16 upvotes, 4 direct replies (showing 4)
View submission: Who comes close to Chomsky today?
I don’t remotely trust him. He allegedly effectively fired most of his staff when they started organising their workplace.
It has been quite effectively memory holed, which is itself interesting.
Comment by IkkyuZen920 at 02/02/2025 at 13:58 UTC
16 upvotes, 0 direct replies
A friend of mine calls this the narcissistic anarchist paradox: someone who doesn’t tolerate authority over themselves and propagates anarchistic ideals, but also really wants to be in control and likes to tell other people what to do, have power, etc. and is afraid to actually trust the democratic process. I.e. no one tells me what to do but people should listen to me, telling them what to do.
This is genuinely why I think socialism and anarchism would deeply benefit from contemplative spirituality - addressing both the internal and external systems of oppression and control.
As to the question itself, I loved David Graeber and am very sad he passed away. His legacy is very encouraging though
Comment by kcl97 at 02/02/2025 at 16:34 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
unilaterally fired most of the workforce to avoid an organizational restructuring that would limit his personal power.
This was 2021, near the end of COVID. So I have noticed that during COVID, similar organizations were for one reason or another under similar pressure for restructuring. One particular case for me was the Free Software Foundation.
But it wasn't restricted to these kinds of organizations, for example my school district's top management was completely changed, and has since taken on ridiculous amounts of debt in the name of modernization. In fact, I would say the education quality has gone down while all sorts of new buildings are being constructed. It is crazy because the enrollment is declining.
My point is that I think what happened was probably more complicated (maybe others can chip in). I am not trying to defend NR, however I think people should be skeptical.
Comment by satriale at 02/02/2025 at 15:27 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I remember that happening. It was a gut punch and left me more hopeless in the late 2010s. I don’t know how the fuck he just coauthored a book with Chomsky.
Comment by ceramicfiver at 03/02/2025 at 12:50 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
How did Nathan defend himself? What does he say now about it? How do those workers feel now? Do they forgive him at all?