Noam Chomsky...
Noam came to West Point. I was excited and me and all my friends who consider ourselves intellectuals because we know who Noam is went down to see him. All day I heard cadets talking about him, but not because of who he is or what he's done, but because they thought his name was funny and they were upset that he was going to cut into their off time.
He spoke breifly saying why he didn't like just war theory and then concluded with a condemnation of the war in Iraq. A few cadets asked some lame questions and he left the stage. I shook his hand and asked a question that, while not "good" was at least something I had been wondering about his speech. After that a jewish cadet with what appeared to be tears behind his eyes held up a copy of Alan Dershowitz's "The Case for Israel" and said, "Sir, this is actually where I first heard about you." to which Chomsky replied, "No you didn't. What that book says about me isn't real, it's a farce of what I've actually said." He then went on to berate the book and offer the cadet some words of advice and explain the distinction between hating a state's policies and hating a state.
I wanted to hear more, but by this point, Chomsky was surrounded by a group of civilians who had popped out of nowhere. There was a skinny indian middle aged man, a soccer mom with a tacky green eyeglass holder holding her sunglasses around her neck, my arabic teacher in one of his Joseph Aboud suits and speaking far too loudly, two civilian college students with long hair and ironic looks on thier faces and one really short lady with stringy hair...all of whom were asking overly intellectual questions and looking as though they were talking to him not because they were lucky to be near him but because they thought they somehow had earned to speak to him because they'd read enough of his books.
I didn't get a picture with him, so you'll just have to trust me.
He spoke breifly saying why he didn't like just war theory and then concluded with a condemnation of the war in Iraq. A few cadets asked some lame questions and he left the stage. I shook his hand and asked a question that, while not "good" was at least something I had been wondering about his speech. After that a jewish cadet with what appeared to be tears behind his eyes held up a copy of Alan Dershowitz's "The Case for Israel" and said, "Sir, this is actually where I first heard about you." to which Chomsky replied, "No you didn't. What that book says about me isn't real, it's a farce of what I've actually said." He then went on to berate the book and offer the cadet some words of advice and explain the distinction between hating a state's policies and hating a state.
I wanted to hear more, but by this point, Chomsky was surrounded by a group of civilians who had popped out of nowhere. There was a skinny indian middle aged man, a soccer mom with a tacky green eyeglass holder holding her sunglasses around her neck, my arabic teacher in one of his Joseph Aboud suits and speaking far too loudly, two civilian college students with long hair and ironic looks on thier faces and one really short lady with stringy hair...all of whom were asking overly intellectual questions and looking as though they were talking to him not because they were lucky to be near him but because they thought they somehow had earned to speak to him because they'd read enough of his books.
I didn't get a picture with him, so you'll just have to trust me.
posted by Adam at 4:28 AM
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