>We shall never agree on the asserted "right" of Nazis to poison the political
>air without militant opposition. I assert the right and duty of decent people
>to chase them off the streets and out of the schools by every available
means,
>as many of us were attempting to do in Mississippi when Chomsky weighed in
for
>Faurisson. These principles and Chomsky's are in opposition; they cannot be
>reconciled.
I thought Faurisson was going to be criminally tried in France for his ideas, and that Chomsky supported him because he didn't think people should be held criminally accountable for their beliefs and opinions. This is what I remember from watching Manufacturing Consent. Is this true, or is my memory faulty?
Assuming it is true, than I would support Faurisson as well. I don't have a problem with protesting against a Nazi rally or similar public displays of disgust, but I don't think you should criminalize someone because they are a member of the KKK or a Nazi, or claim the holocost never happened. I don't see a conflict of principles here - either you believe in free speech or you don't, and if you believe in it you SHOULD support Faruisson against legal action based on his ideas, regardless of your own opinions about his work.
If Chomsky ever said that Faurisson should be able to disseminate his opinions without opposition, then I'd be surprised and dismayed. I don't agree with this, but this isn't my understanding of what Chomsky has said.
>Do all of Chomsky's admirers on this list join him in defending Faurisson's
>and Kissinger's right to teach and proselytize without their work being
rudely
>disrupted?
Again, this isn't my understanding of Chomsky's position. I thought his point was that Faurisson and Kissinger have the right to publicize their opinions, and to be free from persecution by the state because of their opinions. At the same time, I think Chomsky would support people who chose to demonstrate their opposition to these viewpoints as well.
I don't know much about this incident, but I've read a lot of his writing and heard him speak several times. The things you're attributing to him are simply inconsistent with what I've been exposed to.
Brett