1. Thread. Despite many easy to criticize flaws, my intellectual hero remains Noam Chomsky, the man who revolutionized linguistics, significantly contributed to the burgeoning cognitive psychology movement, and did more than anybody to sustain the dissident left in the US.

2. Chomsky was, first and foremost, an absolute genius, a mind that even other geniuses envied--creative, stubborn, and wholly unique.

3. Chomsky, unlike some on the modern left, is and has always been a steadfast and unwavering champion of free speech. Consistently, he has defended the freedom of people to voice ideas which he finds repugnant, a practice we should strongly endorse.

4. Chomsky has also criticized one of the two or three most pernicious trends in modern intelligentsia: Postmodernism, frequently calling out French charlatans for their obscurantism and hypocritical claims to supporting the working class while writing indecipherable prose.

5. Here is more of Chomsky on postmodern silliness

6. Furthermore, and quite amazingly, for most of his adult life, he answered almost every email he received, often in astonishing detail. This despite an agonizingly busy work load. I know. I once had a long series of exchanges with him when I was in my early 20s.

7. Chomsky ridiculed "blank slate" theories and other psychological nonsense, and refused to join in on cheap criticisms of sociobiology (despite objections to some of the field's direction). He has been a tireless advocate of the idea that there is a genetically endowed nature.

8. Also, Chomsky has, despite mendacious accusations otherwise, consistently criticized Marxist-Leninism, and worked indefatigably to help Soviet dissidents.

"Lenin was a right-wing deviation of the socialist movement."



https://chomsky.info/1986____/ 

9. Chomsky also had a delightful sense of humor which he could deploy sardonically or playfully

10. I think I disagree with Chomsky more often than I agree with him, but, despite that, I try to read his writings at least once a month or so. Or watch him in debate. It's just a delight to watch such a powerful mind at work.