Chomsky video on Charlie Hedbo and "defense of free speech"

[Velasco]

I don't want to be sage, but it does seem slightly hypocritical that Spanish satire rag El Jueves was sued by the government and put under intense pressure for printing caricatures of the royal family:



and yet the international press largely ignores a clear "violation of free speech"

Actually, that cover on the abdication of Juan Carlos was never printed. The publisher got frightened for some reason and it was replaced by that lame Pablo Iglesias cartoon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Jueves

You must be logged in to read this quote.

"Orgullo y Satisfacción" was a popular tagline in Juan Carlos' speeches... "It fills me with pride and satisfaction..."

This is silly.  Chomsky is an idiot who hates Israel and hates America.  He'll say anything in service of that so who cares? 

Chomsky is one of the most brilliant linguists alive, if I'm not wrong. The fact that you disagree with him on political grounds should not entitle you for such disrespect.

[Velasco]

Well, I'd say that hackery is not uncommon in whatever ideological corner, when the subject of discussion is Israel and the role of the USA in the world. If you don't like his opinions on those issues and find them not worthy of being taking into account, there's little to say. I'd say that it's 'respectable'. "Idiot", "Traitor" (another posted that), "Hates America", "Hates Israel" are derogatory enough to speak by themselves.

[Velasco]

I did address his point as well.  I think what Chomsky said is factually wrong and his point is invalid which I explained.

I didn't just insult him.  And, if he wasn't the patron saint of the far-left, it would be unnecessary.  But, a certain segment of the population takes his word as a kind of gospel.  That's part of the needed context with Chomsky.  Really, we shouldn't treat any academic as if they're a general authority .  Some people worship university professors, as if they have special knowledge and reasoning ability.  We ought to treat these kind of comments like they were coming from anyone else and ask critical questions.

You are right in saying that we shouldn't treat a brilliant academic as a general authority. I couldn't agree more, although your claim that Chomsky is an "idiot" is blatantly baseless. That's not even the point. Regardless if he's right or wrong on this particular issue (in any case, it's not an invitation for violence nor anything remotely comparable), I wonder why some people needs to resort to, let's say strong words, when the notorious "patron saint of the far-left" exercises his right to dissent on a wide range of issues. It's symptomatic, to say the least. Especially when many voices are raising these days in favour of the right for irreverence, in the trail of those barbaric killings. I haven't read political writings by Chomsky in a long time, by the way. 

[Velasco]

I wonder why some people needs to resort to, let's say strong words, when the notorious "patron saint of the far-left" exercises his right to dissent on a wide range of issues.

Does Chomsky still think that supporting the Khmer Rouge was the right thing to do?

Did he really wrote something in that way? If yes, that deserves a strong reply. As everybody knows, he has written tons of articles and I don't have a clue on his current thoughts on the subject.