I saw Chomsky! I saw Chomsky! I saw Chomsky!
What can I say . . . Noam Chomsky has been a hero of mine for years. When I thought about going to Harvard for the first time, my second thought was "well, Chomsky works in Cambridge, maybe I'll get to see him live."
And I did. And it's a good thing, because time is running short. I think he's well into his 80's, and his wife and colleagues like Howard Zinn have already passed on.
But that 80 year old dissident is as sharp as ever. He may walk like an old man, but he doesn't talk like one. He talked about Iran, 9/11, the Vietnam War, Obama's foreign policy, on and on and on.
My guess is that a brain like his comes along once every few hundred years.
And when he passes away, we'll have to take his life as an inspiration and continue to do the most trenchant thinking for ourselves. Which is what he wanted all along.
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Since this comment stems from my one tracked obsession with PG, it may be a bit mundane to follow such profound and heartfelt thoughts. But.... in the lyrics for “Animal Nation,” Peter references “Chomsky and Skinner, how could they be so blind...” Any thoughts?
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