Finally read through Sam and Chomsky’s exchange. Being a Sam Harris partisan I thought that Chomsky came off like a condescending, grouchy, cantankerous asshole. However, he raised a really interesting idea I’d never considered:

Monsters like Clinton, who e.g. refuse to sign landmine ban treaties, are in fact worse than mass-murderers who slaughter thousands in the name of doing God’s will and bringing about everlasting peace on earth.

Of course, this says nothing about the degree to which western citizens should be genuinely concerned about the earthly aspirations of divinely inspired madmen. But it may shed some light on their relative moral standing.