“A Shelfari reviewer expressed his distaste, saying of Chomsky that he "so often seems intentionally misleading." If Chomsky has ever made misleading comments, intentionally or otherwise, I'd like to see them. None are presented by the reviewer.
I think also that the characterization of Chomsky's view as being "radical left thought" is understandable though inaccurate. Historically, any serious critique of established power structures has been similarly dismissed as radical, as if to infer it's absurdity or even danger. By that standard Plato's concept of democracy would appear quaint, naive or worse. A better case could be made for Plato's prescience.
I do think it's true to say that the extensive discussion in this book does offer serious commentary on questions of the nature of power and society. I should mention also that Chomsky's Government in the Future presents an elegant and concise overview of the landscape of political theory as it's evolved over the last couple of hundred years and what we might make of the trajectories.
I highly recommend both volumes.
-kjl”
Ken Levy wrote this review Sunday, March 23 2008.
(
reply |
permalink )