In an interview in the fall 2005 issue of Thought & Action, the National Education Association’s journal, Noam Chomsky discusses the post-9/11 intellectual climate in the United States. He argues that political harassment on the nation’s campuses “is massive” but, contrary to general opinion, it is directed against dissidents like him who question U.S. Middle East policy: “there has been extreme discrimination on campus, and very serious harassment, but it’s of anyone who questions the orthodoxy, not against conservatives.” As proof, he gives the examples of Edward Said and himself: “He had to have police protection at his office, at his home. He had to have a buzzer in his home so he could call the police station. [Hmm: Anything to do with his membership in the Palestine National Council, not known for settling internal disagreements–such as Said’s frequent denunciations of Arafat and Oslo–peacefully?]That went on all the time. I’ve been under police protection when I gave a talk on college campuses about the Middle East.” Chomsky then goes on to blame the powers-that-be: “The nation’s intellectual leaders are intimidated. Did you ever hear of any protest because someone who raised questions about the dominant orthodox position on the Middle East had to be given police protection when they were giving talks on campus? I don’t recall any protests about that.”
Comment [by Pipes]: One has to admire the daring, if not the accuracy, of the single most favorite speaker on American campuses claiming the mantle of persecution for himself. My research finds no instances of Chomsky’s campus talks having been the subject of demonstrations and heckling, of his having personal bodyguards the entire time he visits a campus, of his needing a hundred police to control potential protests, of his having to speak in a lock-downed gymnasium, of his speech being preceded by deans warning the audience against disruption, or his having suffered the indignity of having pies thrown at him. All but the last of these, by the way, have happened to me.
My comment: What in God’s name is Chomsky talking about? I gather that just about any controversial well-known conservative speaker speaking on a typical major college campus–Pipes, Ann Coulter, Dinesh D’Souza–almost routinely requires police escort, faces hecklers, etc. A dozen police are apparently required to keep order on campus when liberal (but pro-Israel) Alan Dershowitz speaks via satellite. In general Chomsky and his allies will at worst face a hostile question or two within a sea of admirers.
UPDATE: And check out these remarks from leftist historian Paul Buhle, best know for his sympathetic portrayals of American Communists, regarding criticism of his work by other historians: “First let me note that most of the political attacks from the Right are actually intended, like the repressive atmosphere generally, not to threaten me but to intimidate graduate students and young professors who might speak their minds, or join protest movements.” If that’s not sufficiently over-the-top, Buhle adds: “There’s another element in the attacks upon my writings: not Red Baiting but Goy-Bashing. The notion that a Gentile–even one who works in Yiddish and spends much time with Jewish audiences–could actually understand Jewish culture is annoying if not threatening.” Apparently, some academics live in a such an ideological cocoon that any criticism of their views is interpreted as part of some broad plot.
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