From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@yahoo.com)
Date: Sun Dec 15 2002 - 13:27:00 MST
--- Damien Broderick <thespike@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Lee Corbin:
>
> >John Clark *really* said it all:
>
> > > when Chomsky criticizes
> > > Israel in one breath and denies the Holocaust in another
>
> That would indeed be shocking, but is it true? Consider the following
> rather interesting sentences from
>
>
http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/orgs/canadian/canadian-jewish-congress/hdt-06.htm
> l
>
> < It should therefore not surprise us that Holocaust denial is also
> anti-Zionist. >
>
> followed shortly by
>
> < Chomsky has described the Holocaust as "the most fantastic outburst
> of collective insanity in human history". Yet this did not lead him
> to prevent a piece he had allegedly written purely to uphold the
> right of free speech from being used as an introduction to one of
> Faurisson's books. >
snip
> This is indeed very peculiar behavior from a liberal standpoint, but
> it might make a bit more sense from a libertarian or anarchist one.
> Certainly it is plain that one can't simultaneously `deny the
> holocaust' while describing it as `the most fantastic outburst of
> collective insanity in human history'. So John Clark has not
> *really* said it all; more remains to
> be said. (And of course it has been said, but it's late...)
What is so interesting about it is that Chomsky, along with many left
wing sociologists, have come to define collective violence by the right
wing as 'insane' or 'irrational' while defining collective violence by
unionists, anti-war demonstrators, Palestinians, leftist
revolutionaries, etc as entirely rational (see "Collective Violence",
Barkan and Snowden). Similarly, they avoid studying state terrorism, as
well as other state conducted forms of collective violence.
Chomsky's other problem is the left wing attitude of not judging
proponents of discredited ideologies and agendas (such as those of
Holocaust deniers), of holding to the absurd belief that just because
we all have free speech means that all possible opinions or inane
absurdities deserve a fair hearing, and not just one, but repeated fair
hearings long after such have been tested, judged, and tossed into the
dustbin of history. He believes that as long as there is at least on
more rube out there willing to entertain any foolish idea, that anybody
willing to spout them should be published and promoted.
Of course, there is a self interest motive in his attitude. So much of
his own beliefs have been relegated to the dustbin of history, yet he
still thinks that we are all entitled to his opinion.
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