Agreed.  And I know there are quite a few people out there, all over the world, who would site Chomsky as one of their main inspirations for the work they do.  Chomsky has set the tone in terms of doing rational research of social events; he's a master at denominalizing those big political phrases "for liberty and justice for all"... so in terms of "the meaning of communication is the response you elicit" I think Chomsky is doing great by any standards. Surely, you don't fault him for not having a larger impact. That's up to the rest of us as well.  I mean, look at NLP. Dr. Grinder has done a hell of a job, but there are still gobs of people who have never heard of it and many who have heard of it and belittle it to no end.  Of course, Dr. Grinder, and others, could do a better job, but you do have to draw the line somewhere- often the line wants to be bend into a circle around myself... You mention that Chomsky isn't speaking in a language that the opposition can relate to; when you are dealing with the taboos and presuppositions that Chomsky is working on, the opposition will always be the opposition. You don't worry about them because they must oppose you. However, fortunately, there is a massive amount of people out there who still enjoy thinking and observing the events happening around them, people whos egos are not attached to opposing anything in particular but who want to look at careful research.  Chomsky's 'fan' base is growing because of the latter group. I know because my 63 year old mother is one of them.  But chomsky is one of many who are finding that more and more people who identify themselves with the political middle are taking keen interest in what they are saying.  I mean, in mainstream bookstores we are beginning to see books that further the research of people like Chomsky, Said and others... I think there are certain expectations that we place on people like Chomsky, but really, he's eliciting major responses, many of which are helping people find new and useful relationships to the social field.  anyway, I'm tired... Doug