Chavez Brings Noam Chomsky Back To Life (and Best-Seller Status)

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At a news conference after his spirited address to the United Nations on Wednesday, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela expressed one regret: not having met that icon of the American left, the linguist and MIT Institute Professor Noam Chomsky, before his death.

Providing Chavez can last after calling George W. Bush the devil, his wish may be granted because Chomsky is very much alive, and quite amused at the Venezuelan President's remarks. But also pleased that Chavez promotion of his book, “Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance,” has propelled it to best-seller status. By the way, this is a great book if you haven't read it. Read more of this article for links on free downloads of Chomsky podcasts.

Chavez, while addressing world leaders at the United Nations, flagged “Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance,” which Chomsky published in 2003, as a must-read. Chomsky said he was glad that Chavez liked his book, but he would not describe himself as flattered. “We should look at ourselves through our own eyes and not other people’s eyes,” he said.

Chomsky said he had taken no offense at Chavez’s remarks about his being dead. In fact, Chavez’s promotion of the book propelled it Thursday into Amazon’s top 10 best sellers.

While retired from teaching full time, Chomsky still goes to his office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, occasionally lecturing and also working on a new book.

At the United Nations, the remarks by Chavez on Wednesday set off a firestorm that almost overshadowed the visit by Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose country has been under intense global scrutiny for its nuclear ambitions. From the podium of the General Assembly, the Venezuelan leader said he smelled lingering sulfur, left by President Bush, who had spoken there the day before and whom he branded “the devil.”

Chavez continued mocking Bush on Thursday in Harlem, where he announced the expansion of a program to send cheap Venezuelan oil to poor families in New York. He told a group gathered on the street that the president was an “ex-alcoholic” who had “a lot of hang-ups” and tried to walk “like John Wayne.”

Chomsky said that he would not choose to use the same harsh oratory, but added that the Venezuelan leader was simply expressing the views of many in the world. And he said Chavez’s anger was understandable.

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Noam Chomsky Podcasts

 

Go Hugo, Go!
Posted by MS on 2006-09-23 21:49:25
I don't know why people are fussing over Chavez so much because he's getting people to read! Bush, on the other hand, had to create the governmental nightmere "No Child Left Behind" because his intellect is impotent.

Thus, I say: "Congratulations Hugo! You showed that politicians can be simultaneously creative, witty and intellectual!"

Keep patting your head and rubbing your stomach!
 

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