Recently I have been boring my friends with Chomsky essays and quotes (as any decent 23 yr wannabe revolutionary is expected to do).
After being (not unjustly apparently) accused of being biased, I would value some input regarding the rightist equivalents of ‘chosmskyism’ for further research. By that I mean right wing political thinkers who are willing to put their views on the line.
Thanks.
Please think of both USA and abroard.
I don’t know… Maybe (in the US):
Samuel P. Huntington
David Brudnoy
Ann Coulter is pretty far off to the right, but rambling, incoherent, and not worthy of being put in the same sentence as. Chomsky.
Just a few names…some other Dopers will soon arrive with better suggestions.
My gut instinct would be Ayn Rand…although she never made a great contribution in a non-political field the way Chomsky has. Plus, she’s dead.
My suggestion (though I am on the Left), would probably be Dr. Thomas Sowell.
XicanoreX
William F. Buckley, if you are just looking for somebody with the kind of credentials to put him in the “intelligensia”, while being outspoken for the conservative right. Of course, he’s not a scientist.
In Britain, probably the leading right-wing intellectual is the philosopher and musicologist Roger Scruton. He is highly regarded academically and is also a noted polemical writer on pro-conservative topics in the tradition of Burke.
Ditto on Ayn Rand and William F. Buckley.
slaps head
Hayek, you must read “The Road to Serfdom”. It is perhaps the most well regarded anti-statist book ever written.
They have even made a cartoon version.
There are no equivalents, they’re too dumb.
I doubt you would be saying that if you had actually ever read Rand, Buckley or Sowell.
You don’t have to agree with them, but calling them dumb is pretty damn stupid.
Let’s try to remain civil, here, okay?
Since this is a matter of opinion, it isn’t really a General Question. I’ll ship this over to IMHO.
Thanks people. I’ve got some reading to do.
PS: I wrote the OP last night while sh*tfaced drunk and could barely remember it. It was interesting to read it this morning (at work, ohhh ). Glad I didnt start ranting. I might start a thread in MPSIMS about drunken posts, should be funny.
Well, Rand is a monstrous old witch and Buckley I’d just like to smack with a deceased codfish, but I wouldn’t necessarily call either of them dumb.
Sowell, however, I haven’t read since the NY Daily News dumped his syndicated column. He was pretty darn dumb ten years ago. Did he get smart?
My feelings exactly, Uke.
One complication: Chomsky is pretty much opposed to any of the major centers of power in our society. Governments? Hates 'em. Corporations? Loathes 'em. Organized religion? Despises 'em.
He gets his income from his apolitical linguistics work (well, apolitical unless you’re a postmodernist with too much time on your hands). His writing is probably not a major source of income.
His equivalent on the right, OTOH, would probably be very pro-capitalist, very pro-corporation, very pro-military. And could therefore probably get a big ole job at a big ole think tank. His equivalent on the right would probably be a lot more powerful than Chomsky is.
What about one of the Chicago economists? What about Newt Gingrich? (hmm – Chomsky never wrote any soft-porn historical fiction, so maybe that won’t work). What about the author of Anarchy, State, and Utopia?
Daniel
Thomas Sowell is regularly in my local newspaper, and there doesn’t seem to me to by any good argument that he is in the same league with Buckley or Chomsky. He is a competent writer who couldn’t argue his way out of a wet paper bag using rules of logic. He seems to me to be a less snooty version of George Will.
My vote would be for Pat Buchanan. Coincidentally, they are both highly critical of Israel and pro-Palestinian. And I suspect both of them are protectionists.
Buchanan makes sense (as a right-wing Chomsky, not as a political commentator). He’s intelligent, he’s provocative, he’s on the fringe of accepted discourse.
And doesn’t he have a regular TV spot?
Chomsky is critical of Israel and supports Palestinian self-determination. I’m not sure where protectionism fits on a socialist anarchist plate. Although Buchanan is protectionist as a result of an America First platform, Chomsky certainly wouldn’t reach any protectionist views through the same path.
I suspect that a lot of Buchanan’s supporters could be won over to Chomsky, if the latter had a bigger megaphone and a little more tact. Chomsky would probably start talking about how professional sports serve only to distract people from what’s really important, and the Buchananites would start throwing things at him.
Daniel
My vote would be Adolph Hitler…
That certainly sounds like David Horowitz to me. Admittedly, Horowitz might be a little bit closer to center than Chomsky.
Chomsky so hates everything US and America I can’t think of anyone on the “right” that would equate. Is he still the darling poster boy of the deconstructionist left?