I'm not gonna stand by everything the guy ever said. But he is 97 years old for lord's sake. He was born just a decade after the fall of Tsarist Russia.

Nobody stays the same over 100 years. Chomsky's been getting noticeably more inconsistent in his actions and statements since like.. the year 2000, which is when basically all these criticisms are from.

I'm not saying 'ignore all old people', but I am saying people change enormously over half a century and we shouldn't judge them as if they are exactly the same person they were. To start picking apart the consistency of the ramblings or actions of a ninety-seven year old as if he's still an on-the-ball scholar just feels a bit unnecessary.

Cambodian genocide denial and Khmer Rouge apologia was also very bad, but unfortunately a lot of big leftist figures at the time engaged in it. It was one of those events where a lot of respected left wing figures got it extremely wrong in real time.