What he does in linguistics is exactly what he campaigns against in politics. He feeds off people. He doesn't allow anyone to disagree with him. --George Lakoff, April 27, 1995 [270]
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The speaker claims the subject contradicts himself by practicing the same dominance in scholarship that he criticizes in politics.
- In plain terms
- He acts in linguistics the same way he says politics should not work.
- What can you take from it?
- Watch for hypocrisy between theory and practice.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do we measure consistency in public intellectuals?
- Can a method be used for good and bad ends?
Another view
This interpretation relies on the speaker's perspective without independent verification of the subject's actions.
More from Noam Chomsky
I don't pretend to think I'm as smart as Noam Chomsky, but I'm smart enough to ask him questions. --Bill Maher, February 27, 2007 [269]
Permalink to quote #288 The most striking fact is how consistently people with anything at all to say about language feel the need to strike some attitude for or against Chomsky's ide…
Permalink to quote #290 In a recent British magazine poll, MIT linguistics professor Noam Chomsky was named the world's top public intellectual. Can you imagine being named that? That…
Permalink to quote #287
Related quotes
The Macedonian language is actually an artifact produced for primarily political reasons.
Vittore PisaniVittore Pisani quote #1 How is this? Ought not the petitioner to speak first, and the conqueror to listen in silence?
Lucius Cornelius SullaLucius Cornelius Sulla quote #1 Idque apud imperitos humanitas vocabatur, cum pars servitutis esset.
TacitusTacitus quote #1