Lee Harris; Criticizing America

Tech Central Station ^ | April 1, 2004 | Lee Harris

[quidnunc]

Among the people who have generously taken the time and trouble to comment on my book, a few of them appear to be extremely annoyed that I did not criticize America for all the things that it has done wrong — or, at least, for those enormities that are always sure to make the Top Ten list of anyone who has spent even a few hours in a college or junior college American history course. Why didn't I devote a chapter to the atrocities committed in the Philippines after the Spanish-American war — one of the sentimental favorites of the any red-blooded Chomsky-ite?

Well, let me offer this anecdote as a justification of my omission.

A week after my book came out, a friend dragged me to the nearest Border's bookstore. Now what is interesting about this Border's is that it is located in Snellville, Georgia, the town that celebrated for its boast that "everybody is somebody in Snellville." It is heavily Southern Baptist, and in the last election probably voted for George Bush by an overwhelming majority. In short, it is as American as apple pie and Chevrolet.

So we went to this Border's, where my friend, after a good bit of searching, finally discovered the obligatory one copy of my book on the shelf reserved for political science — facing spine up, of course. Meanwhile I was standing at the front of the store, right where the friendly Border's staff sets out those long tables stacked high with best sellers, among which were prominently displayed piles of Noam Chomsky's most recent recycling of his anti-American diatribe, while next to this was Chalmers Johnson's latest lament about the tawdry depravity of the new American Empire. Though these stacks were nothing compared to the rows of Michael Moore's books that greeted you the moment you stepped through the door.

-snip-

[quidnunc]

FYI

[Spruce]

Among the people who have generously taken the time and trouble to comment on my book...
My interest waned at that point.

[Tolik]

Lee Harris uses his sarcastic wit on the likes of Chomsky and Michael Moore who "excel at telling what a menace America is to the world".

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His new book:   Civilization and Its Enemies : The Next Stage of History
 

[Tolik]

"What would Adam Smith think of Noam Chomsky and Michael Moore?"

Lee Harris subtle answer: pinheads

[FreedomPoster]

Read through to the end, the punchline is pretty good.

[LadyDoc]

This is why I don't even bother to shop at the local Borders...

Thank God for Amazon.

[Valin]

Why?

[Valin]

So we went to this Border's, where my friend, after a good bit of searching, finally discovered the obligatory one copy of my book on the shelf reserved for political science — facing spine up, of course. Meanwhile I was standing at the front of the store, right where the friendly Border's staff sets out those long tables stacked high with best sellers, among which were prominently displayed piles of Noam Chomsky's most recent recycling of his anti-American diatribe, while next to this was Chalmers Johnson's latest lament about the tawdry depravity of the new American Empire. Though these stacks were nothing compared to the rows of Michael Moore's books that greeted you the moment you stepped through the door.

I could go off on a world class rant on this! Particularly the Chomsky books, like many others I'm always looking at the current event section of my local bookstores and I keep seeing the SAME Chomsky books no body appears to be buying them and yet there they are week after week after week the same books. I could go into tinfoil hat mode..but I won't.

[Tolik]

One would think that a bookstore is in a business of making money. Apparently not always...

[lainde]

bttt