Chomsky comments section
As noted
yesterday, Noam Chomsky has a blog.
Chomsky also has a large number of passionate followers and a large (larger?) number of equally passionate enemies. The comments section has gotten very much out of hand.
Portland writer
Michael J. Totten comments on this:
bq. Chomsky's comments section is a nightmarish place swarming with freaks and trolls. It's worse than I expected. A lot worse. This is not going to be a pleasant experience for him unless he shuts down the comments.
bq. And that's too bad. My own comments section is invaluable, and I'm more careful about what I say now that I've switched to Movable Type (which has comments built in) and you all can yell at me and tell me I'm full of it.
bq. Good feedback and debate might have made Chomsky smarter and more reasonable. But no. It will never happen. He has too many passionate enemies. He has no choice but to
continue to wall himself off from reality.
The emphasis is mine -- Michael has a clear view of the problem where academics try to position themselves as knowledgeable in world affairs. By its very nature, academia fosters an isolation from external events. It is a very exclusive and closed community and the members 'filter' what they want to see and hear. Ideas take root in one academic center and warp the thinking in others until a new idea comes forth. This happens unaffected by the constant churn of world events.
These people may be interesting to listen to and it certainly is a lot of fun to kick ideas around and talk about things --but-- the level of credence given these people is way to great. They take themselves too seriously.
Posted by DaveH at March 25, 2004 11:19 AM