Epstein was a major bundler and influencer in the liberal establishment, specifically within the US East Coast and the EU West Coast regions. Chompsky was also in this circle of influential political and media figures. Its not crazy that they'd run into each other any more than Epstein hobnobbing with any other Ivy League professors or national media figures or British Royals.

did the book sales for manufacturing consent get him that fucking rich?

More that knowing a guy like Epstein is what gets you regularly syndicated in news columns and invited as a guest onto TV shows. You could say the same about Larry Summers or Steven Pinker.

Very good question indeed. Sadly, it doesn't help that Chomsky keeps avoiding answering this and other related questions.

As someone so vocal about serious crimes going unpunished, I'd imagine he'd just openly say what's going on. If he's so adamant about staying silent, it only adds more doubt and further questions.

His net worth is <$2M.

At that point in his career, Chomsky was getting invited everywhere because he was branded "the top intellectual in the world".

People would see him speak and not understand a damned word he said.

Rich and powerful people like Epstein like to collect influence and status and part of that status is collecting novelty. This is something money can't directly buy and is exclusive so they need it like the parasites they are. Part of Epstein's appeal to these ghouls was that not only would he make you rich and get you girls but he himself was "smart" end erudite and surrounded himself with the "best and brightest." This is why he consorted with people like Hawking and Chomsky; he collected their reputations in his bag and then could tell other ghouls hey look come to the island, you can meet the most famous physicist of all time and, maybe, bang some young girls.

Epstein collected intellectuals. He bought whole science departments at MIT, and kept a brothel of soft intellectuals like Malcolm Gladwell (imo definitely participated in some extra curriculars with Epstein), Richard Dawkins, Stephen Pinker (whom JE voted off the island (heh) because he wouldn't corroborate JE's eugenicism) and many others.

Norm (I call him Norm now) Chomsky is a guy who will just like answer any emails that come to him. He's not difficult to get a response from. I think Epstein was good at handling intellectuals, and had a lot to offer researchers like Chomsky who wanted to know how to follow the money, and where the bodies were buried. Epstein's connections and insider knowledge to the CIA, Mossad, and Les Wexner are all legitimate enough reasons to spend time talking with him.

This isnt to shift blame or culpability away from Chomsky, just to say that Epstein and associates had developed a concrete basis for power and influence among intellectuals. It wasnt just taking advantage of underage young women for personal pleasure, but all rivers seem to run into that sea.

To me though it really illustrates how Chomsky was really an ivory-tower elitist. If there was ever proof that left wing ideas only matter when they lead to taking effective action in the struggle for liberation, then Chomsky's unrepentant associations with Epstein are a shining example. As if many of his "left wing" positions weren't already problematic enough, he made sure to put on full display whom is the real subject of his work, and it isnt the toiling and exploited classes. I have some ideological differences with him, but thankfully we don't need to worry about that. His actions speak to the actual nature of his ideas, so we need only gesture toward this photo as proof of how he demolished his own legacy, and how he doesnt deserve a place among those who actually struggle to educate people about the truth of our conditions.

May his work be forgotten. What a sad, pathetic man.

how does he afford to get a ticket to go to epstein island?

Epstein was a Mossad agent offering "honey pots" for kompromat and rule over the US/west. "You're a super interesting guy. I'm having a supermodel orgy in Bahamas with lots of other famous people. I can fly by and pick you up"... you're not doing anything wrong by saying yes.

Mossad leverage against non Zionist jewish activist.

He isn't really on the opposite side of Chomsky. Chomsky is very much allowed as vocal "opposition" because his conclusions all lie in cynicism towards the idea that there are meaningful alternatives to the status quo. He redirects radicalism toward doomerism and away from meaningful practice.

• The Mainstream and the Margins: Noam Chomsky vs. Michael Parenti
• 📺 The Imperial Theory Industry w/ Gabriel Rockhill

Not idolizing anyone has saved me so much grief. I have been upset many times (I once went to see Bill Cosby live), but never heartbroken.

one thing that I think all lefties can agree on, from Social democrats, Anarchists to "Tankies" The fall of the soviet union was a horrible event for the workers of the former union, shock therapy was the worst possible method one could think of to transition the former communist (socialist if you so dare to be pedantic) economy into a capitalist economy