If our conscience could speak, it would, probably, sound like Noam Chomsky.
The 95-year-old icon who spoke his mind fearlessly for the better part of a century, isn’t able to communicate after a ‘medical event’ that landed him in a hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he has been living with his wife Valeria since 2015.
Until a stroke in June 2023, the self-proclaimed anarchist has been one of the most influential voices against colonialism, neoliberal economics, wars, man-made famines, crony capitalism, and many other issues that the world can’t seem to find a consensus on.
Chomsky, the world’s most-cited living author, would bemoan Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine just as vehemently as the US invasion of Iraq as well as Israel’s actions against Palestinians.
The poster boy of 20th-century public intellectuals deplored unhinged capitalism and authoritarian socialists equally. Not surprisingly, he has as many haters as those who follow, love, and idolise him.
And he isn’t just a political figurehead or an armchair activist. Chomsky shot to fame in 1957, at 29, with his path-breaking book Syntactic Structures, which asserted that language isn’t an acquired skill but an innate ability among humans to form and understand sentences they have never heard.
“..Noam hit the first and, when one takes into account impact on other fields, possibly the only home run in the generative study of human language,” Japanese linguist Shigeru Miyagawa wrote in his tribute on Chomsky’s 90th birthday.
He also went to prison for refusing to participate in the US war on Vietnam.
Any journalism course is incomplete without a discussion of his (with Edward S. Herman as co-author) 1988 critique of mass media titled ‘Manufacturing Consent’.
Chomsky has inspired generations of students and taught them how to question established norms as a full professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, US, from 1961 to 2002.
However, his sphere of influence goes far beyond those who attended his lectures or read the 150-odd books that he has written.
Chomsky seamlessly became popular on YouTube well into his 80s and early 90s.
The video streaming platform is full of Chomsky’s takes—and takes on Chomsky’s takes—on a variety of issues, from how to stop Russia’s war on Ukraine to why the US should stop supporting Israel and why ChatGPT is nothing but ‘high-tech plagiarism’, which will eventually be a way to ‘avoid learning’.
Valeria Chomsky told a Brazilian newspaper that her husband raises his left arm in a gesture of lament and anger when he sees images of the war in Gaza, the Associated Press reported on June 12.
The explanation and critique of US support for Israel, from the man who many could call a 'self-hating Jew', have received over 5.7 million views, and his lecture on the foundations of the new world order after the fall of the Berlin Wall has received over 2.3 million views.
These are just some examples of the hundreds of videos that, for many millennials and Gen-Z audiences, serve as an entry into the world of critical thinking and an unmatched perspective on historical events.
“We philosophers are not immune to the will to believe, and your unflinching wish to find out should set an example for all of us. Philosophy, not just linguistics, is in your debt,” Alex Byrne, the head of linguistics and philosophy, at MIT wrote five years ago.
His friends, fans, and well-wishers would pray that the voice of the iconic philosopher and linguist returns to speak truth to power like very few can.
This tribute to Chomsky will be updated with any health updates as soon as they drop.
The 95-year-old icon who spoke his mind fearlessly for the better part of a century, isn’t able to communicate after a ‘medical event’ that landed him in a hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he has been living with his wife Valeria since 2015.
Until a stroke in June 2023, the self-proclaimed anarchist has been one of the most influential voices against colonialism, neoliberal economics, wars, man-made famines, crony capitalism, and many other issues that the world can’t seem to find a consensus on.
Chomsky, the world’s most-cited living author, would bemoan Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine just as vehemently as the US invasion of Iraq as well as Israel’s actions against Palestinians.
The poster boy of 20th-century public intellectuals deplored unhinged capitalism and authoritarian socialists equally. Not surprisingly, he has as many haters as those who follow, love, and idolise him.
And he isn’t just a political figurehead or an armchair activist. Chomsky shot to fame in 1957, at 29, with his path-breaking book Syntactic Structures, which asserted that language isn’t an acquired skill but an innate ability among humans to form and understand sentences they have never heard.
“..Noam hit the first and, when one takes into account impact on other fields, possibly the only home run in the generative study of human language,” Japanese linguist Shigeru Miyagawa wrote in his tribute on Chomsky’s 90th birthday.
He also went to prison for refusing to participate in the US war on Vietnam.
Any journalism course is incomplete without a discussion of his (with Edward S. Herman as co-author) 1988 critique of mass media titled ‘Manufacturing Consent’.
In the nearly three decades since it was first published, the pressure on mass media to serve the dominant establishment, including shareholders, advertisers, and ideologues, over the interest of the larger working class and marginalised communities has only become more apparent.
Chomsky has inspired generations of students and taught them how to question established norms as a full professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, US, from 1961 to 2002.
However, his sphere of influence goes far beyond those who attended his lectures or read the 150-odd books that he has written.
Chomsky seamlessly became popular on YouTube well into his 80s and early 90s.
The video streaming platform is full of Chomsky’s takes—and takes on Chomsky’s takes—on a variety of issues, from how to stop Russia’s war on Ukraine to why the US should stop supporting Israel and why ChatGPT is nothing but ‘high-tech plagiarism’, which will eventually be a way to ‘avoid learning’.
Valeria Chomsky told a Brazilian newspaper that her husband raises his left arm in a gesture of lament and anger when he sees images of the war in Gaza, the Associated Press reported on June 12.
The explanation and critique of US support for Israel, from the man who many could call a 'self-hating Jew', have received over 5.7 million views, and his lecture on the foundations of the new world order after the fall of the Berlin Wall has received over 2.3 million views.
These are just some examples of the hundreds of videos that, for many millennials and Gen-Z audiences, serve as an entry into the world of critical thinking and an unmatched perspective on historical events.
“We philosophers are not immune to the will to believe, and your unflinching wish to find out should set an example for all of us. Philosophy, not just linguistics, is in your debt,” Alex Byrne, the head of linguistics and philosophy, at MIT wrote five years ago.
His friends, fans, and well-wishers would pray that the voice of the iconic philosopher and linguist returns to speak truth to power like very few can.
This tribute to Chomsky will be updated with any health updates as soon as they drop.
First Published: Jun 12, 2024 11:53 AM IST
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