Weekly Jackass Number Two - Noam Chomsky

This was a no-brainer. To not honor Chomsky in this forum would be a disservice to the Weekly Jackass concept. Noam Chomsky is a Professor of Linguistics at MIT and possibly the very personification of the America-Hating Radical Left. He has been accused of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism, though he denies both charges, insisting that he is only a critic of Israeli and American policy. This is a famous trick of Chomsky's - blanket criticism of an entity (America, Israel) while claiming he is not against the entity. I submit to you - if you describe yourself as a critic of Israeli policy and American policy without qualification, without regard to current or past administrations, without mentioning specific policies - then what prevents me from seeing you as an anti-Semite or America Hater? What if I threw in a little Holocaust Denial as well?

This quote by David Horowitz (frequent Chomsky critic and co-editor of the Anti-Chomsky Reader) sums up Chomsky's following nicely:

...wherever young people manifest an otherwise incomprehensible rage against their country, the inspirer of their loathing and the instructor of their hate is most likely this man.

Too strong, you say? Consider this Chomsky quote from September 12, 2001 (and recall the nightmarish images in your mind of the day before):

The terrorist attacks were major atrocities. In scale they may not reach the level of many others, for example, Clinton�s bombing of the Sudan with no credible pretext, destroying half its pharmaceutical supplies and killing unknown numbers of people (no one knows, because the US blocked an inquiry at the UN and no one cares to pursue it).

Contrast what you were feeling on September 12th, 2001, with Chomsky's words. In one very small sentence, he barely acknowledges what has occurred and immediately starts bashing America with a ridiculous assertion for which he offers no proof. This is another frequent Chomsky technique: he is the master of the big lie. (Here is a link to Chomsky's September 12th comments and to Christopher Hitchen's rejoinder.)

There is a wealth of material out there exposing Chomsky for his knee-jerk anti-American reaction regardless of the issue involved. I refer you to just three of the many that are worth your time: Oliver Kamm, Horowitz's FrontPage Magazine, and Benjamin Kerstein's Diary of an Anti-Chomskyite.

I've again only scratched the surface of this topic, but I have the feeling we will be revisiting our 2nd Weekly Jackass, Noam Chomsky.

(hat tip to bebere for leading me to Oliver Kamm)