In contrast to the prophets and know-it-alls of the political center in Washington who constantly appear on television talk shows, Noam Chomsky's texts do not draw their information from whispers of anonymous officials, from gossip that leaks from political circles, or from the chatter at Donald Ramsfeld's Christmas party. They are based on the gathering of available facts - often inconvenient for the ruling class and therefore ignored by professional reporters - and on the words and actions of powerful officials. It is the kind of work that would exclude the writer from the corridors of power - a great sin in the world of elitist journalism, if not a wonderful way to lose one's job.

Chomsky believes that the freedom to challenge authority is not exactly an opportunity, but a taking of responsibility, and that is exactly what he does using the ability given to him by this particular form of journalism, namely op-ed columns where their opinions are freely expressed.

These short essays that have sparked heated discussions, constitute a complete collection of opinion articles written by the author to date for the New York Times agency, so that they can reach readers through their own popular daily newspaper, and Chomsky shows that he can speak convincingly about the essence of today's contradictions, deceptions, and hidden horrors with a few hundred words, in the same way he can do it with hundreds of pages.