Alterman on Chomsky

Brad DeLong delong at econ.Berkeley.EDU
Wed Jun 19 17:33:53 PDT 2002



>What is there to apologize about?
>Did you not read this article?
>
>His Right to Say It
>Noam Chomsky
>The Nation, February 28, 1981

I think Pierre Vidal-Naquet got it right when he wrote:

"The simple truth, Noam Chomsky, is that you were unable to abide by the ethical maxim you had imposed. You had the right to say: my worst enemy has the right to be free, on condition that he not ask for my death or that of my brothers. You did not have the right to say: my worst enemy is a comrade, or a 'relatively apolitical sort of liberal'. You did not have the right to take a falsifier of history and recast him in the colors of truth.

"There was once, not so long ago, a man who uttered theis simple and powerful principle: 'It is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and to expose lies.' But perhaps you know him?"

Brad DeLong



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