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Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link The Wholesome Photo of the Month Thu May 09, 2024 11:01 | Anti-Empire

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offsite link UK Sending Missiles to Be Fired Into Rus... Tue May 07, 2024 14:17 | Marko Marjanović

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Anti-Empire >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.

offsite link Julian Assange is finally free ! Tue Jun 25, 2024 21:11 | indy

offsite link Stand With Palestine: Workplace Day of Action on Naksa Day Thu May 30, 2024 21:55 | indy

offsite link It is Chemtrails Month and Time to Visit this Topic Thu May 30, 2024 00:01 | indy

offsite link Hamburg 14.05. "Rote" Flora Reoccupied By Internationalists Wed May 15, 2024 15:49 | Internationalist left

offsite link Eddie Hobbs Breaks the Silence Exposing the Hidden Agenda Behind the WHO Treaty Sat May 11, 2024 22:41 | indy

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Porsche Scraps Electric Car Targets as Demand Slumps Tue Jul 23, 2024 19:43 | Will Jones
Porsche has scrapped its sales targets for EVs amid a slump in demand. A previous goal of 80% by 2030 has been watered down and the company now says sales will depend on uptake and how the technology develops.
The post Porsche Scraps Electric Car Targets as Demand Slumps appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link ?Mission-Driven? Government is the Antithesis of Liberty Tue Jul 23, 2024 17:30 | Dr David McGrogan
Labour is "mission-driven", says Keir Starmer. But the last thing anyone should want is a Government with a mission, says David McGrogan. That's because a Government with a mission needs conscripts. That's you and me.
The post “Mission-Driven” Government is the Antithesis of Liberty appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Victory! Hospitals That Brought Back Mask Mandates Backtrack After Complaints Tue Jul 23, 2024 15:30 | Dr Gary Sidley
A victory in the mask wars! Two hospital providers that brought back mask mandates have backtracked and scrapped them following complaints from Daily Sceptic readers and Smile Free supporters.
The post Victory! Hospitals That Brought Back Mask Mandates Backtrack After Complaints appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Read it and Weep: The BBC Journalists Taking Home Six Figure Salaries Courtesy of the Licence Fee Pa... Tue Jul 23, 2024 13:45 | Will Jones
Read it and weep: the list of the BBC journalists taking home six figure salaries courtesy of the licence fee payer. Disgraced presenter Huw Edwards came top with £475k despite being off air for nine months of the year.
The post Read it and Weep: The BBC Journalists Taking Home Six Figure Salaries Courtesy of the Licence Fee Payer appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link David Lammy: The Foreign Secretary Who Called Trump ?a Racist KKK and Nazi Sympathiser? and Refuses ... Tue Jul 23, 2024 12:43 | Peter Harris
Britain's new Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, is on record calling Donald Trump "a racist KKK and Nazi sympathiser" and has refused to apologise. This is clearly going to be a problem, says Peter Harris.
The post David Lammy: The Foreign Secretary Who Called Trump “a Racist KKK and Nazi Sympathiser” and Refuses to Apologise appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Netanyahu soon to appear before the US Congress? It will be decisive for the suc... Thu Jul 04, 2024 04:44 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N°93 Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:49 | en

offsite link Will Israel succeed in attacking Lebanon and pushing the United States to nuke I... Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:40 | en

offsite link Will Netanyahu launch tactical nuclear bombs (sic) against Hezbollah, with US su... Thu Jun 27, 2024 12:09 | en

offsite link Will Israel provoke a cataclysm?, by Thierry Meyssan Tue Jun 25, 2024 06:59 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Noam Chomsky on Language Reassessed

category international | education | other press author Sunday February 07, 2010 19:08author by John Cornford Report this post to the editors

Chris Knight examines Noam Chomsky’s ‘scientific’ fairy tales about language and its origins

Prof Chris Knight of the Radical Anthropology Group really sticks the boot into Chomsky. He weighs Chomskys credentials in the balance and finds then wanting. Full text at link.

Chomsky was about to deliver a lecture in Delhi. Setting aside the usual niceties, his host - a certain professor Agnihotri of Delhi University - introduced the visiting speaker with a challenge. He was bewildered that a person “so deeply touched by human suffering” could ignore the roots of both happiness and suffering in his scientific work. Noam Chomsky, continued the professor, insisted on viewing language as a “purely biological cognitive system” unconnected with “sociological power-games”. But isn’t language a key tool used by the powerful to deceive, exploit and oppress? How can Chomsky turn a blind eye to such things in his linguistic research?[8]

Many in that Delhi audience still seemed puzzled. Why was Chomsky so ambivalent? Was he, perhaps, holding something back? His two temptations seemed to pull him in opposite directions. He would invoke Rousseau, Marx and other great revolutionary thinkers as sources of political inspiration. Yet would any of these figures have shared his difficulties in connecting politics with science? Rousseau’s 1762 treatise, The social contract, was both scholarly and incendiary. Marx intended his Capital to change the world. Is science itself not revolutionary? Why should the pursuit of truth - scientific truth about language, for example - require different methods or pull in a different direction from the pursuit of social equality and justice?

Related Link: http://www.cpgb.org.uk/article.php?article_id=1002551
author by GrammertonClericpublication date Mon Feb 08, 2010 07:02author address author phone Report this post to the editors

The powers that be use Fallacies, cheap rhetoric and emotive language to persuade. These aspects of particular USES of language are well known. Noam chomsky studied the theory of language itself at a more fundamental level. They are not quite the same thing.

This is just an excuse to have a cheap go at a distinguished but elderly man who in his time has contributed a great amount to science and to furthering our awareness of the misuse of political power. He was and still is a man of principle.

He deserves much better than this. Kudos Noam!

author by pat cpublication date Mon Feb 08, 2010 12:42author address author phone Report this post to the editors

I have not formed an opinion on this article but I admire Chomsky for his political activities. Just as I admire Chris Knight who is also a great class struggle activist. Chris lost his job due to his activities during the G20 Summit in London last year.

More info about Chris at: http://www.chrisknight.co.uk/

Chris in Tophat
Chris in Tophat

Related Link: http://www.chrisknight.co.uk/
author by Mark C - Nonepublication date Mon Feb 08, 2010 13:44author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Let's also not forget Chomsky's great essay/talk on 'Language and Freedom' available in Chomsky on Anarchism or at the link below.

A PDF of the talk (with an introduction to it) is available here:
http://www.chomsky.info/books/state02.pdf

A audio of a related talk is available here:
http://www.almanews.unibo.it/04_05/chomeibl/video/chmsk...1.ram

Related Link: http://www.chomsky.info/index.htm
author by Celia Spublication date Mon Feb 08, 2010 19:03author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Great article. Chomsky is an enigma all right. Is his LAD theory not a case of 'biology making the argument for anarchism' i.e., without the imposition of society/the state/institutions etc., the human being would flourish - language is not learned, it is innate and we are all born with the full 'code' for perfect, and 'natural', language production - it is 'society' that imposes upon/restricts overall 'free' human development, and explains 'Orwell's Problem'. An asocial explanation too far methinks.

I am surprised that the article makes no reference to Engels' "The Part played by Labour in the Transition from Ape to Man" by way of explaining the role of social relations in the development/evolution of humankind and (by necessary extension), language.

Related Link: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1876/part-played-labour/index.htm
author by pat cpublication date Mon Feb 08, 2010 19:29author address author phone Report this post to the editors

In other writings by Chris Knight he certainly references Engels on Ape to Man. You can find more articles here: http://www.radicalanthropologygroup.org/new/RAG_Home.html

Many of Chris Knights articles and books are available online at:
http://www.chrisknight.co.uk/publications/

author by Pissing contestpublication date Tue Feb 09, 2010 12:50author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Is how humble he is and how he doesn't always try to engage in these pissing contests to show how great he is. He's always willing to entertain criticism. Thats special for an academic of his standing. Sorry to see that it's not such a common trait. Not even on indy comments sections.

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