Hello everyone.. Great discussion... Perhaps shifting from Chomsky as an individual to looking at larger interacting systems would give a more optimistic perspective I would also suggest extendingthe time frame a bit. While at a given moment an individual may appear "unheard" by those in power...my experience has been that change on the social level occurs not one on one..as in conversational change..but at the level of system...where all sorts of group and individual actions over time work on different systems  and individuals at various levels in the system at once. Using a shorter timeframe and a criteria of change involving individuals in immediate proximity to the activist would likely result in utter burn out and frustration:) Best Renee Levant