Have you ever noticed that....

[Dave (in MA)]

If Noam Chomsky wants to talk about the computer languages he designed for the Pentagon computers, then I will listen. If he is going to go on about social issues he clearly is clueless on, then no, I am not paying him any mind than folks who disagree with my views give to me.

[at least 100 dead]

If Noam Chomsky wants to talk about the computer languages he designed for the Pentagon computers, then I will listen.

That is indeed shocking, given the general thrust of his social commentary in the past few decades. However, that was in the late sixties – maybe even he's allowed to change his mind, having been inside the belly of the beast?

[Rune Blackwings]

That is indeed shocking, given the general thrust of his social commentary in the past few decades. However, that was in the late sixties – maybe even he's allowed to change his mind, having been inside the belly of the beast?

Or maybe too many people are impressed by vellum that pronounces degrees without looking to see what those degrees really symbolize.

[at least 100 dead]

^
Yet most of his commercially available books do not display his academic rank on the front cover (it’s “Noam Chomsky” not “Prof. Noam Chomsky”), so in this case the vellum’s rather veiled.

But I agree (and this brings us back to original poster’s proposition) that titles and degrees may be abused to exclude those who don’t have any from public discourse, even if a particular issue directly affects them.