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Comment by sudioStudio64 | Hacker News Reader

It depends on what you call left. I bet someone that seriously proposed violence against some institutions or industries would get disinvited. Animal rights extremists or eco-terrorist organizations might fit that bill too.

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I thought of eco-terrorism too. But then I thought of William Ayers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ayers

As a counterexample? Does he fit here? Does he speak mostly on politics rather than other topics? Then again, his political beliefs/actions are so polarizing that maybe it's hard to separate them from his work in other areas (somewhat akin to what the organizers of Strangeloop claim in their case.)

Does Noam Chomsky get heat for his political views? I was amused when I realized the Chomsky I'd heard about in CS classes was the same person I'd read about in political news. I guess his views are more palatable to the people criticizing Mr. Yarvin.

I would say that if being part of a bombing campaign isn't an impediment to becoming a Distinguished Professor at UIC, then being part of a bombing campaign isn't enough to get him disinvited from StrangeLoop either, however many astonished tweets might have greeted his appearance on the program: becuase, in that case, it would have been easy for the organizers to separate his political thought from his educational thought. Of course that's speculation on my part.

Just playing devils advocate, he had renounced violence by the time he joined academia hadn't he? He wasn't Carlos the Jackal. Honestly, I can't remember the whole weathermen story.

This whole episode does make you wonder where the line would be drawn in the future.

''I don't regret setting bombs,'' Bill Ayers said. ''I feel we didn't do enough.'

2001-09-11, NYT

Let's emphasize, that was printed on "9/11", with a photo of Ayers standing on an American flag....

He didn't know that 9/11 was going to be 9/11 though...It's dickish, but it was planned to coincide or anything.

Indeed, but I believe the unfortunate timing makes the lack of reaction to this article even more of interest. Juxtapose that with the leaders of our ruling class singing the very militant Battle Hymn of the Republic in the National Cathedral five days later (http://www.mrrhoads.com/national-cathedral-dc-battle-hymn-of...)....

You're right. He considers his violence against he state an appropriate reaction to this day apparently.

+1 for reminding me of Carlos: I love spy fiction

I think in Chomsky's case his work in linguistics actually overshadows his political work because he is so foundational.

I wonder how popular Chomsky's radical left views actually are among techies...assuming what I hear about libertarian views being prevalent...its not necessarily a natural fit.

> he is so foundational.

And somewhat discredited at this point? I don't care to write up a bunch, but his ideas about universal grammar built on genetic properties have not fared well over the years. I know he's done other stuff, but that seems his main claim to fame, excluding the political stuff.

I'm not a linguist but he seems to get a large amount of credit in that area.

It is absolutely unimaginable that Chomsky might be uninvited from any conference for anything he has ever said (one piquant example: defense of the Khmer Rouge).

Let's face it: the window of conference political acceptability covers the point -infinity. We know the upper bound is finite, and shrinking.

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