The scholar who revolutionized the world - Noam Chomsky

" But when they did not find them, they dragged?Jason and some other believers?before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world?have now come here..."

Acts 17:6 (New International Version)

Throughout the bible we learn about men and women who rose up to challenge authority on behalf of the masses. They were the voice of the voiceless, who did not mind putting their lives on the line for others. In the Old Testament of the Holy Bible, they were referred to as prophets, in the New Testament they were the apostles, and in the modern era they have been bequethed with many-a-title such as; intelluctuals, activists, convenors, dissidents, just to name a few.

There aren't many people that I would categorise as; "Men who have caused trouble all over the world" or "Men who have turned the world upside down" and of course, by causing trouble, we are referring to those who confronted the status quo at the time. However, this one man, whom I stumbled upon by accidently watching a lecture video of his, delivered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on the foundations of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, would not only change my life completely but would also challenge me in my pursuit towards attaining true scholarship.

Few white men who have been bestowed with such an abundance of privilege, particularly in one of the world's most arguably free nations - the United States of America - USA, have risen to the level of Professor Noam Chomsky in fighting for justice by critically analysing both historical and present issues concerning world powers. His articulation of world issues in chronological order, helps to make sense of the current happenings in the realm of geopolitics, hence causing the work of various activists all over the world, to be intelluctually driven.

Noam Chomsky was born on the 7th of December, 1928 in Philadelphia, US to William Chomsky and Elsie Simonofsky who were first generation Jewish immigrants. This was at a time where hatred towards Jews was overt in the region. He attended the Oak Lane Country Day School during his early years leading up to high school. He acknowledges the school for playing a major role in fostering his inner creativity without much emphasis being placed on competition amongst students. He would later attend the University of Pennsylvania for his undergraduate studies in philosophy and logic and later pursue a PhD in Linguistics in 1955. In an interview conducted in 2003, Noam Chomsky revealed that within his first year of undergraduate studies, he lost interest in school and nearly flunked out of college. He was however convinced to return to the classroom by Zellig Harris, a very prominent American linguist at the time. He is currently married to Valeria Wasserman Chomsky, a Brazilian translator whom he got married to in 2014.

He is a profound advocate for leftist-libertarianism and anarchism. These two viewpoints have formed the basis of most of his arguments throughout his life. He believes that every form of authority, particularly political authority, must be in a constant state of justifying to the citizenry that they are genuine and legitimate. Political authority must never be diefied or else we risk constantly absolving them of any form of meaningful criticism. The state according to Chomsky is not a moral entity, however, it is the people that make up the state that must be regarded as moral entities.

Another interesting idea that Chomsky espouses is the concept of wage slavery, where employees are supposed to sell their labour in order to earn a wage. In societies with serious wealth gaps, individuals with creative abilities in certain fields, which might not be considered as financially lucrative, have to sacrifice their time and energy, which could have been spent harnessing their abilities, working to earn a decent wage, in areas that might not be linked to their natural competencies or worse in a work setting that sucks the life out of what could have otherwise been a fulfilling lifelong career.

Personal philosophies aside, Chomsky was a big advocate in the anti-Vietnam War movement in the 1960s and 1970s. He spoke at many rallies and wrote extensively on the topic where he heavily criticized US political power for its participation in the war which led to a devastation of the region. His criticism of the war was further expanded into a general criticism of US foreign policy in different parts of the world. In a popular interview at Stony Brook University on 30th April, 2003 with journalist Bill Zimmerman, Chomsky outlined the indictable offenses of all post-World war II presidents of the United States. He has also been heavily critical of the US-Isreal foreign policy in Palestine, comparing Isreal to the Apartheid government that existed in South Africa from 1948 to 1994.

He has also been heavily critical of mainstream media, referring to it as a propaganda machine used by the elites to control opinion. In democratic societies, where force cannot be used to compel citizens to obey certain rules, the one instrument used to compel is the control of opinion. In a joint work with Edward Herman called "Manufacturing Consent" written in 1988 Chomsky outlines how this so-called instrument of propaganda works. He references individuals such as; Walter Lippmann, who actually coined the term in the early 90s. In an interview with BBC journalist, Andrew Marr which first aired in February 1966, Chomsky breaks down even further, this so-called propaganda model by comparing the coverage of certain issues on both television and print media to the exclusion of others, for example; "The Watergate Scandal" as compared to the coverage of "Co-Intelpro" which both occured around the same time period.

I suggest that you take time to read the many books written by this absolute maverick of a professor and study most of his arguments on libertarianism, language and the concept of human freedoms. In this celebrity and social media driven society, where real and authentic role models are hard to come by, individuals of Chomsky's calibre must never be overlooked.