Scottish independence: Noam Chomsky backing Yes

Robert

Robert

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Not that it's any of his business, right enough:
POLITICAL thinker and academic Noam Chomsky has revealed his support for a Yes vote in the upcoming referendum on Scottish independence.


In an interview with Russian news agency RIA Novosti, Professor Chomsky said he had ‘been following the debate with interest’, adding that he was continuing to look into the details and consequences of a Yes vote.

Professor Chomsky told RIA: “My intuition favours independence.”
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http://www.scotsman.com/news/politi...dependence-noam-chomsky-backing-yes-1-3387174
 
His intuition favours independence? Intuition is great for deciding what color to paint your bedroom walls. The article doesn't get into details and I didn't read the full interview, I hope he has more to back it up with than that.

I personally have no opinion on the matter, but I'm curious to see how it will pan out. What are your thoughts on the issue Robert? Have you decided? I imagine it's a big deal right now in Scotland but there's probably lots of politicking going on.
 
Glaucus said:
His intuition favours independence? Intuition is great for deciding what color to paint your bedroom walls. The article doesn't get into details and I didn't read the full interview, I hope he has more to back it up with than that.
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Indeed. It's hopelessly vague.

What are your thoughts on the issue Robert? Have you decided?
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Yes, I've been in favour of it for as long as I can remember and with every passing year that only increases.

I imagine it's a big deal right now in Scotland but there's probably lots of politicking going on.
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It certainly is; annoyingly so.

-EDIT-
By annoying, I mean the main media outlets are full of misinformation and scare mongering and not a lot of facts. (Which isn't surprising - they're all pro-Union - but still annoying.)
 
Interesting. I haven't really been following the issue, would you say there's a good chance of Scotland going independent?
 
Glaucus said:
Interesting. I haven't really been following the issue, would you say there's a good chance of Scotland going independent?
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Well, probably not.
Having said that, if you'd asked me that at any point in the last 15 years, I would have said absolutely no chance but there has been an unmistakable shift towards it in that period.
When I was first eligible to vote, the share the SNP (the only party of any note favouring independence at the time) was around 10%. This has steadily increased over the years to the point where it's now a distinct, if still unlikely, possibility that there might be a positive vote.
The fact that we've even progressed to a point where there was enough public support for a referendum is astonishing to someone like me, who has been in favour of it since it was considered a loopy, nutjob position.
 
I find that really interesting. I'm not fully aware of how non-independent Scotland is right now. I know they have their own football team at the world cup, isn't that all that matters? :p (did they make it this year?)

Quebec as you know has a strong separatist movement. The separatist party has routinely won provincial elections but back in the 90s failed to win a referendum to separate (by 1% I believe it was). Since then the separatists have declined in popularity and have just recently been destroyed in provincial elections to the federalist Liberal party. Still, I doubt that the Quebec separatists will ever give up.
 
Robert said:
Not that it's any of his business, right enough:
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And not that it's relevant but on Noam's desk at MIT is a phone running code I wrote, and also the computer that he sent me an email from.
 
FluffyMcDeath said:
And not that it's relevant but on Noam's desk at MIT is a phone running code I wrote, and also the computer that he sent me an email from.
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So your a member of the inner circle of the People's Front?


 
Robert said:
Here's a wee example of the type of stuff the BBC are up to right now:
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/05/bbc-propaganda-hits-new-all-time-low/
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That's interesting. But an fyi, when I read this:

the fact that the very much larger grassroots movement the Radical Independence Campaign has never been given any publicity by the BBC
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My BS meter kinda went off. So I googled this:
site:bbc.com radical independence scotland
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And found this:
On the road with the referendum campaigns
That night in Easterhouse, one of Glasgow's most-deprived housing estates, around 50 campaigners converge on a shopping centre car park.

Many of them are from the Radical Independence Campaign, which supports a left-wing vision of an independent Scotland.

They are all ages, from all backgrounds, and many of them vote for very different political parties.

But tonight they all wear the same sticker, put there diligently by a 10-year-old girl desperate to be a part of the excitement.

Leaflets are handed out and routes are mapped for canvassers. Pictures are taken for social media sites before the real work begins.

A third of households in Easterhouse live on benefits and crucially only a third of people voted in the last Holyrood election.

Yes Scotland supporter Anne McLauglin, a former SNP MSP, wants to change that.
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And also this:
Scottish independence: Radical Independence holds Glasgow conference.
Radical voices have an important role to play in the forthcoming independence referendum, according to the co-convener of the Scottish Greens.
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The BBC might be knee deep in propaganda, but they're not alone there.

Btw, would you say the BBC is the primary source of news in Scotland? Sorta like how many Canadians get their news from US sources?
 
Glaucus said:
That's interesting. But an fyi, when I read this:

the fact that the very much larger grassroots movement the Radical Independence Campaign has never been given any publicity by the BBC
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My BS meter kinda went off. So I googled this:
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Well, there is a difference between doing a story that can be found on the web and "publicity".
OTOH, google hasn't found the No Borders thing on BBC yet. Still, astroturf isn't very unusual, unfortunately.
 
FluffyMcDeath said:
Obama backs the No side thus continuing America's grand tradition of not interfering in other people's affairs.
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Indeed, if the POTUS tells us to vote NO, what more reason do you need to vote YES? ;-)

Joking aside, it's hardly surprising, given that he risks losing the fleet of Scottish based, nuclear-armed submarines that he currently has at his disposal.
 
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My take on it is simple, as much as I'd like to see Scotland remain part of the UK, I can't honestly think many reasons for staying. Best of luck if they go, yay if they hang around.

On the flip side Plymouth will get a massive boost to its local economy when Trident inevitably has to move south with the rest of the sub fleet in the event of a breakup. So there's that.
 
And now Hillary Clinton and the Pope too. Gosh, there are a lot of people who don't live in Scotland having an opinion about what the Scots should do.
 
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