PROMETHEAN ANTAGONIST

Those who peruse blogs like this one are already aware of the latest fun with Chomsky info that recently came out. I first came across these latest hypocrisies of the MIT “genius” in a link at Dissecting Leftism. The -- excellent -- article, at Tech Central Station, exposes some details in Chomsky financial dealings. In themselves of course they’re unimportant. Being rich or investing in the stock market certainly doesn’t bother this free-market sympathizer (though I’ve never been rich or owned stock). The problem with Chomsky being rich and owning stock is that his entire reputation and following rests upon his credentials as a confirmed anti-capitalist. Of course, in the land of socialist idealism, being rich and owning stock is not all that novel. Even Marx -- the big man of modern socialism – played the stock market (usually with other people's money since, like his followers, he was also a notorious leech).

Chomsky is often cited as the world’s greatest living intellectual and, on occasion, christened the greatest intellectual who ever lived (really pushing it). Such pronouncements tend to call into question the definitions people are using when they say, “intellectual.” No doubt, Chomsky is very smart and educated and could likely converse on issues like which Beethoven string quartet is the finest, but being a “great intellectual” today usually requires no more than the fact that other “intellectuals” have praised you, and not for your knowledge of (for example) medieval literature or mastery of several languages (something Chomsky -- a linguist -- has failed to do). No, Chomsky is “great” in the eyes of kindred spirits for no other reason than his ability to relentlessly attribute negative character to America and its capitalist system. Although his worldview has been described in several renegade-sounding labels, ultimately he’s just a socialist. Of course that label offers some margin to move around but tax attorney’s offices and stock portfolios generally aren’t what one expects of someone who clearly doesn’t like capitalism.

(From the essay at Tech Central Station) “But trusts can't be all bad. After all, Chomsky, with a net worth north of $2,000,000, decided to create one for himself. A few years back he went to Boston's venerable white-shoe law firm, Palmer and Dodge, and with the help of a tax attorney specializing in "income-tax planning" set up an irrevocable trust to protect his assets from Uncle Sam. He named his tax attorney (every socialist radical needs one!) and a daughter as trustees. To the Diane Chomsky Irrevocable Trust (named for another daughter) he has assigned the copyright of several of his books, including multiple international editions."

I knew Chomsky sold a lot of books, tapes, and videos so he had to be raking in some of that evil capitalist cash. I knew he lived in a nice bourgeois suburban neighborhood. Nothing wrong with being rich and socialist (a rather popular paradox as a matter of fact), but this latest revelation really puts the icing on the stale Chomsky cake – the guy’s got stocks! That’s like a CEO attending the Communist International (this isn’t China after all!).

It seems that more and more when one hears or reads of a famous leftist’s chastisements of America, capitalism, and wealth in general, one can be almost certain that the whining Jacobin will be:

A. Filthy rich.
B. Well invested in large corporations

Please read the article to find out how deep the rabbit hole – and pile of rabbit s**t -- really goes.