Chomsky & the Faurrison affair

I've heard both sides of the story of the "Faurrisson" affair, and various
versions of who said what, etc.

The impression I get though, is that Chomsky really didn't care what the
guy wrote, in fact he didn't read the Faurrisson writings at all, but just
signed the "free speech" thing blind, because he believes free speech
means allowing people to say things you don't like hearing.
He has certainly insisted that "Holocaust denial" is ridiculous.

It may be that he accidentally signed something he shouldn't have, but I
find that hard to believe.

I wish I could go along with this, and get a warm fuzzy feeling about
Chomsky.

But the quote I posted -- " . . . nobody believes that there is an
anti-Semitic connotation to the denial of the Holocaust" -- is right
there in the Boston Phoenix. You can't just explain it away. And if
somehow it managed not to turn my stomach for a moment, I would
merely have to look at virtually any of Chomsky's writings and their
tireless accusations of "racism" to become violently ill.

I wish this was an isolated slip on Chomsky's part. But the list of
his 'slips' goes on and on. And I wouldn't mind if this was some
obscure professor somewhere doing this. No, it's one of the most
influential thinkers in academia.

Gotta run . . .

--- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, Christopher Bailey <chris@m...>
wrote:
> I've heard both sides of the story of the "Faurrisson" affair, and
various
> versions of who said what, etc.
>
> The impression I get though, is that Chomsky really didn't care
what the
> guy wrote, in fact he didn't read the Faurrisson writings at all,
but just
> signed the "free speech" thing blind, because he believes free
speech
> means allowing people to say things you don't like hearing.
> He has certainly insisted that "Holocaust denial" is ridiculous.
>
> It may be that he accidentally signed something he shouldn't have,
but I
> find that hard to believe.