Chomsky?

A poll in Britain has named anti-American, anti-war MIT linguist Noam Chomsky the "world's top public intellectual."  (hat tip: Ace of Spades)

Best known for his loud and consistent criticism of the Vietnam War and US foreign policy over the last 40 years, Chomsky, 76, decisively beat Italian novelist and academic Umberto Eco and third-placed Oxford University professor Richard Dawkins to top the poll.

Now, here's the important part of the story (not that this story is at all important):

Of 20,000 voters in the Prospect/Foreign Policy poll published this week in Prospect magazine, 4,800 voted for Chomsky to Eco's 2,500.

We now know three vital pieces of information in assessing this news item.  One, the poll was in a magazine.  A left-wing magazine.  Two, 20,000 people took the time to vote voluntarily, hardly a broad random sample. Three, there was a list from which you could choose, and was not an open ended question.  Chomsky had, interestingly, the best response.

Chomsky was unimpressed with the honour, telling The Guardian newspaper that polls were something "I don't pay a lot of attention to," adding that "it was probably padded by some friends of mine."

Exactly.

10/26/05 1205: John Hawkins of Right Wing News actually read the new Chomsky book, and after doing so can recite chapter and verse of Chomsky's disinformation.  (hat tip: Will's Carnival of Classiness)

Comments

[Will Franklin]

He is also revered in Austin, Texas. There's an emoish punkish rock band named for him there. And many of the students love him and hold occasional rallies praising him. I am not even kidding.

[Giacomo]

There are a lot of people in that age range who wear Che Guevara t-shirts, but that doesn't make Che a good guy. Maybe if they read and understood a little they might scrap the t-shirts. Then again, maybe not...