I hope someone sees fit to debunk this latest screed; I personally don't think I could take 400 pages hand-picked by Horowitz (though I am interested in seeing the attack on his linguistics, which I myself actually disagree with a great deal). I'm sure Chomsky himself will ignore it. In any case, I think Finkelstein hit the nail on the head:
"A rite of passage for apostates peculiar to U.S. political culture is bashing Noam Chomsky. It's the political equivalent of a bar mitzvah, a ritual signaling that one has "grown up"--i.e., grown out of one's "childish" past. It's hard to pick up an article or book by ex-radicals--Gitlin's Letters to a Young Activist, Paul Berman's Terror and Liberalism--that doesn't include a hysterical attack on him. Behind this venom there's also a transparent psychological factor at play. Chomsky mirrors their idealistic past as well as sordid present, an obstinate reminder that they once had principles but no longer do, that they sold out but he didn't. Hating to be reminded, they keep trying to shatter the glass. He's the demon from the past that, after recantation, no amount of incantation can exorcise."
--- Dennis Perrin <dperrin at comcast.net> wrote:
> Reviewed by a NatRev intern, natch.
>
>
<http://nationalreview.com/comment/magram200407190845.asp>
>
> Wonder if BDL & Hitch are in it? Maybe Vol. 2.
>
> DP
>
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