There were four reasons I give this review its title: 1) readers of the headline, including Chomsky adversaries, might wish to learn more about such claimed blasphemy and read the article; 2) Columbia has had some recent controversy around its invited speakers (specifically Iran’s Ahmadinejad), which is irresistible reading to those interested; 3) Chomsky indeed implies that what he calls American imperialism is G*d’s fault – and his lecture is a litany of examples of claimants to American Exceptionalism who explicitly cite divine ordination and will (they themselves proudly claim that G*d is behind it); and 4) so far, G*d hasn’t punished America as Adams feared he [sic?] one day will. In other words, Chomsky ultimately asks, “Dear G*d, when is the retribution?” – thus «criticizing» G*d for inaction.

In a sense, you were fortunate to have read this article in the first place (i.e., that it exists, not that I am exceptionally worth-y). An interesting insight I gained from “Chomsky” is one you couldn’t know: I apparently was the only journalist outside Columbia to cover Chomsky’s lecture (to the best of my knowledge, neither local paper – New York Times or Wall Street Journal – deployed a reporter). I recently read that the vast majority of original global news content (by volume of dissemination) comes from something like fifteen sources. (Because of the persistence of intellectual property, Wikipedia has analogous clout in the knowledge space – there are a vast number of verbatim Wikipedia articles online.) Obviously that’s an exaggeration, but “Chomsky” is read daily a year later, which I consider remarkable. The typical search is something like “Chomsky God” – probably yours, and probably the provocative, hyperbolic title the reason you pushed the button and read, n’est-ce pas? Oh, and one more thing: Someone at Google loves me, and it’s not algorithmic.

All Best,

David