[lbo-talk] NYTimes Reviews Chomsky's _Hegemony or Survival_

[Brad DeLong]

>On Saturday, January 3, 2004, at 11:21  PM, Brian Siano wrote:
>
>>But the review itself isn't nearly as scornful. The reviewer's 
>>Samantha Powers, and she goes back and forth on Chomsky's book in 
>>ways that aren't entirely bullshit.
>
>I read her back-and-forth (which I agree is very noticeable) as a 
>pretty standard CYA maneuver, so that her colleagues wouldn't tar 
>her as a Chomsky-lover. (She has issued some strong criticisms of US 
>foreign policy, but she would not be classifiable as a radical.)
>
>In general, I though the review was pretty positive. And as you say, 
>a number of her criticisms were justified. If I recall correctly, 
>she pointed out that he is sometimes sloppy with his references to 
>sources, and connected this with the fact that he has been talking 
>mainly to people who agree with him. When you can't get anyone who 
>disagrees with you to seriously engage with your arguments, you can 
>fall into the habit of not documenting your points with the utmost 
>care.
>
>Of course, it can get much worse than that. When I was a graduate 
>student back in the '60s, the book "None Dare Call It Treason" 
>(can't remember the author's name) came out. It was fairly standard 
>John Birch-type stuff, but this guy's claims, all backed up with 
>neat footnotes referring to NY Times articles, etc., were so 
>outrageous that I decided to check some out. Having a university 
>library available, I went to the microfilmed newspaper articles he 
>referred to and found that he had made up every single one of them 
>-- there was nothing on any of the pages he referred to that was 
>anything like what he claimed was there. At least Chomsky is not 
>that unscrupulous!
>
>Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org

Wow! Not as bad as the John Birch Society!

That is damnning with faint praise indeed...