I think Norm Chomsky's knowledge of how language can be used to manipulate is probably what led him to become so politically active. In the current political climate, he eloquently and radically presents one side.
He did start out as a sort of linguistic philosopher. Now it seems as if he spends half his time defending against responses from the other side.
I think he would appreciate Al Gore's new book Assault on Reason.

~Samwik...

http://www.chomsky.info/whatsnew.htm
Making Sense of What Doesn't Make the News, by Antonia Zerbisias, The Toronto Star (May 18, 2007). An excerpt:
Here at the University of Windsor, where some 300 scholars, students and media guerrillas are revisiting Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky's groundbreaking "propaganda model" on the eve of its 20th anniversary, the talk is of how to take back the public agenda and make it serve the public interest instead of the corporate bottom line.

http://www.chomsky.info/articles/20070105.htm
South America: Toward an Alternative Future. International Herald Tribune. January 5, 2007.
In the Cochabamba Declaration, the presidents and envoys of 12 countries agreed to study the idea of forming a continent-wide community similar to the European Union.
The declaration marks another stage toward regional integration in South America, 500 years after the European conquests. The subcontinent, from Venezuela to Argentina, may yet present an example to the world on how to create an alternative future from a legacy of empire and terror.
....Other promising developments include Telesur, a new pan-Latin American TV channel based in Venezuela and an effort to break the Western media monopoly.

http://www.chomsky.info/articles/20050716.pdf
The Resort to Fear July '05, -p.11
"Even after official inquiries have completely undermined government-media propaganda about Saddam's WMD and links to al-Qaeda, half the population continue to believe the charges, and thus support not only the invasion...."
"We cannot underestimate the threat of terror, or the cynicism of centers of power in pursuit of their own often despicable ends, or the murderous violence to which they will resort if authority is granted to them by a frightened population."

~This could easily be over on the "Language" thread, eh? smile ~SA

Pyrolysis creates reduced carbon! ...Time for the next step in our evolutionary symbiosis with fire.