doug,
indeed i was there, and hence my question, since i did not perceive any anti-americanism behind the questions. the questioning was lively - one person stood up in favour of america offering american action in ww2. i understand your bringing up the "why they hate us" issue in order to illustrate the error of the "us vs. them" view. but i do not see how that relates to "anti-americanism". you say:
> He was arguing against the Us-vs.-Them logic that Bush and a lot
> of the antiwar movement have in common, though of course they
> valorize the two sides differently.
are you saying that there is a tendency to oppose american action purely because its american action and to ignore any positive effects it might bring? the third person on the panel (i forget his name but i believe he is british?) had a similar line of thought expressed as a question: if the military effort is able to break down taliban defences in such a way as to make it possible to extend aid to the refugees before the onset of winter, then is the military effort valid? but dabashi [sp?] himself disagreed with this line of reasoning, responding that there need be no pause before answering "no" to that question (and i agree with him, since that line of reasoning rests on an unstated and unsubstantiated premise viz., its the taliban that is responsible for the suffering of the refugees).
i do not think chomsky sees US imperialism as the root of all evil. i could be wrong. my understanding of his position (and he has been explicitly questioned about this) is that he critiques america because: 1) there are enough folks doing the self-congratulatory stuff 2) he is here 3) american action can have a quick and large impact on the lives of the opressed elsewhere and 4) american action has led in some cases to the opression of others elsewhere.
please do not read my message as confrontational. being from another place, i have often faced accusations of being "anti-american" when i have critiqued the actions of the US govt or popular sentiment here. but when a person on the "left" such as you or dabashi use the term, i am curious about how you define it.
--ravi