The Chomsky-Hater's Handbook. posted by Richard Seymour

A Halloween hatchet-job was in order and is kindly supplied by The Guardian this morning, in the form of an 'interview' with Noam Chomsky by Emma Brockes. Before you even get into the interview, an enticing snippet is offered:

Q: Do you regret supporting those who say the Srebrenica massacre was exaggerated?
A: My only regret is that I didn't do it strongly enough

Boo hiss. Chomsky is already the comedy bad guy. The rest of this cunning piece really deserves a full reading, but I'll just go over some of the points to remember for any trainee Chomsky-basher:

1) Always raise the Cambodia ruse: as in, Chomsky believes that "in the overall context of Cambodian history, the Khmer Rouge weren't as bad as everyone makes out". This is false, but highly effective since the claims are shrouded in a history of hysteria. Plus, the relevant volume of the Political Economy of Human Rights, co-written with Ed Herman, is not widely available. And mud sticks. Instant point-winner.

2) Push the 'Srebrenica' button: Chomsky maintains "that during the Bosnian war the 'massacre' at Srebrenica was probably overstated". Anyone who suggests that the Srebrenica massacre was not quite as reported surrenders his or her probity, ex nihilo. See downplaying. Discussion is superfluous when everyone knows.


Chomsky: could be evil.

3) Sample, loop, condescend: Chomsky has "the childish habit of trashing his opponents whom he calls 'hysterical', 'fanatics' and 'tantrum throwers'"; or Chomsky's habit of using scare quotes is "witheringly teenage"; or "And so it goes on, Chomsky fairly vibrating with anger at Vulliamy and co's 'tantrums'". Sample a few choice words, throw them in scare quotes and repeat. He uses scare-words too? It's childish/adolescent on his part.

4) Hypocrisy: "[I] ask if he finds it ironic that, given his views on the capitalist system, he is a beneficiary of it." Further, "Does he have a share portfolio?" Moreover: "I suggest that people don't like being told off about their lives by someone they consider a hypocrite." Unto which, Chomsky "suddenly smiles at me, benign again".

Seriously, though, mark the repressed sense of inferiority: there is hardly an answer offered by Chomsky that isn't interpolated by a snarky quip from the interviewer. The readers cannot be trusted to reach the correct conclusions on their own, and so are offered a sample of the conversation and an interpretive twist. The very first gesture in the piece is to offer a subtly twisted fragment of dialogue. In the use of journalistic 'colour', the careful interruption of key points with snarky post-facto rejoinders, the anfractuous linguistic circuits used to imply what can't be said, Brocke's piece exhibits the elaborate and excessive detail of a very bad liar.

Incidentally, just for elucidation, Chomsky mentions General Lewis Mackenzie in the interview: here is an example of his writing on Bosnia.