Has the evil US military corporate complex appropriated Chomsky, the man
and his linguistics, without Chomsky in the know? Nothing is impossible, as
Chomsky says, but many things are unlikely.
Chomsky is one of the few intellectuals to insist to this
day that we can neatly untangle complex webs of state and non-state, private and
public, military and civilian.
This article continues our ongoing debate on whether military funding affected Chomsky's linguistics. The author contests the argument that, for the renowned linguist, such funding was always a non-issue.
There is no evidence that
Chomsky’s research program has been driven by a desire to devise a theory that
is devoid of any potential military applications.
Noam Chomsky’s
choice was to launch himself as an outspoken
anti-militarist activist even while remaining in one of the US’s most
prestigious military labs. It came at a cost.
