than it is the man in the moon’s. Let the people w ho borrowed the
money pay it back.”
Fortunately, Brazil has advanced quite a bit from the sorry state
it w as in back then—thanks in no small part to Chomsky’s efforts on
its behalf.
Avram Noam Chomsky w as born December 7, 1928 in Philadelphia.
His father W illiam w as a famous Hebrew scholar and Noam spent
time on a kibbutz in his early tw enties. T he father of three children,
he lost his w ife Carol in 2008, after almost sixty years of marriage.
Since 1955 he’s taught philosophy and linguistics—a field his
theories have revolutionized—at MIT, w here he became a full
professor at the age of 32. In addition to his paradigm-shifting
linguistic theories, he’s w ritten many books on political issues and
has received countless honors and aw ards (including 37 honorary
degrees). A nonstop activist w ith a relentless lecture schedule, he
does more than any three normal people, but feels he’s never doing
enough,
Chomsky is an electrifying speaker, and that’s due solely to w hat
he says, not to the unpretentious, straightforw ard w ay in w hich he
says it (he consciously avoids rhetorical flourishes). Sharp as a razor
in debate but w arm and amiable in conversation, he’s both the most
moral and the most know ledgable person I’ve ever met.
I hope he lives to be 100. You should too. T he w orld w ill be an
emptier, lonelier and less just place w ithout him.
Arthur Naiman