2003-09-09
... ? Guardian Unlimited Books | Review | Roots of terrorRadical Islam's fusion of the primitive and the progressive is a typically modern phenomenon, writes Terry Eagleton ...Here, as always, Chomsky has a vital weapon at his disposal: facts. It is a resource much despised by the postmodernists, but one that, as a scientific researcher, he rightly cherishes. Hardly anyone in the radical humanities, which these days regard facts as "positivist", could match this explosive information-gathering. Chomsky has a formidable filing cabinet of a mind, and devours the Air Force Review as well as the New York Times. By grubbing in obscure corners of the media, he can sabotage one of his government's key supports: its cynical reliance on the ignorance and forgetfulness of its own people....
