what do you think it says in reference to what we're discussing?This article about crossbreaks is pretty essential reading for people who want to use data from them to support their flimsy arguments.
dunno what you're linking to there dave, but my computer doesn't like it.
computer says nodunno what you're linking to there dave, but my computer doesn't like it.
The figures I was discussing are statistically significant, and I was aware of that before I started discussing them because although I'm a bit rusty I do have a decent grounding in statistics.You're claiming the response from a tiny crossbreak supports your argument, that it's a 'clear indication' that you're right. The article warns against extrapolating anything from such a small sample.
Correctly sampled, 155 is a reasonable number for a cohort of 100,000 odd labour leave voters.155 respondents. it clearly indicates sweet fuck all.
I don't see that it's too much of a leap to assume that the views of leave supporting labour members / supporters will correlate reasonably closely with those of wider labour voting leave supporters, not when the differences are that big in the survey results. The supporters are more likely to be influenced by the pro-corbyn social media campaigns than the wider labour voting electorate so that probably will cause some level of difference, but I'd still be very surprised if such a big difference among members was reversed among labour voters.The real problem is seeking to leap from the views of brexit voting labour members/registered supporters to the views of brexit voting labour voters.
Nah, I was trying to pull you up on your tendency to take what occasional crumbs of polling data you think support your views and extrapolate wildly beyond anything the figures could possibly tell you.if you weren't trying to pull me up on something that you don't understand yourself.
It [the left] claims to be “anti-imperialist,” yet you have no less a figure as Noam Chomsky so absurdly and pathetically claim that Russia’s intervention in Syria is not “imperialist” since “it’s supporting a government,” while he endorses the conservative “realism” of Patrick Cockburn, whose writing has often come down on the side of the Assad regime.
“… Russia is supporting a brutal, vicious government. I don’t think they should, but it’s not imperialism. To support a government is not imperialism. It’s completely wrong but it’s not imperialism. …
on one of the Syria threads Geri posted this article also by Hamad:
In that link Hamad provides a source which is a youtube video of a talk by Chomsky, and having listened to it, I'd also add that he talks of the US and it's allies backing Islamists, but fails to mention Shia Islamists and their role in Syria. I wonder why?
He says, 'if you attack Assad, you're undermining resistance to the Islamic State and al-Nusra'. Where to start with that?
Is there such a thing as humanitarian intervention? Actually that’s not an idle question. If you look over modern history what you discover is just about every use of force is called humanitarian intervention. Literally, we’re doing it for noble purposes. But then you always have to ask the question “is it true”. And the answer to that is almost always no. I wouldn’t say 100% but overwhelmingly the intervention is for the purposes of those carrying out the force. So would it be a legitimate thing yeh it would if it existed but the question is does it exist?
He also says wrongly, 'if you go back to the 2012 there was no uprising' - news to the countless people who during that time and earlier were arrested, tortured, murdered and disappeared during largely peaceful (on their side at least) protests against the regime.
e2a: in fact in a short space of time he manages to be wrong about an impressive number of things
Hamad said:
Chomsky actually says:
Hamad’s quote suggests that Chomsky is in some way (“absurdly and pathetically”) dismissing the importance of Russia’s intervention. That is hugely misleading if you look at the text I’ve bolded. He’s making a point about the definition of the word “imperialism”.
I know it seems to be frowned upon to resort to dictionary definitions but the Oxford on-line dictionary defines Imperialism with “A policy of extending a country’s power and influence through colonization, use of military force, or other means.”
At first sight I’d probably agree that it is imperialism, although I suspect that Chomsky is comparing Russia's motives to those of American "imperialism". Either way, though, to focus on his use of the word ‘imperialism’ while not giving the full quite is just disingenuous. It makes Chomsky (and hence 'the left') look like a Russian apologist while if you look at the complete quote he's no such thing.
If you give the full Chomsky quotes you’re referring to in your own criticisms I’ll take a look at them too - I'm always willing to be proved wrong - but until then I still maintain that the only criticisms of Chomsky that I’ve seen chased down are where the person criticizing:
(a) does actually quote him and says or implies how disgusting it is that he would say such a thing and you look at what they’re quoting and it’s actually quite true (example “If the Nuremberg laws were applied, then every post-war American president would have been hanged.”)
(b) says “Chomsky says ...” and you look at the actual quote and he’s not actually saying that at all and
(c) where they give Chomsky's words but they're taken out of context (Hamad quote's another example).
I don’t know, but I suspect that it’s because that wasn’t the question he was being asked.
The original question he was answering was whether he would support US ‘humanitarian’ i.e. military intervention. He says:
So he’s saying he would intervene but doesn’t believe the US (or Russia or UK ….) intervention will actually be humanitarian.
You quote “If you attack Assad, you’re undermining resistance to the Islamic state and al-Nusra Front’, but you didn’t give the context (“I wonder why”).
He’s just said that Russia is supporting Assad (“also comparably brutal and destructive”) , Turkey is supporting the jihadi Al-Nusra Front, and Saudi Arabia supported what became the Islamic State.
Just before your quote he asks the specific question "who would you attack?", and after your quote he says that if you do that then "[the Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State] will then take over. Is that what you want for Syria?” To pick on that quote to suggest he’s in some way an Assad apologist is disingenuous.
Where has he denied that people were arrested, tortured, murdered and disappeared before 2012? He’s obviously referring to the escalation after 2012 (in 2012 the fighting spread across Syria and the UN declared there was a civil war) and people began "pouring in from outside". So you’ve turned him giving a different date into some sort of denial of atrocity.
I know very little about the Syrian conflict but the ‘impressive number’ seems to be zero unless you can back up what you've said. As far as I can see you're just doing (c) again – distorting the context.
Just pointed out in that second reply, that this is much shortened version, but does cover the exact points. I reckon also this isn't the right thread for this discussion.two sheds
don't have much time today unfortunately and butchersapron has written a good reply already, but I thought you might be interested in this piece, also by our friend Sam Hamad, about the relationship between Saudi Arabia, Wahabism, al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, among other things - relevant to what Chomsky has to say on the subject in that talk.
thanks for that, and yeah it should be on the Syria thread.Just pointed out in that second reply, that this is much shortened version, but does cover the exact points. I reckon also this isn't the right thread for this.
Anyone else think that one of the best things about Corbyn (and to an extent Brexit) is that it's got all these Radio 4 middle-class liberals to show their hand? I don't even mean the people who listen to Radio 4, I mean their actual shit 'left-wing' comedians like Marcus Brigstock and Mitch Benn, they are all a handful of tweets away from calling for a kale-eating Pinochet.
Anyone else think that one of the best things about Corbyn (and to an extent Brexit) is that it's got all these Radio 4 middle-class liberals to show their hand? I don't even mean the people who listen to Radio 4, I mean their actual shit 'left-wing' comedians like Marcus Brigstock and Mitch Benn, they are all a handful of tweets away from calling for a kale-eating Pinochet.
He's had some good one liners. Then again, so has Jimmy Carr.When was Brigstocke funny?
This is the second time someone has been outraged by this specific outrage of challenging Chomsky with the words absurd and pathetic btw. See from here on for previous.
When was Brigstocke funny?
I know, but it was those two exact words that both you and the other poster responded to. I even put them in quotes to make sure in the first post."outrage"
errm those were the words he used, I was quoting him to disagree
But yes fair point I'll take it over to the Syria thread when I've had a look at what you're saying.
How has Corbyn been on Syria btw? Anything he's said that you've seen that you dislike?
'I've got tickets for the ballet, it's a Spandau Ballet, geddit? I'm here all week. Well, 40 years to be accurate'.Sometimes. Of course, even Rudolph Hess would have the odd decent joke if you put him up against Mitch Benn and Punt and Dennis though.