Dear Noam,
I have either read or listened to every debate you've been in, and can unbiasedly say you've never lost one.
I have listened to countless talks and lectures you have given, and have learned something every time.
To memorize all the history and record can be taught, but your calm, humane demeanor cannot. You lead best by example, and you make every person who meets or hears you a better person as well. You even somehow find the time to answer all the letters you receive, which in itself is amazing.
You have been vilified, defamed, and attacked relentlessly for fifty-plus years, but you have never stopped doing what you thought was right.
For all of this, I cannot thank you enough. But I'll try by saying this: you have made my life better in innumerable ways. I want to be just like you.
Thank you.
Jess - Alberta, Canada

I think you are very generous with your time and effort in sharing and explaining your thoughts and opinions. With the risk of embarassing you, I must say that I have yet to come across anybody (dead or alive) with your clarity in thinking, and hence your ability to analyze "situations" critically. This includes drawing analogies and similarities at the most fundamental level, despite the superficial differences that often preoccupy the mainstream media (e.g. your interview with william Buckley). Your ability to postulate hypotheses is also remarkable (e.g. propaganda model for manufacturing consent.).

I realize that the above is a poor and limited summary of your contributions. That's my "problem".

Happy Birthday, and thanks.

Albert Liem

Thanks for decades of inspiration... and for your steadfast "swimming against the mainstream." Words cannot do justice to your contribution to our lives and times...

Congratulations!

Robert L. Peters, FGDC
www.robertlpeters.com

I'd like to thank Professor Chomsky for the deep and lasting impact his work has had on my personal and political life, for close to a decade now. Like many here, I was introduced to his writings in university, and around the time I started to have my political awakening, I began to eagerly search out and read every single book or article written by Chomsky that I could find. His relentless dedication, accuracy, and above all moral clarity have inspired me in many ways over the years since. In addition, he somehow finds the time to respond to e-mail sent to him by hundreds of people every single day.

I know that the last thing he'd want is to be considered a celebrity, and indeed the most important lesson he teaches is to think for ourselves. This will be his real legacy I think. Still, reading the entries here, it's undeniable that Chomsky has had a profound effect on the thinking and awareness of countless people around the world, and for that he deserves special thanks and appreciation. So thank you Professor Chomsky, and Happy Birthday; here's to 80 more.

Hi Noam- Your work, along with that of many other activists and writers that you have introduced me to through your writings is a constant and daily source of inspiration. But on this particular day I would like to thank you personally for your unflinching honesty, integrity, courage and especially your tremendous effort at helping us understood our past and current circumstances. You are indeed a great friend of humanity. Happy Birthday Noam!

Dear Noam,
I came to your political books by reading your linguistic ones as a graduate student in sociology (with an interest in language) at the University of British Columbia in the early 1970s. I read with a passion, if on the side, your American Power and the New Mandarins (1969), At War With Asia (1971), Problems of Knowledge and Freedom (1971) and For Reasons of State (1973). But in 1974, when Peace in the Middle East came out, I was writing my dissertation, and the task of understanding the “question of Palestine,” about which I knew nothing, seemed just too demanding. In 1975 I got my first job in sociology. From then on I devoted myself to what seemed the enormous task of simply trying to be a good sociologist, both in research and teaching. It wasn’t until another thirteen years had passed that things changed. Again, it's your fault. In the fall of 1988 I heard your Massey Lectures on CBC-Radio (Necessary Illusions). I have never been the same since.
"The intellectual responsibility of the writer, or any decent person, is to tell the truth ... it is a moral imperative to find out and tell the truth as best one can, about things that matter, to the right audience. The responsibility of the writer as a moral agent is to try and bring the truth about matters of human significance to an audience that can do something about them. That is part of what it means to be a moral agent rather than a monster.

Dear Noam,

Belated best wishes on your 80th, love and appreciation for many years of fine work and hopes for much more.

in resistance

JS

Je salue M. Chomsky votre engagement politique et toute l'énergie que vous avez mit a démytifier la prétendue neutralité des médias.Depuis votre engagement publique contre la guerre du Vietnam vous avez été a de multiples occasions une source de référence pour moi. Je vous souhaite un joyeux anniversaire et une longue vie car notre monde a de plus en plus besoin de vous.
Yves Perreault Montréal

Like so many other people, your work has inspired me ever since I first heard of you. Thank you so much for you tireless efforts. I wish you all the best.

Dear M. Chomsky,
I've had the opportunity to be introduced to your work while studying in a Montreal univerity a few years ago. The books you have written and the intervews you have given have been so inspirational. It's very reassuring to know that people like you will voice the opinion of the portion of the people that is against the mainstream ideology.

A very happy birthy and long and healthy life to you M. Chomsky. We need you.

From french canada
Nathalie

i'm deeply grateful for all of the work that you've done. i'm equally amazed by your ability to accomplish so much. your dedication to truth and justice and your compassion for others is absolutely remarkable. your contributions, unparalleled. on a personal level, i'd like to thank you for having influenced my political and intellectual development more than any other person in my life. always in your debt,

Vancouver's StopWar.ca Coalition was honoured to have Noam Chomsky as our keynote speaker at our rally in March 2004 protesting the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

Noam's participation in our event helped bring out a big crowd. At least 15,000 people listened attentively, as Noam spent half an hour outlining the machinations of empire. It was one small example of the invaluable work he has been doing for nearly half a century - articulating penetrating and honest dissent by exposing the crimes of U.S. foreign policy in Vietnam, East Timor, Haiti, Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond.

If more academics and intellectuals followed Chomsky's trailblazing commitment to activism and social justice, we would be living in a better world. As for the dangerous and troubled world we do live in, we need Chomsky's insights more than ever.

The members of our coalition wish Noam and his family all the best on his 80th birthday.

Dear Noam

Happy birthday and many more. You are an inspiration.

Chau for now

Edson

I don't think Chomsky is a deserving leading intellectual.

While not having read his entire works, I can say that his writings I have read lacked class analysis and never pushed the analysis of modern capitalism far enough to even be considered amongst the great critiques of today's society.

I would qualify Chomsky as a bourgeois who had life easy by telling american leftists how they should lead their struggle.

I'm glad that his reign on western anarchist culture is nearing an end; with it we can hope for the downfall of left-wing intellectual masturbation.

O.