Agreed. This is going to be ugly, and at this point... good. It's been well-earned. It appears America gets to lose again.
Well, briefly, I am quite fond of Chomsky. I'm a mixture of a libertarian socialist and a democratic socialist. I consider Bertrand Russell, George Orwell, Martin Luther King, and Noam Chomsky to be the fathers of modern libertarian/democratic socialism. I have critiques of specific views that Noam Chomsky has, but on the whole I think he articulates what most libertarian socialists think and feel.
Yes, I assumed Bertrand Russell was on your reading list!
I took the Chomsky nick on a quick lark as I was signing-up here. I happened to be re-acquainting myself with him, by working my way through one of his compendiums focused on his foundation work in the area of power structures:
Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky.
Unfortunately the nick is occasionally polarizing, so I catch noise from both sides: Those that believe I'm taking one of Chomsky's positions when I am not, and those that believe I should be more true to Chomsky when I'm not! I often wanted to change it and even donated to DP for that privilege, but with many posts and much time here I hate to lose my history & rep, whatever that may be. If I did it over, I would've picked something more anonymously neutral.
But as to Noam himself, I find him an exciting read! The diametric opposite of his public speaking. I haven't found many more monotonically boring in their verbal dissertations, than he; but in print, his ideas jump-off the paper! A lot of his stuff is so out of mainstream thought that I initially find it incredulous; but it is often mind-expanding, unique, and novel, and if I free my mind I can sometimes agree or see the possibilities. Of course, there's a lot he puts out there that I never do agree with, but I still walk-away feeling better for the read because he causes me to think, and think hard, and contemplate ideas and thought out of my comfort-zone. He challenges my very foundation thought and premises, and causes me to re-analyze them - and that's always a good thing!
I think he's best approached with a sixtie's mindset. Having a soft-spot for little revolution or anarchy in your heart, doesn't hurt either. I say this last with trepidation, because these terms are often associated with violence, which is not what I'm about. But I'm not above having a desire to topple a few corrupted institutions, that's for sure! So Chomsky resonates well with me.
He's also held in contempt by many, and believed to be un-American, perceived to go too far in his America bashing. But I have no problem brushing these complaints off, since he is a man of ideas and theories, not nationalistic patriotism; and his calling is to critique & expose, and to coldly & harshly analyze. In all fairness, he beats-up on all governments, and America is no exception. And his critique isn't with governments per se, but rather with power structures! And that I think is a critically important insight he continually stresses: Government and it's actions are the result of power; we need to understand these avenues of power, if we are to understand government and/or effect change. Great stuff!
TL;DR Chomsky's not for everybody, but can challenge one's foundations