Quite to the contrary, Chomsky continuously exhorts his readers to question the whys and wherefores of the state of inequality in the world, how the status quo is maintained – or disparities widened, and to look towards the roots of problems, and draw connections where connections are not patently obvious unless the subtle patterns are regenerated. Throughout the 160 odd pages of Profit Over People, (4) i didn’t ever feel that i was being discouraged from thinking. If the first suggestion flummoxed you as it did me, it’s the name of film “Is The Man Who Is Tall Happy?: An Animated Conversation with Noam Chomsky.” Unlike his critics would have you believe, though, Chomsky isn’t a paranoid, anti-Semitic, anti American, anti Israel, anti capitalist (1) conspiracy theorist, nor is he the last totalitarian (2), or even an intellectual coward (3). A Google search of the words will auto-suggest “the man who is tall happy”, “is a liar”, “is wrong”. Chomsky is one of the most renowned public intellectuals of the world and a vehement critic of the manner in which the capitalist class (of the USA, as well as the global capital) has played the game of power. If there’s anything reading a Chomsky work can guarantee, it’s a sense of deep unsettlement.
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