Red Mosquito • View topic

corduroy_blazer · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2009 2:59 pm

by foreign policy and the british prospect magazine. i'm not so sure about this list ...

Quote:

What is a public intellectual? Someone who has shown distinction in their own field along with the ability to communicate ideas and influence debate outside of it.This list is about public influence, not intrinsic achievement.

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/topintellectuals.html

Code:

Rank     Name     Occupation(s)     Country     Total Votes
   Noam Chomsky    Linguist, author, activist    United States    4827
   Umberto Eco    Medievalist, novelist    Italy    2464
   Richard Dawkins    Biologist, polemicist    Britain    2188
   Václav Havel    Playwright, statesman    Czech Republic    1990
   Christopher Hitchens    Polemicist    United States, Britain    1844
   Paul Krugman    Economist, columnist    United States    1746
   Jürgen Habermas    Philosopher    Germany    1639
   Amartya Sen    Economist    India    1590
   Jared Diamond    Biologist, physiologist, historian    United States    1499
   Salman Rushdie    Novelist, political commentator    Britain, India    1468
   Naomi Klein    Journalist, author    Canada    1378
   Shirin Ebadi    Lawyer, human rights activist    Iran    1309
   Hernando de Soto    Economist    Peru    1202
   Bjørn Lomborg    Environmentalist    Denmark    1141
   Abdolkarim Soroush    Religious theorist    Iran    1114
   Thomas Friedman    Journalist, author    United States    1049
   Pope Benedict XVI    Religious leader    Germany, Vatican    1046
   Eric Hobsbawm    Historian    Britain    1037
   Paul Wolfowitz    Policymaker, academic    United States    1028
   Camille Paglia    Social critic, author    United States    1013
   Francis Fukuyama    Political scientist, author    United States    883
   Jean Baudrillard    Sociologist, cultural critic    France    858
   Slavoj Zizek    Sociologist, philosopher    Slovenia    840
   Daniel Dennett    Philosopher    United States    832
   Freeman Dyson    Physicist    United States    823
   Steven Pinker    Experimental psychologist    Canada, United States    812
   Jeffrey Sachs    Economist    United States    810
   Samuel Huntington    Political scientist    United States    805
   Mario Vargas Llosa    Novelist, politician    Peru    771
   Ali al-Sistani    Cleric    Iran, Iraq    768
   E.O. Wilson    Biologist    United States    742
   Richard Posner    Judge, scholar, author    United States    740
   Peter Singer    Philosopher    Australia    703
   Bernard Lewis    Historian    Britain, United States    660
   Fareed Zakaria    Journalist, author    United States    634
   Gary Becker    Economist    United States    630
   Michael Ignatieff    Writer, human rights theorist    Canada    610
   Chinua Achebe    Novelist    Nigeria    585
   Anthony Giddens    Sociologist    Britain    582
   Lawrence Lessig    Legal scholar    United States    565
   Richard Rorty    Philosopher    United States    562
   Jagdish Bhagwati    Economist    India, United States    561
   Fernando Henrique Cardoso    Sociologist, former president    Brazil    556
   J.M. Coetzee    Novelist    South Africa    548
   Niall Ferguson    Historian    Britain    548
   Ayaan Hirsi Ali    Politician    Somalia, Netherlands    546
   Steven Weinberg    Physicist    United States    507
   Julia Kristeva    Philosopher    France    487
   Germaine Greer    Writer, academic    Australia, Britain    471
   Antonio Negri    Philosopher, activist    Italy    452
   Rem Koolhaas    Architect    Netherlands    429
   Timothy Garton Ash    Historian    Britain    428
   Martha Nussbaum    Philosopher    United States    422
   Orhan Pamuk    Novelist    Turkey    393
   Clifford Geertz    Anthropologist    United States    388
   Yusuf al-Qaradawi    Cleric    Egypt, Qatar    382
   Henry Louis Gates, Jr.    Scholar, cultural critic    United States    379
   Tariq Ramadan    Scholar of Islam    Switzerland    372
   Amos Oz    Novelist    Israel    358
   Lawrence Summers    Economist, academic    United States    351
   Hans Küng    Theologian    Switzerland    344
   Robert Kagan    Author, political commentator    United States    339
   Paul Kennedy    Historian    Britain, United States    334
   Daniel Kahneman    Psychologist    Israel, United States    312
   Sari Nusseibeh    Diplomat, philosopher    Palestine    297
   Wole Soyinka    Playwright, activist    Nigeria    296
   Kemal Dervis    Economist    Turkey    295
   Michael Walzer    Political theorist    United States    279
   Gao Xingjian    Novelist, playwright    China    277
   Howard Gardner    Psychologist    United States    273
   James Lovelock    Scientist    Britain    268
   Robert Hughes    Art critic    Australia    259
   Ali Mazrui    Political scientist    Kenya    251
   Craig Venter    Biologist, businessman    United States    244
   Martin Rees    Astrophysicist    Britain    242
   James Q. Wilson    Criminologist    United States    229
   Robert Putnam    Political scientist    United States    221
   Peter Sloterdijk    Philosopher    Germany    217
   Sergei Karaganov    Foreign-policy analyst    Russia    194
   Sunita Narain    Environmentalist    India    186
   Alain Finkielkraut    Essayist, philosopher    France    185
   Fan Gang    Economist    China    180
   Florence Wambugu    Plant Pathologist    Kenya    159
   Gilles Kepel    Scholar of Islam    France    156
   Enrique Krauze    Historian    Mexico    144
   Ha Jin    Novelist    China    129
   Neil Gershenfeld    Physicist, computer scientist    United States    120
   Paul Ekman    Psychologist    United States    118
   Jaron Lanier    Virtual reality pioneer    United States    117
   Gordon Conway    Agricultural ecologist    Britain    90
   Pavol Demes    Political analyst    Slovakia    88
   Elaine Scarry    Literary theorist    United States    87
   Robert Cooper    Diplomat, writer    Britain    86
   Harold Varmus    Medical scientist    United States    85
   Pramoedya Ananta Toer    Writer, dissident    Indonesia    84
   Zheng Bijian    Political scientist    China    76
   Kenichi Ohmae    Management theorist    Japan    68
   Wang Jisi    Foreign-policy analyst    China    59
   Kishore Mahbubani    Author, diplomat    Singapore    59
   Shintaro Ishihara    Politician, author    Japan    57

thodoks · **Joined:** Mon Jan 21, 2008 10:19 pm **Posts:** 25134

i disagree with number six.

Green Habit · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:33 pm

thodoks wrote:

i disagree with number six.

I know you would, and so do I. But my biggest disagreement is with #17.

Green Habit · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:35 pm

Actually, we did this thread already eons ago, and I made the exact same comment as I did back then! :haha:

corduroy_blazer · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:45 pm

shit, my bad. i thought this was new.

corduroy_blazer · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:50 pm

i guess i should have picked up on that considering richard rorty's inclusion.

Human Bass · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:52 pm

Chomsky is laughable, he can make any excuse to justify 95% of the shit done by Mao, Stalin or any "people's leader";

the verb to trust · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:55 pm

100. Shintaro Ishihara

DEAR.GOD. :shake:

denverapolis · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2009 4:03 pm

no dedora?

bart d. · **Joined:** Fri Jun 03, 2005 1:32 am **Posts:** 17563

What a weird thing to list. Although it's nice to see that Hernando De Soto is still influential.

uglyduckling · **Joined:** Tue Apr 14, 2009 5:45 am **Posts:** 10347

Sadly, #17 has his place. Influence, sure, intellect, riiight.

I read recently about his stance on AIDS in Africa and his opposition to condoms - not sure what I expected but I was blown away. What an idiot.

$úñ_DëV|L · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2009 4:29 pm

thodoks wrote:

i disagree with number six.

bart d. · **Joined:** Fri Jun 03, 2005 1:32 am **Posts:** 17563

the verb to trust wrote:

100. Shintaro Ishihara

DEAR.GOD. :shake:

Wikipedia wrote:

Racism
On April 9, 2000, in a speech before a Self-Defense Forces group, Ishihara publicly stated that atrocious crimes have been committed repeatedly by illegally entered sangokujin (Japanese: 三国人 (third country national); a term commonly viewed as derogatory) and foreigners, and speculated that in the event a natural disaster struck the Tokyo area, they would be likely to cause civil disorder.[17] His comment invoked calls for his resignation, demands for an apology and fears among residents of Korean descent in Japan.[7] Regarding this statement, Ishihara later said:

I referred to the "many sangokujin who entered Japan illegally." I thought some people would not know that word so I paraphrased it and used gaikokujin, or foreigners. But it was a newspaper holiday so the news agencies consciously picked up the sangokujin part, causing the problem.
... After World War II, when Japan lost, the Chinese of Taiwanese origin and people from the Korean Peninsula persecuted, robbed and sometimes beat up Japanese. It's at that time the word was used, so it was not derogatory. Rather we were afraid of them.
... There's no need for an apology. I was surprised that there was a big reaction to my speech. In order not to cause any misunderstanding, I decided I will no longer use that word. It is regrettable that the word was interpreted in the way it was.[9]
Much of the criticism of this statement involved the historical significance of the term: sangokujin historically referred to ethnic Chinese and Koreans, working in Japan, several thousand of whom were killed by mobs of Japanese people following the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923.[7]

On February 20, 2006, Ishihara also said: "Roppongi is now virtually a foreign neighborhood. Africans — I don't mean African-Americans — who don't speak English are there doing who knows what. This is leading to new forms of crime such as car theft. We should be letting in people who are intelligent."[18]

[edit] Other controversial statements
In 1990, Ishihara stated in a Playboy interview that the Rape of Nanking was a fiction, claiming, "People say that the Japanese made a holocaust but that is not true. It is a story made up by the Chinese. It has tarnished the image of Japan, but it is a lie."[19] He continued to defend this statement in the uproar that ensued[20]. He has also backed the film The Truth about Nanjing, which argues that the Nanking Massacre was propaganda.

Ishihara stated in a 2001 interview with women's magazine Shukan Josei that he subscribed to a theory that "old women who live after they have lost their reproductive function are useless and are committing a sin," adding that he "couldn't say this as a politician." He was criticized in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly for these comments, but responded that the criticism was driven by "tyrant" "old women."[21]

During an inauguration of a university building in 2004, Ishihara stated that French is unqualified as an international language because it is "a language in which nobody can count," referring to the counting system in French, which he believed to be based on units of twenty rather than ten (as is the case in Japanese and English). The statement led to a lawsuit from several language schools in 2005. Ishihara subsequently responded to comments that he did not disrespect French culture by professing his love of French literature on Japanese TV news.[22]

Damn.

Owl_Farmer · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2009 4:44 pm

polemicist is probably the best job in the world am i right?

punkdavid · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:04 pm

corduroy_blazer wrote:

the world's top 100 [insert category] by [insert magazine name] magazine. i'm not so sure about this list ...

See OB forum.

Mecca · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:19 pm

Quote:

Code:

72a. Michael DeDora Jr.   Journalist, Internetter, Inquirer   United States   258

rickson · **Posted:** Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:46 am

Fukuyama is so overated.Just a licky guy with a lucky phrase:"The history is over".But it was no deep.In my opinion.

Owl_Farmer · **Posted:** Thu Apr 16, 2009 2:15 am

rickson wrote:

Fukuyama is so overated.Just a licky guy with a lucky phrase:"The history is over".But it was no deep.In my opinion.

not to mention, he was wrong.

bart d. · **Joined:** Fri Jun 03, 2005 1:32 am **Posts:** 17563

rafa_garcia18 wrote:

rickson wrote:

Fukuyama is so overated.Just a licky guy with a lucky phrase:"The history is over".But it was no deep.In my opinion.

not to mention, he was wrong.

Wrong is a bit of an understatement.

cutuphalfdead · **Posted:** Thu Apr 16, 2009 7:37 am

Green Habit wrote:

thodoks wrote:

i disagree with number six.

I know you would, and so do I. But my biggest disagreement is with #17.

Just because you disagree with them doesn't mean they don't spur public discourse.

the world's top 100 public intellectuals

Who is online