2005 was dark times. Iraq had become the first war of the 21st century, and had already descended into medieval decapitations.

There were intellectuals that stood as symbols against the abomination of it all. Chomsky was one such personality.

So polarizing were these times, that one had to question whether an academic criticism was based in legitimate intellect, or simply represented a contrived effort to discredit and ruin a politically relevant individual.

With Fox News on the prowl, Chomsky's co-authorship of the book, Manufacturing Consent, made him a valid target for character assassination, and simultaneously a defensible individual to those Fox News would so polarize.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent

Maybe this other scholar's criticisms are academically valid within the context of linguistics, but without considering the cultural relevance and stature Chomsky held during that period to those that despised the premise of Iraq, he had doomed himself to the cold shoulder of many. His writings, after all, would not be published in a vacuum.

This is the context under which the author of this article should come to understand his situation. It was bad timing. Tone deaf to debacles unfolding elsewhere.