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Same. I emailed him about whether he'd ever met Margaret Mead, John C. Lilly, or Gregory Bateson in the 1960s while researching my book. I got this reply within hours:

"Afraid I never met any of those you mention, though I’ve followed their work for many years.

I’ve never been close to intellectual elite circles, including people I very much admire."

The time stamp for my email was Tuesday, Nov 26, 2019 at 2:19 PM. It was answered by chomsky@mit.edu at Tuesday, Nov 26, 2019 at 9:29 PM. Pretty remarkable.

1 comments

> I’ve never been close to intellectual elite circles

That is very humble

is this sarcasm? I read it as "I'm not welcome to parties because I don't toe the line"

I don't understand how you can get any information from that line about the reasons why he wasn't close to them.

No, no sarcasm and that's how I read it too.

So how is it humble? He is just saying he didn't hobnob with known intellectuals - isn't that just a statement of fact?

Chomsky has very controversial opinions on some subjects and I suspect that precludes him being invited to many parties.

Probably precludes him from accepting the invitations.

You cant be anti-imperialist and accept a dinner invitation where you will inevitably be forced to smile at and rub elbows with the same men you critique as war-criminals. The man is principled.

I hope he recovers. He would be sorely missed.

Why not? He's supposedly anti-imperislist yet had no problem living in their society.

> you will inevitably be forced to smile at and rub elbows with the same men you critique as war-criminals

I'm autistic, so I would smile and tell them exactly what I think of them. but fortunately I don't get invited to parties.

i think it's the opposite of humble, it's saying that he knows something that these intellectuals don't.