I’ve wondered for a long time how Noam Chomsky has gotten away for so long with saying such controversial things.
Today I spent some time downloading and cutting up Chomsky quotes for use in a music project. And I think I’ve found the answer:
- He is very careful, methodical, and lawyerly in building his case.
- He has a very low-key, calm, almost somnambulent demeanor.
The combination of the above seems to avoid scaring the living shit out of the people who’d be most threatened by what it is he’s saying.
For example, I’ve just captured a clip of him saying , “the United States is a leading terrorist state”, in a voice that sounds like the most boring college professor in the world describing the result of a calculation of a multivariant analysis equation.
Yes, you can still speak truth to power in America, as long as you are rational about it, and do so in a polite and dispassionate tone of voice that doesn’t wake anybody up.
