Chomsky vs Bolkestein debate | 1989

This is the full debate stitched together from the 8 parts uploaded by YouTube channel ’Digital Chomsky’. Make sure to sub to them. In this film, the NRC Handelsblad - the Netherlands’ newspaper of record - organizes a forum in Groningen in 1989 where Noam Chomsky and Frits Bolkestein (conservative) debate in whether the media criticism of Chomsky is prophetical or paranoia. Chomsky claims the existence of filters within the American media. Bolkestein accused Chomsky of naïtivity and paranoia: “it’s a boys dream, it’s all conspiracy theory”. **Background** In a feud that began in October 1988, Defense Minister Frits Bolkestein and Noam Chomsky trade verbal barbs via lengthy contributions to the NRC Handelsblad, the Netherlands’ newspaper of record, culminating in this debate 22 May 1989. Read an Associated Press news item about Chomsky and Bolkestein’s feud from 1989: