Richard Hawkes: The woman's analogy and the the man's response were both daft. Maybe they should get married. Then they can trade stupid analogies all day without having to bother the rest of us
The difference is that when the woman said that "All gun owners are potential murderers" she thought she was making an interesting point. So the geology professor responded along the lines, "
By your logic, having a sex organ makes you a potential prostitute!"
He was not criticizing her for being a potential prostitute; rather, he was pointing out by analogy how stupid and meaningless her statement was. He did so by making a good analogy which would more easily be seen by everyone as stupid and meaningless. That was his goal; he made his point, and he was persecuted for doing so.
Back to Noam Chomsky, he is popular among people who despise mainstream American economic and political ideas because he is an intellectual who despises mainstream American economic and political ideas. He is more popular among Europeans than among Americans because relatively few Americans (mainly university professors) despise mainstream American economic and political ideas, but quite a few Europeans do.
[ February 04, 2004: Message edited by: Frank Silbermann ]