Why, Noam?
The bubbling cesspool that is the Epstein files continues to belch forth evidence of a hideous, degenerate, and depraved international conspiracy by the cream of capitalism’s crop to enslave and rape hundreds of girls and young women. At the center of the conspiracy was Jeffrey Epstein, the chief pedophile, con artist, and grifter. Epstein also had Really Important People on speed-dial, with whom he did all kinds of business business, money business, political business, and schmoozing: Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, Alan Dershowitz, Woody Allen, Deepak Chopra, Elon Musk, Katie Couric, Bill Gates, Howard Lutnick, Larry Summers, Bill Clinton, Steve Tisch, etc. An editor at the Financial Times described the Epstein files as “an MRI of the establishment,” of “how things work in a culture where shame has vanished.” A lack of shame that flows from a sense of impunity and entitlement,
Then I saw Noam Chomsky’s name in the files.
Chomsky has been a brilliant public intellectual on the Left for decades. He wrote many books on a wide range of subjects. I’ve heard people talk about the impact that a particular book had on their political education. I’ve read some of his articles and I’ve listened to him on webinars and YouTube and in interviews. He has taught generations of students and activists. And also me. I’d wager lots of those people are wondering how that person could be this person in the files.
Here’s an example of this person: In February 2019, eleven years after Epstein had been convicted of soliciting a child for prostitution, Epstein asked Chomsky for advice on how to handle the snowballing negative publicity about his pedophile project. Chomsky commiserated with Epstein about “the horrible way you are being treated in the press and the public,” and added,
What the vultures dearly want is a public response, which then provides a public opening for an onslaught of venomous attacks, many from just publicity seekers or cranks of all sorts -- which are impossible to answer (how do you prove that you are not a neo-Nazi who wants to kill the Jews, or a rapist, or whatever charge comes along?). That’s particularly true now with the hysteria that has developed about abuse of women, which has reached the point that even questioning a charge is a crime worse than murder. [My emphasis.] For virtually everyone who sees any of this, the reaction will be “where there’s smoke there’s fire, maybe raging fire” (whatever the facts, which few will even think of investigating).
Chomsky wrote that email three months after the Miami Herald broke the story about a government coverup in Epstein’s 2008 trial and five months before the FBI arrested him on charges of sex trafficking minors. The shit had already hit the fan. Epstein’s victims were screaming for justice, but Chomsky dismissed them as “hysterical.” He actually used that word (or, rather, the noun form), which generations of self-entitled misogynists have used to dehumanize women and to present themselves as the victims. Chomsky chose Epstein’s friendship over Epstein’s victims.
I’ve been around the Left for almost six decades, including 20 years in the Communist Party, USA. I understand that we bring our ideological baggage with us on our political journeys and it’s hard to lighten the load along the way, unlearning all the stuff we didn’t even know we knew. That ideological struggle lasts a lifetime and is never finished. I can attest to that. But the first step is to understand what’s in the suitcase, those hierarchies of class, race, national origin, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and sexual orientation that pit us against each other instead of against those who create and benefit from the hierarchies. Unlearning is a process, but along with unlearning comes accountability for the harm you cause. I have to believe that Chomsky knows this.
How could Chomsky hang out with Epstein who, even leaving aside the latter’s conviction for soliciting a child for prostitution, represented the worst aspects of a capitalist system Chomsky had inveighed against? Why would Chomsky agree to Epstein arranging a meeting with Ehud Barak, a former prime minister of Israel, to discuss “Israel’s policies regarding Palestinian issues” when Chomsky knew those policies and had condemned them? Why would he use Epstein as a go-between to ask Steve Bannon for a meeting because they had “lots to talk about”? Why not debate them in the open, as he did with others so many times in the past? How did his meeting with Bannon advance the struggle for democracy and against fascism? How did his meeting with Barak advance the cause of Palestinian liberation?
Lots of questions and no answers. Maybe Chomsky was seduced by the easy access to power and the people who wield it: private jets, grabbing dinner in New York City, maybe a vacation on Epstein’s infamous Caribbean island, really important people treating you as really important and asking your opinion on really important matters.
Chomsky’s body of work stands on its own merits and will continue to teach the coming generations, but now there is an asterisk.
Chomsky suffered a severe stroke in 2023, which paralyzed his right side and significantly affected his ability to speak. He is recovering at home, where he turned 97 years old in December. I wish him well. Not because I want him to get better so I can yell “Epstein!” at him, but because I want him to get better. And maybe then he will hold himself accountable. A bi gezunt, Noam.
Dad joke
What is feudal society?
Answer: a bunch of people who argue all the time.