Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Noam Chomsky

2007-05-19T04:12:23Z

UncleJalapeno2: removed POV

[[Image:Chomsky3.gif|right|thumb|130px]]
'''Noam Chomsky''' (born December 7, 1928) is a libertarian socialist linguist who is best known for his writings on politics. He is an institute professor & professor of linguistics (Emeritus) at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] or MIT <ref>http://web.mit.edu/linguistics/people/faculty/chomsky/index.html</ref>.
He has always been very critical of [[America]]n and [[Israel]]i foreign policy and has been accused of sympathizing with [[Palestine|Palestinians]] and terrorist organizations such as [[Hamas]] and [[Hezbollah]]<ref>http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=7&x_issue=11&x_article=1151</ref>. He has also been criticized for [[anti-Semitism]].<ref>http://www.jbooks.com/interviews/index/IP_Dershowitz.htm</ref>.

His opponents accuse him of expressing admiration for governmental systems such as the Soviet Union, Chinese and Cambodian governments which are characterized by central control, xenophobia, and rejection of free expression. Chomsky counters that he is merely pointing out the West's own crimes and not condoning authoritarian governments that the West opposes. Chomsky identifies himself as a libertarian-socialist who is opposed to both neoliberalism and authoritarianism. <ref>http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=19446</ref>

==Linguistic Works==
===Generative Grammar===
Noam Chomsky advocates the view that the human brain has innate ability to generate gramatical sentences, thus all utterances which is deemed sensical to the speaker is necessarily grammatical, and the only role the liguist should play is to decipher its grammatical structure. This view has been criticized by many linguists as [[nihilism|nihilistic]] in that it rejects the notion of ungrammatical sentences.

===Universal Grammar===
Noam Chomsky also proposed the theory that a kind of universal grammar, a grammar that underlies all human languages, is hard-wired in the human brain. Thus all human languages are fundamentally the same, with only superficial differences. This theory of universal grammar has been criticized by linguist Geoffrey Sampson as being not falsifiable, arguing that the grammatical generalizations made are simply observations about existing languages and not predictions about what is possible in a language. To this day, the search for such universal grammar has been fruitless.

For decades, Noam Chomsky and his followers have been trying to make sense of sentences such as:
<blockquote>
''Who will be easy for us to get his mother to talk to?''
</blockquote>
which are deemed by ungrammatical by a lot of linguists; by using techniques such as linking theory, anti-c-command requirement, A-positions, Bijection Principle, weakest crossover configurations, bound variable anaphora, asymmetric linking, licensing conditions, index of apronoun, null operator analysis, variable binding, configurational conditions, inappropriate and appropriate antecedents, etc.

== Further Readings ==
*[http://www.paulbogdanor.com/chomskyhoax.html The Chomsky Hoax] by Paul Bogdanor
*[http://oliverkamm.typepad.com/blog/2004/09/an_intellectual.html An Intellectual Crook] by Oliver Kamm
*[http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=23543 Chomsky's New Blood Libel] by Alan Dershowitz

==References==
<references/>
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chomsky, Noam}}
[[category:scientists]]
[[category:political people]]
[[category:authors]]
[[category:Liberal activists]]

Liberal bias

2007-05-19T04:04:04Z

UncleJalapeno2: /* See Also */

One manifestation of liberal bias is partisan [[media bias|bias]] towards [[liberal]] positions or policies in many mainstream media.

The following persons, television programs or media outlets have frequently been said to express a well known liberal bias.
* ''[[The New York Times]]''
* [[ABC]], [[CBS]] <ref>Townhall.com, [http://www.townhall.com/columnists/MarvinOlasky/2001/12/04/enabling_media_bias Enabling media bias], Marvin Olasky, December 4, 2001.</ref>
* [[Dan Rather]] <ref>During a phone conversation, [[Bernard Goldberg]] asked him, "What do you consider the ''New York Times''?

Rather answered, "Middle of the road." (''[[Bias (book)|Bias]]'', page 221)</ref>
* [[CNN]]{{fact}}
* [[LA Times]]{{fact}}
* [[Michael Moore]]
* The [[Daily Show]]
* Real Time with Bill Maher
* The [[United Nations]]{{fact}}
* [[Washington Post]]{{fact}}
* [[MSNBC]]
* [[Communism for dummies| Communism for Dummies]]

CBS insider [[Bernard Goldberg]] wrote the definitive book on liberal bias in the media, simply entitled ''[[Bias (book)|Bias]]''.
*He asserts that an ''"inability to see liberal views as liberal views ... is at the heart of the entire problem."''
*He wrote: "[[Pauline Kael]], for years the brilliant film critic at the ''New Yorker'', was completely baffled about how [[Richard Nixon]] could have beaten [[George McGovern]] in 1972: 'Nobody I know voted for Nixon.' Never mind that Nixon carried 49 states. She wasn't kidding." <ref>(''Bias (book)'', page 222-223)</ref>

Goldberg also suggested liberals don't even see their liberal values as "liberal":
*"Their views on all the big social issues ... aren't liberal views at all. They're simply reasonable views, shared by all the reasonable people the media elites mingle with ..." <ref>(''Bias (book)'', page 222)</ref>

== Media Bias==

A 2005 report<ref>[http://www.polisci.ucla.edu/faculty/groseclose/Media.Bias.pdf A MEASURE OF MEDIA BIAS] </ref> by Tim Groseclose and Jeffrey Milyo political scientists at UCLA concluded that, based on estimated ideological scores, all of the news
outlets they examined, except Fox News’ Special Report and the Washington Times, showed a strong liberal bias (scores to the left of the average member of Congress). Of the 20 major media outlets studied, 18 scored left of center, with CBS' "Evening News," The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times ranking second, third and fourth most liberal behind the news pages of The Wall Street Journal. Only Fox News' "Special Report With Brit Hume" and The Washington Times scored right of the average U.S. voter.
<blockquote>
"I suspected that many media outlets would tilt to the left because surveys have shown that reporters tend to vote more Democrat than Republican," said Tim Groseclose, a UCLA political scientist and the study's lead author. "But I was surprised at just how pronounced the distinctions are." <ref>http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/page.asp?RelNum=6664</ref>
</blockquote>

==See Also==
*[[Right-Wing bias]]

== References ==
<references/>

Liberal bias

2007-05-19T04:03:50Z

UncleJalapeno2: /* References */

Noam Chomsky

2007-05-19T04:00:58Z

UncleJalapeno2: removed quotations

Noam Chomsky

2007-05-19T04:00:29Z

UncleJalapeno2: removed POV

[[Image:Chomsky3.gif|right|thumb|130px]]
'''Noam Chomsky''' (born December 7, 1928) is a libertarian socialist linguist who is best known for his writings on politics. He is an institute professor & professor of linguistics (Emeritus) at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] or MIT <ref>http://web.mit.edu/linguistics/people/faculty/chomsky/index.html</ref>.
He has always been very critical of [[America]]n and [[Israel]]i foreign policy and has been accused of sympathizing with [[Palestine|Palestinians]] and terrorist organizations such as [[Hamas]] and [[Hezbollah]]<ref>http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=7&x_issue=11&x_article=1151</ref>. He has also been criticized for [[anti-Semitism]].<ref>http://www.jbooks.com/interviews/index/IP_Dershowitz.htm</ref>.

His opponents accuse him of expressing admiration for governmental systems such as the Soviet Union, Chinese and Cambodian governments which are characterized by central control, xenophobia, and rejection of free expression. Chomsky counters that he is merely pointing out the West's own "crimes" and not condoning authoritarian governments that the West opposes. Chomsky identifies himself as a libertarian-socialist who is opposed to both neoliberalism and authoritarianism. <ref>http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=19446</ref>

==Linguistic Works==
===Generative Grammar===
Noam Chomsky advocates the view that the human brain has innate ability to generate gramatical sentences, thus all utterances which is deemed sensical to the speaker is necessarily grammatical, and the only role the liguist should play is to decipher its grammatical structure. This view has been criticized by many linguists as [[nihilism|nihilistic]] in that it rejects the notion of ungrammatical sentences.

===Universal Grammar===
Noam Chomsky also proposed the theory that a kind of universal grammar, a grammar that underlies all human languages, is hard-wired in the human brain. Thus all human languages are fundamentally the same, with only superficial differences. This theory of universal grammar has been criticized by linguist Geoffrey Sampson as being not falsifiable, arguing that the grammatical generalizations made are simply observations about existing languages and not predictions about what is possible in a language. To this day, the search for such universal grammar has been fruitless.

For decades, Noam Chomsky and his followers have been trying to make sense of sentences such as:
<blockquote>
''Who will be easy for us to get his mother to talk to?''
</blockquote>
which are deemed by ungrammatical by a lot of linguists; by using techniques such as linking theory, anti-c-command requirement, A-positions, Bijection Principle, weakest crossover configurations, bound variable anaphora, asymmetric linking, licensing conditions, index of apronoun, null operator analysis, variable binding, configurational conditions, inappropriate and appropriate antecedents, etc.

== Further Readings ==
*[http://www.paulbogdanor.com/chomskyhoax.html The Chomsky Hoax] by Paul Bogdanor
*[http://oliverkamm.typepad.com/blog/2004/09/an_intellectual.html An Intellectual Crook] by Oliver Kamm
*[http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=23543 Chomsky's New Blood Libel] by Alan Dershowitz

==References==
<references/>
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chomsky, Noam}}
[[category:scientists]]
[[category:political people]]
[[category:authors]]
[[category:Liberal activists]]