The new revelations about the relationship between Jeffrey Epstein and Noam Chomsky are far more disappointing and loathsome than previously understood.

Chomsky did not simply have some academic connection with Epstein, he was advising this serial abuser on how to deal with accusations and the press. Chomsky reduced these allegations to “hysteria.” He sides with Epstein over his victims. And that is sadly telling.

I met Chomsky at a lecture years ago and I have read his books. And they were very valuable in changing my worldview and understanding of capitalism, propaganda and imperialism. But I am beginning to realize something that I probably buried a long time ago in regard to Chomsky and other academics like him. Mostly white men. The red flags I chose to ignore.

I have noticed that there is a sort of detached comfort among too many academics when it comes to geopolitics. A way of intellectualizing and compartmentalizing suffering and cruelty, so that empathy can be dispatched, but only for those that align with ones worldview. In Chomsky’s case and others, victims of the American empire’s adversaries simply don’t count as much.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, February 2026