I should know better

[Hal]

Why is this on th pynchon list server?
hal lewis


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carvill John" <johncarvill at hotmail.com>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 9:14 AM
Subject: RE: I should know better


>
> Paul N wrote:
>
>> http://www.medialens.org/alerts/05/051104_smearing_chomsky_the_guardian.php
>> http://www.medialens.org/alerts/05/051121_smearing_chomsky_the_guardian.php
>
> As is often the case, Paul, it's hard to gauge exactly what frequency 
> you're on :-)
>
> BUt please be aware that medialens, in common with many, many online media 
> outlets at the time of the Chomsky/Guardian affair, sided firmly with 
> Chomsky, because siding with Chomsky is on their agenda, whereas not 
> sullying the memory of victims of genocide is not.
>
> The huge imbalance between support for poor old Noam, as opposed to teh 
> very few online outlets which focused on the actual substance of teh 
> matter, is - in  my view at least - indicative of the centrral fallacy 
> behind most Chomsky fans' view of him: that he is some sort of outsider, 
> rebelling against the consensus etc. In fact, he is all over the web, and 
> support for him has become a sort of 'Stalinist party line' or even 
> 'passionate religious conviction' in itself.
>
> The Guardian, by the way, behaved in an incredibly spineless and 
> short-sighted way over teh matter, and should never have apologised. 
> Again, this gives the lie to the idea of Chomsky being powerless. On the 
> contrary, the Guardian came under fierce pressure, and even went so far as 
> to remove the offending article from their website. Stalinism, anyone?
>
> An objective reading of the original Guardian article would, I think, lead 
> to the conclusion that Chomsky was not smeared or defamed, and that the 
> journaist did not actually accuse him of anything he didn't himself openly 
> admit to. But leaving that one article aside, Chomsky's defense of such 
> crypto-Fascists as JOhnstone and Living Marxism makes the fact that he is 
> so revered online seem somewhat less surprising, since the Net was, after 
> all, built by Right-wing nerds, for Right-wing nerds.
>
>
> I admit to a personal bias, because I have some knowledge of the events in 
> Bosnia, and have many Bosnian friends. if you want to view this matter 
> dispassionately, think of any story you've read about in the press (or 
> online) which you had some level of knowledge about, and reflect on how 
> the version of it presented in teh media differed from the reality. Now, 
> having done so, consider how Chomsky's view, given that it is far from 
> dispassionate since he supports the very non-onjective Diana Johnstone, 
> might differ from reality....
>
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