Very nice. A brilliant reminder of the human beings behind the thinking and writing and the ongoing effort towards peace and reason. Just Chomsky, sitting there, listening... thinking. Gave me quite a jolt seeing that face up there. One I probably needed. Many thanks (again).

Good photo! Unfortunately not so brilliant man: his pathetic idealism detracts from the picture. But that's just my opinion! :)

It's a shame after a billions of years we're still tryin' to DEFINE THE HUMAN RIGHTS !

- FercHeliX
Evolution Revolution :O

Nice portrait of a great human being. The inclusion of the text says all. Human rights should be for all humans, not just for those who have the US (and most of Europe) on their side.

Again I think it is a pity that in order to see the whole composition of a photograph you have to scroll. A good composition causes your eyes to travel over an image in a kind of orderly fashion. When you have to scroll the path your eyes travel over the image is interrupted. My little trip "arm-face-text" is spoiled by the scrolling.

I like the "Human Rights" thought-bubble above his head. If we're not thinkin' about our sisters and brothers in this world, we must not be thinkin'.

Oh... and nice shot, Sam. I bet the lecture was rad, eh?

Okay but not really what i would expect from this site
doesn't really do anything for me
maybe cause i don't know who he is?

He was recently profiled in Wired Magazine. Pretty cool.

"listening and thinking." something the current U.S. administration doesnt really know how to do... lets hope the next 4 years are a little more "intelligent". good potrait for a great thinker.

listened to it on CIUT. You didn't ask the last question, did you?

I believe Noam Chomsky is the most quoted author living, and the third most quoted author living or dead. Behind Jesus Christ and someone else I've forgotten (sorry - doesn't say much for me either ;-) Brilliant? Oh yeah. He qualifies. Big time.

Great portrait. Precise white balance and background bluring.

I may have some differences with Chomsky's opinions and political outlook (sometimes characterized as an anarcho-syndicalist). I am completely unqualified to even think about commenting on Universal Grammar and his work as a linguist except to note the prominence of this work in linguistics. Nonetheless he is a deep and frequently provocative thinker. To disparage this as 'pathetic idealism', as was done by one of the comments, is to completely miss the point. Idealism, whether misdirected or even mistaken, is nonetheless one of the major engines of human achievement and progress. To my mind pathetic idealism is an oxymoron.

We can do better and we will do better. Whether we will do so in a way forseen or even desired by Prof. Chomsky remains to be seen.

JW

Henk wrote, "Again I think it is a pity that in order to see the whole composition of a photograph you have to scroll."

On my monitor (1600 1200) the picture fits nicely. Not too big, not too small. Just like in the story of Goldilocks--it's just right. That's the problem, I guess, we have different monitors. The trend is toward larger and higher resolution monitors. So I hope Sam keeps doing what he is doing.

Very brilliant man, although sometimes his work can be difficult if you aren't quite as educated as he is... I don't agree with everything he says, but he is still brilliant. I think this is a really good shot, his body language shows that his thinking... and his eyes look like he's off in another world at the moment. I like how "Human Rights" is in the background. Thanks

emmm..., qu'est-ce que c'est 'The Human Rights' ?

I like the photo. Good shot of a human subject. I am a york graduate myself so am pleased to see my old university featured on this site. You seem to frequent York often. I wonder why that is.

As for Chomsky. I bet he is thinking "oh no that same old question again I've been asked this one a million times before at every lecture." and "when do I get a break I really could go for some tim hortons coffee and a donut." Just kidding those were my thoughts during most of my university lectures.

Chomsky is a deeply evil man with a terribly immature worldview. Loved his support of the Khmer Rouge. I'm disappointed in this site.

I was at the Noam Chomsky lecture at York and would like to say that he said some very insightful things and illuminated many as to the machiavelic intentions of todays greatest world Superpowers.

The photo is good. If I knew how you looked like sam I would have personally congratulated you on the photos in this website.

As good 'ol Noam as apt to say "Communism only killed 60 million people, let's give it another chance!"

JW: Very well said! "pathetic idealism is an oxymoron."

when a pic and some comments manage to 'dissapoint' little wingnut haters, you know you have art.

excellent portrait

Holy Crap I was there! Too bad his mic kept cutting out.

I was just leafing through your gallery looking for shots of toronto from street level. You've got some great ones here :)

it's unfortunate that some comments made here are trying to discredit a human rights activist. if you believe that a type of social system is responsible for killing 60 million then perhaps you're a little narrow minded. Our neighbour in the south has already killed 100,000 iraqi civilians, drop the N-Bomb on hiroshema, vietnam, gulf war...etc...is it correct to say that democracy killed 'x' amount of people? Great photo. It's amazing how one photo can bring up so much discussion.

Oh my GOD!!

Sam you are amazing!

I couldnt believe it when I saw this picture of THE Noam Chomsky, its a great image, I love that guy.

Chomsky and Bertrand Russell got it spot on, demacracy in the workplace!!