Criticism of Chomsky and AUB
Lee Smith is in high dudgeon over Noam Chomsky's recent trip to Lebanon. In his op-ed in the Daily Star Smith highlights problems he has with the American University of Beirut, the institution that paid for Chomsky's visit, expensive airfare, and weeklong stay at the Gefinor Rotana Hotel.Smith notes that AUB, a recipient of millions of dollars in American aid every year, should provide a more rounded view of the United States rather than present only the opinions of - what in the United States is deemed - the radical left. He believes the Center for American Studies and Research (CASAR) should make an effort to present the real America and offer a diversity of opinions. I'm in agreement.Even if you believe that people like Chomsky, Juan Cole, and Joshua Landis speak the truth while all others lie, you must admit that part of the duty of an academic institution is to present America as Americans see it. American professors and intellectuals are busy reading the Muqadima and watching Amr Khaled. American universities invite both Syrian dissidents and Syrian ambassadors to speak.Smith is right to note that AUB should diversify its selection, because there have not been any speakers touting the American agenda (except for a US embassy officer Juliette Wurr who debated with Landis). CASAR chairman McGreevey can claim that they have invited a diverse selection of American luminaries such as Martha Nussbaum, Lizbeth Cohen, Richard Rorty, Robert Putnam, and Richard Bulliet to highlight diversity in America opinion, however none of these other speakers has spoken about politics. None of these speakers have touted a specifically pro- or anti-American line. None of these speakers have attracted audiences that pack AUB's largest facilities and require accompanying viewing areas.And, one appearance by Chomsky undoes everything the other speakers point out. As Smith notes in his opinion column, what offended me the most about Chomsky's speech is that he claims that he and Edward Said are the only "intellectuals" in the United States speaking truth to power and not bending over backwards to appease their corporate or government masters. He throws away the massive debates that went on and continue to go on in America's intellectual communities. Thus, he undermines all of the good work that the above mentioned guests are doing.AUB audiences never get to see the REAL debate going on. We're not treated to Paul Berman or Michael Ignatieff (a Canadian who comments extensively on America and human rights who works in the US, recently at Harvard) or John Meirsheimer (who opposed the Iraq War and was recently targeted by Chomsky for his article on the Israeli Lobby in the US) or Peter Beinart or Michael Walzer or Marc Cooper or David Remnick or David Brooks or Farid Zakaria or Bernard-Henri Levy (a Frenchman who's written on both policy toward the Middle East and - in a Tocqueville-esque manner - on America as it is today) or Bill Kristol or Jonah Goldberg or Glenn Harlan Reynolds, etc., etc., on and on and on.Chomsky's gone ahead and thrown all of their opinions away, and his audience believes him as he is their intrepreter of America. Too many of my friends have gone to America and become disappointed at what they find. After watching shows like "Friends" and "Sex and the City," they expect to find a happy, fun place where everyone has a good time. I once heard the cousin of a friend tell her that she should watch "Friends" to prepare for her job in New York City. That's crazy!!! You've got to prepare yourself by watching films and reading books about loneliness and dysfunction like "Shopgirl," "American Beauty," or The Corrections.However, like American TV, Chomsky gives Arab students what they want to hear, which doesn't relate to reality. Sure, there's an element of truth to "Friends," Chomsky, and Michael Moore, but on the whole, it's finely crafted entertaining fiction that generates a lot of cash and speaking fees.Sadly, it seems the problem, as Smith suggests, is the CASAR directorate's bias that is out of line with the American public. Oddly, these Americans believe convincing Arabs that George Bush is bad will somehow benefit America. As noted in a previous post, McGreevey gave a very silly introduction to Chomsky comparing him to great Americans like Henry David Thoreau and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and citing undefendable statistics comparing left-leaning news radio listeners to right-leaning popular television viewers. Why not compare leftwing supporters of liberation theology who get their ideas about Jesus from the Bible to rightwing supporters of President Bush who get their ideas about Jesus from The DaVinci Code? Or, apples to oranges while you're at it?It was very strange indeed for me to see members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and the Syrian National Socialist Party bobbing their heads in time with Columbia Professor Rashid Khalidi (an American citizen, born and raised in the US where he raised and educated his family) when he was at AUB. In fact, many of those students walked away disappointed because Khalidi didn't provide them with anything new. He was a sloppy version of what they already get. Ironically, many of Khalidi's best friends in New York and Chicago are Jewish, the very people the SSNP believe - as documented in recent exhibitions at AUB - should be wiped out.I'd be much happier if AUB invited the Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to come speak. Those two are seen as extreme in the US, but they are much closer to the center than guys like Chomsky, Cole, and Landis. Jackson and Sharpton are eloquent and would give speeches far more entertaining than Chomsky's monotone mumblings.Unlike our fearless dissident Chomsky who sits in his office at MIT, Jackson and Sharpton have put their money where their mouths are. Sharpton was imprisoned for his beliefs that the US Navy should not bombard Vieques, and ran for the Presidency of the US. Jackson ran for President twice, supports American troops, and he freed US servicemen captured by the Serbians.At least, Sharpton and Jackson are proud to be American. At least, they actually represent a constiuency larger than one.