September 11: Chomsky vs Friedman 

By Manzoor Cheema

Thomas Friedman has won Pulitzer prize for journalism for his reporting for Sept 11 events in NY Times, all in all his views fit in the average, majority Americans' thinking, without trying to hurt sensibilities of most people in USA.. After Sept 11 there have have been three responses in USA as to 'why did they do it?' 1) we don't need to answer why, if a dog is rabid we have to kill it without bothering about why, 2) Because they hate our way of life, they are envious of our democracy and prosperity , 3) USA asked for it after acting as bully in world esp in middle east/ isreal context.. By far the 2nd response is what one will hear in USA mainstream media, including from Friedman..I recently read on a website (FAIR - Fairness and Accuracy in Media) that Bernard Lewis of Princeton University first coined this logic, followed by Brooking insitute which is a major think tank and contributor to medis in USA.

Here's an excerpt from Richard Haas interview who heads Brookings foreign policy department, the analysis is from FAIR..


"When Jack Ford of NBC's Today (8/22/98) show asked, "Richard, what is it that these terrorists want from the United States?" Haass echoed the subtle Islam-bashing (popularized by Bernard Lewis of Princeton) that has permeated official U.S. thinking: "Well, the answer is it's not anything we're simply doing. It is who we are, Jack. It's the fact that we're the most powerful country in the world. It's the fact that we're a secular country.... It is simply who we are and it is our existence that really bothers them, and it is a fact of life now."

http://www.fair.org/extra/9811/brookings.html 

The third response is what's echoed by liberal academia in USA including people like Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and from many people outside USA.

Manzoor

      

 

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