Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez not only stirred things up this week with his address to the U.N., in which he referred to President George W. Bush as the devil, he also started an incorrect rumour that renowned linguist and political thinker Noam Chomsky was dead. At a news conference, Chávez expressed regret at “not having met that icon of the American left, the linguist Noam Chomsky, before his death.”

The New York Times checked in on Chomsky and found him alive and well, working and writing. The scholar was, however, struggling to get through 10,000 emails he had received regarding Chávez’s remark.

Chomsky said he was not offended by Chávez’s error. In fact, The Times reported that “while addressing world leaders at the United Nations, [Chávez] flagged Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance, which Mr. Chomsky published in 2003, as a must-read.” It propelled the book into Amazon’s top 10 bestsellers.

Is Chávez the new Oprah?

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