this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2026
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I think you are missing my overall point, maybe I worded things badly (and if I did please tell me, I struggle with trying to get my point across) but I never said we should excuse Chomsky, in fact I said he was deplorable in my earlier comment which I think we can all easily agree with for obvious reasons. My point was basically just because someone did something horrible doesn't mean you can't read their work. Hitler was obviously a bad guy (as you may know!) but Mein Kampf is fairly interesting, like the bit where he talks about how he had co-opted socialist iconography and names (red flags, party name, etc.) to try to bring more working class people into the party. Obviously there's a lot of evil shit in Mein Kampf too and I wouldn't hand it to the wrong person because it may end up filling them with Hitler particles, but hopefully you get my point even though I'm using extreme examples here.
Sorry for the wall of text sort of, just felt I need to clarify myself
I worded my response poorly because my point wasn't about excusing anyone but that Marx didn't do a fraction of the horrible shit that Chomsky did constantly.
And I don't think Mein Kampf is that helpful an example since there's a difference between viewing a work as being credible versus analyzing it due to its historical importance.
Fair I guess, maybe Marx wasn't the greatest example of the most evil person to ever exist, but to be fair it is really hard to even come close to running the largest international child sex trafficking ring like Epstein did!
I mean, people read a lot of things that they know aren't credible, I can't comment on any of Chomsky's works personally because I never read them, but I don't think it'd be any different than reading liberal economic "solutions" to housing (lol) or something of that nature. It's obviously not credible, but I personally find it interesting to see how people think and what conclusions they come to with that thought process even though I disagree with them and maybe have some fun dunking on them in the process if I'm bored.