Ancient Cuts to Chomsky
Oliver Kamm points to an utterly wonderful review by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. of Chomsky's "American power and the New Mandarins". This is a very early case of his skills at selective quotation (or invention) being caught out. As Kamm points out the debate involves some unequal skills:The participants comprise the critic Lionel Abel, the historian Arthur Schlesinger Jnr (who died three weeks ago) and the non-historian Noam Chomsky
Of course I was a fan of Chomsky in 1969, and resistant to his utter intellectual dishonesty. I am past that now and glad of it.
As Kamm says,
What an extraordinary man the world's top public intellectual is.
Labels: Chomsky selective quotation
posted by Alan Adamson @ 7:02 PM
3 Comments:
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hmm if you think his critics refuse to engage him you just ain't reading them.
As for why the criticism Schlesinger makes is typical of critics of Chomsky, one reason might be Chomsky's own carelessness with the historical record. This seems pretty well-established.
In engaging with 'issues' I prefer people who argue honestly.
That Chomsky confesses when caught out by Schlesinger is, I supose, somewhat commendable.
Hmm Oliver Kamm seems to me a guy whose opinions are worth tracking and I track them. Chomsky is a comparative bad joke. Of course you are entitled to your opinion, however predictable it is.
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