Chomsky’s criticism of Postmodernism (1080p).mp4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9js6LdkRE6Y

Chomsky’s criticism of Postmodernism

Mar 22, 2023

Noam Chomsky, the famous linguist, does not have nice things to say about Postmodernism. We try to lay down his main points in a coherent way, and in doing so, we see that much of his critique follows some themes cherished by Postmodernists themselves. In particular, Chomsky argues that much of postmodernism was an instrument of power wielded to obtain material rewards.

Chomsky goes particularly hard on the Postmodern tradition and we try to put into video form the essence of his scathing critique.

Transcript

0:00

post-modernism is a philosophical and

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cultural movement that emerged in the

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mid to late 20th century

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this often said to be characterized by a

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rejection of objective values and

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beliefs a skepticism towards the idea of

0:13

truth and the distrust of grand

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narratives

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one of its Central themes is the

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critique of power relations particularly

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in relation to politics culture and

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Society

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post-modernists argue that power is

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distributed unevenly in society and that

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dominant power structures shape people’s

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identities and World Views

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they often question and challenge the

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claims of those in positions of

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authority and highlight for ways in

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which power can be used to maintain the

0:46

status quo and oppress marginalized

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groups

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Chomsky the famous linguist author of a

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book manufacturing consent does not have

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nice things to say about the movement if

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you look at the phenomena as a whole

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its effect has been I think the effect

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is pretty clear it allows people to take

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a very radical stance

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more radical than thou but to be

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completely dissociated from anything

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that’s happening

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for many reasons one reason is nobody

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can understand a word they’re saying at

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first glance some of chomsky’s arguments

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may come across us with somewhat typical

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dismissive attitude of academics towards

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researchers working in slightly

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different fields with distinct

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methodologies

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however hidden behind some veils of

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irony lays a tremendously potent

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critique of post-modernism that

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effectively employs its own tools and

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techniques

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according to Chomsky members of a

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post-modern school constructed their

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very own power structure

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driven by the overly human desire for

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material reward you know there’s a lot

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of material reward that comes from it

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like if you’re part of that system you

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can run around the conferences and get

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big professorships and you know all this

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kind of stuff as a general phenomenon I

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think that’s the way it’s worked it’s

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worked as a way of insulating

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sectors of a kind of radical

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intelligencia from

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popular movements and actual activism

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and serving as and it served as an

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instrument of power

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they achieved this by creating a unique

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lingo through their obscure writing

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style and by forming tribal-like

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academic communities where they could

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mimic the presentation of academic

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findings

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even though they couldn’t truly

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understand each other

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for Chomsky their theories in research

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mix and match contradictions with

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truisms dressed up in overly fancy

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language to create the impression of

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profundity

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a simulation of real knowledge

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this is a very important book by

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jean-bracco and Alan Circle I forget

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what it’s called Dangerous Illusions or

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something where they simply go through

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the they happen to concentrate on Paris

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which is the center of the Rat but it’s

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all over and they go through the most

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respected French intellectuals and run

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through what they say about science

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and you know it is so embarrassing that

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you kind of cringe when you read it then

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as a means of maintaining their

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relevance and public profile

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postmodernists were compelled to

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generate novel and provocative Concepts

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often Resort into shock tactics in order

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to capture the attention of a wider

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public

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the French intellectuals tend to be you

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know vedette and they’re media Stars so

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they’re French intellectually taken very

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seriously they were on the front pages

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of Le Monde and so on I

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it’s probably not a good thing but it if

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you want to be taken seriously you have

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to have something exciting to say

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like a movie star you know

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the

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television figure and it’s not easy to

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come up with exciting new ideas

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so you have to come up with crazy ideas

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and then they can make it to the front

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pages

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Chomsky here might be thinking about how

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post-modernists argued for 12 and 13

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year olds to quote have sexual relations

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with whomever they choose

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or about how some post-modern article

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argued that an ancient Pharaoh couldn’t

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have died of tuberculosis because

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tuberculosis is a social construct that

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was invented much later

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somebody in France said or somewhere had

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discovered that one of the Pharaohs had

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died of tuberculosis and they did it by

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you know analysis of whatever DNA or

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something LaTour wrote an article

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ridiculing this this is totally absurd

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because somebody had talked about yeah

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tuberculosis only discovered in the 19th

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century and everything’s a social

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construction and therefore it wasn’t

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constructed yet so it didn’t happen

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for power and language games run so deep

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that even some members of the movement

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are apparently unaware of the tactics

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being used all while being unconsciously

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complicit in their execution

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which some might liken to a religious or

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cult-like phenomenon

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a common strategy might involve putting

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forth in comprehensible or contradictory

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ideas and implicitly charging those who

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don’t understand them with inadequacy

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leading to an idolization of postmodern

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writers due to a lack of complete

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comprehension of their brilliance

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by spelling out the power structures

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that can grip some enclaves of Academia

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chomsky’s turn in the post-modern

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critique on its head utilizing its own

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methodology against itself

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if one wanted to extend this

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deconstruction of a post-modern movement

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one could identify the oppressors and

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their oppressed

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Phil pressures of a blazinated pompous

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professors with the aura of prestige and

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their position of authority who use

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convoluted power games to maintain their

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Fame and exclusive inner circles

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they create theories that parody physics

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but lack any predictive power ultimately

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serving to reinforce their own authority

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over the domain of knowledge creation

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by controlling the discourse through

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sophistry and language games

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Phil pressed are not only the honest

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Seekers of Truth professors willing to

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speak plainly marginalized researchers

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who value Clarity but are denied funding

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if they don’t submit to the prevailing

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power structures but also the

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well-intentioned masses who are tricked

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into paying the salaries of a postmodern

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Intelligentsia thinking they are

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producing great ideas while according to

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Chomsky nothing of assault is happening

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ultimately for Chomsky the post-modern

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movement insulated professors from

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actual activism and created the

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disciples in the third world who did

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real damage to the development of their

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countries where true intellectuals were

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sorely needed

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but when you get to third world

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countries it’s really grotesque because

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the you know there the separation of the

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radical intelligencia from popular

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struggle is a much more you know it

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shows much more dramatically I mean

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people are much poorer and they’re

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suffering much more and these guys are

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usually pretty

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pretty very rich in fact often uh and

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it’s ugly chomsky’s critique when fully

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understood is absolutely scaven

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a complete denunciation of a movement

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through its own favorite themes

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