Unfortunately, Chomsky took the literal exact opposite view of the Ukrainian War than he did the Vietnam War - that the imperializing power in Ukraine deserves some concessions, as a treat.
Chomsky definitely had serious contributions to make to political thought, but he could be intensely campist in his positions on international affairs. “If the West does it, it’s bad; if anyone else does it, it’s understandable or the West made them do it” kind of thinking.
To my knowledge, he never advocated for the kind of brutal domestic institutions the way tankies do, and was opposed to that thinking - so no horseshoe (or stethoscope) theory, simply a view of international politics which was consistent in team colors, but inconsistent in principles.
I think it’s worth making the distinction between a tankie and a campist.
Chomsky, legitimately, does not believe in the implementation of a Soviet-style regime, unlike, say, Michael Parenti.
It’s more that he shares one significant quality with tankies - namely, the quality of campism. “West bad, therefore, anything anti-West must be less bad because it damages Bad West”.
@PugJesus Did he jump the end of the horseshoe?
Unfortunately, Chomsky took the literal exact opposite view of the Ukrainian War than he did the Vietnam War - that the imperializing power in Ukraine deserves some concessions, as a treat.
Chomsky definitely had serious contributions to make to political thought, but he could be intensely campist in his positions on international affairs. “If the West does it, it’s bad; if anyone else does it, it’s understandable or the West made them do it” kind of thinking.
To my knowledge, he never advocated for the kind of brutal domestic institutions the way tankies do, and was opposed to that thinking - so no horseshoe (or stethoscope) theory, simply a view of international politics which was consistent in team colors, but inconsistent in principles.
So he’s a tankie.
I think it’s worth making the distinction between a tankie and a campist.
Chomsky, legitimately, does not believe in the implementation of a Soviet-style regime, unlike, say, Michael Parenti.
It’s more that he shares one significant quality with tankies - namely, the quality of campism. “West bad, therefore, anything anti-West must be less bad because it damages Bad West”.
Neither does modern russia or the modern CCP.
That’s not much of an achievement.
Chomsky is pretty close to being a tankie IMO.
Close enough for me.
He probably just got old and senile.