11 November 2005

More about the leading intellectual

I know, this is old ashes, but still there is something in the Faurisson's affair that keeps open the question: who the fuck is choosing a person like Chomsky to be the super intellect of the ... what was it, really?

Anyhow, the Faurisson's affair starts with a knee-jerk reaction of Chomsky to protest a seeming attempt to limit someone's freedom of speech. A laudable action, followed by an unauthorised use of Chomsky's article as an intro to Faurisson's hateful book. Perfectly excusable so far.

But what follows later, is a slapstick comedy, where the mega-intellect really shows his true colours.

Chomsky on Faurisson:

Putting this central issue aside, is it true that Faurisson is an anti-Semite or a neo-Nazi? As noted earlier, I do not know his work very well. But from what I have read -- largely as a result of the nature of the attacks on him -- I find no evidence to support either conclusion. Nor do I find credible evidence in the material that I have read concerning him, either in the public record or in private correspondence. As far as I can determine, he is a relatively apolitical liberal of some sort.

Try to trace the logic of that famous scientist, that ruler of minds, that ultra-intellectual:

Leap of logic #1:

  1. I do not know his work very well.
  2. I find no evidence to support either conclusion.
How do you like #1? Translated into plain language: I know fuck all about the guy, but anyway I found no evidence... Sure thing.

Leap of logic #2:

  1. ... is it true that Faurisson is an anti-Semite or a neo-Nazi?
  2. As far as I can determine, he is a relatively apolitical liberal of some sort.
Aha... So, since he is an "apolitical liberal", he cannot be an anti-Semite. Fine, cool.

Would a sentence like "I cannot hate cats - I own a hardware store" make sense too, then?
Or "No, officer, I did not piss in the parking lot - I am a brain surgeon, you see...".

This from a professor of linguistics? A leading intellectual of whatever it was? A shining example of something or other?

Fucking A...

0 comments: