Some readers may have noticed an icy little missive from Noam Chomsky ["Letters, " December 3], repudiating the very idea that he and I had disagreed on the "roots" of September 11. I rush to agree. Here is what he told his audience at MIT on October 11:Clever of him to have spotted that (his favorite put-down is the preface 'Turning to the facts..') and brave of him to have taken such a lonely position. As he rightly insists, our disagreements are not really political. . Christopher Hitchens
About This Quote

American intellectuals have been remarkably unsuccessful in explaining why this country is so far from what it once was. One of the reasons is that American intellectuals tend to think that their own values and ideals are the only ones that should be followed and that all other views should be banished from public discourse. This explains why they tend to think that other countries, especially those where things are not going very well, should be shunned and ignored as they merely reflect a flawed culture. Chomsky’s statement shows that he has realized the truth of this point. People who fail to follow his ideals and those of his friends do not deserve to be listened to as they will not bring about the change America needs.

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