>First, Chomsky's name on the book's cover creates the appearance of
>an impropriety. Chomsky argues persuasively that he is
>intellectually and linguistically innocent, but this avoids the
>question of whether or not he has a moral obligation to explicitly
>condemn the views of Faurisson and Holocaust Revisionism given the
>implicit imprimatur. Chomsky appears to dismiss the idea that
>Faurisson and Holocaust Revisionism have any effect outside a tiny
>handful of marginal characters. He also notes that as a matter of
>principle, defenders of a dissident's civil liberties often refuse
>to take a public position on the views of the dissident. Chomsky
>argues accurately that elsewhere in his vast body of published work
>are clear indications that he views the Holocaust as a horrific
>event and opposes Holocaust Revisionism, but most persons who see
>the Faurisson book with Chomsky's name on the cover will not take
>the time to discover this, and will most likely assume otherwise.
On one hand, I agree with you on almost everything you say in your post (not just the above paragraph). Chomsky, being a fundamentalist free speech advocate, should have said, "Hey, this guy is a flaming anti-Semite and a liar to boot, but anti-Semitic liars should have the right to free speech!"
On the other hand, though, the only reason most of us outside of France have even heard of Robert Faurisson is (1) because we already know who Chomsky is and what he stands for and against; and (2) because there are enough individuals who oppose what Chomsky stands for, support what he stands against, and are willing to use any error on his part in their futile efforts to discredit all his work. Otherwise, no one (perhaps except for professional researchers of the far right like yourself) would know of Faurisson. He _is_ a marginal character here.
You might say, though, that Faurisson isn't so marginal in France. Even so, today's resurgence of the far right in Europe is primarily driven not by anti-Jewish hatred but by anti-immigrant sentiments (against Arabs and North Africans in France, against Turks in Germany, against foreign-born Muslims in the Netherlands, etc.). Anti-Jewish hatred has yet to give up its ghost in Europe, to be sure, but you can't create a mass movement on the far right mainly based upon its appeal; you can do so only when you ignite the fear of competition for jobs, affordable housings, etc., as well as the fear of crimes and disorder in general, in the context where good jobs, good wages, etc. are _actually_ becoming harder to come by. -- Yoshie
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