while Jacobin has given its tribute a new headline: "Let’s Celebrate Noam Chomsky, the Intellectual and Moral Giant."
I may not have agreed with every one of his positions in later life but Noam Chomsky was one of the defining people in opening my eyes to the world as it is versus how I’d taken it to be at face value (as someone who didn’t have to question it while growing up in a relatively privileged environment).
Rest in peace, Noam. The world has lost a great mind and an even greater conscience today.
Today in Labor History April 1, 1920: T-Bone Slim's “The Popular Wobbly” was published in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) "One Big Union Monthly." T-Bone Slim (Matti Valentin Huhta) was a Finnish-American poet, songwriter, journalist, hobo and IWW labor activist. He was a regular columnist for the Industrial Worker, Industrial Solidarity, and Industrialisti. Some of his most well-known labor songs include: The Popular Wobbly, Mysteries Of A Hobo's Life, and The Lumberjack's Prayer. His songs were sung during the Civil Rights protests of the 1960s and Noam Chomsky was a big fan. https://youtu.be/Rn_Wfydg61c
Today in Labor History March 8, 1971: The Citizens Committee to Investigate the FBI stole 1,000 documents from the FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania. They later released the documents to newspapers, revealing the FBI’s COINTELPRO program, which harassed, imprisoned & murdered US political dissidents. According to Noam Chomsky, 40% of the documents were dedicated to political surveillance. James Ellroy wrote about the burglary in his 2009 novel, “Blood’s a Rover.”
Imperial Ambitions: Conversations on the Post-9/11 World with Noam Chomsky by David Barsamian
Timely, urgent, and powerfully elucidating, this important volume of previously unpublished interviews conducted by award-winning radio journalist David Barsamian features Noam Chomsky discussing America's policies in an increasingly unstable world.
"Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman provides an effective framework to analyse the functioning of the media... Manufacturing Consent explains in detail the ‘propaganda model’. Despite being written in the ’90s, the five filters of the model that affect editorial bias still function even today, in the 21st century."