Chomsky has always seemed to me remarkably free of what some Brits call "side" - insolence, arrogance, pretentiousness - and unusually willing to suffer fools, if not gladly, at least without pulling (intellectual) rank. I've witnessed a number of examples of his being, both theoretically and practically, no respecter of persons. --CGE
On Dec 20, 2011, at 7:13 PM, shag carpet bomb wrote:
> ...Chomsky has some capacity for substanceless ad hominem, and it's
> only ever pulled out for those for whom he has zero respect but who
> are also allies. He just couches it in an aww shucks, who me routine
> so you don't really notice it...