Eyes Wide Open

Noam Chomsky’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein has certainly challenged my perception of him. On the one hand, I’m disgusted by it. On the other hand, I can’t say I’m truly surprised.

His wife’s excuses are pathetic. Either Noam knew and didn’t care, or he didn’t know which undermines whatever critical faculty he once possessed. This is a guy who went deep on war criminals. His essays and books are heavily-footnoted with some of the most obscure sources. Noam could take apart Ronald Reagan and Ariel Sharon, but he couldn’t parse Jeffrey Epstein?

Again, I knew Noam for a time. We talked on the phone. We met for lunch. He had me fill in for him at a Palestinian scholars conference (following Edward Said, not an easy gig). He quoted me in one of his books. During the build up to the first Gulf War, he quoted me in interviews. I had his trust, and he had mine.

Now, we are all flawed. And we live in an imperialist world. There are only so many moves we can make. Noam made dents in that world. To what end I cannot say. I’m still trying to make sense of this.

Noam’s book on Israel and the Middle East, The Fateful Triangle, changed my life. I was a joke writer in LA when I first read it and thought, “What the fuck am I doing here?” It led me to abandon the sitcom path and join Fairness And Accuracy In Reporting. Such was Noam’s influence.

He still owes me money.