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| Fifth Column |
| Poison Ivy: Columbia Univ & Hate 101 |
| 2004-11-23 |
| Hat Tip to Ace of Spades In the world of Hamid Dabashi, supporters of Israel are "warmongers" and "Gestapo apparatchiks." The Jewish homeland is "nothing more than a military base for the rising predatory empire of the United States." It's a capital of "thuggery" - a "ghastly state of racism and apartheid" - and it "must be dismantled." A voice from America's crackpot fringe? Actually, Dabashi is a tenured professor and department chairman at Columbia University. And his views have resonated and been echoed in other areas of the university. Columbia is at risk of becoming a poison Ivy, some critics claim, and tensions are high. In classrooms, teach-ins, interviews and published works, dozens of academics are said to be promoting an I-hate-Israel agenda, embracing the ugliest of Arab propaganda, and teaching that Zionism is the root of all evil in the Mideast. In three weeks of interviews, numerous students told the Daily News they face harassment, threats and ridicule merely for defending the right of Israel to survive. And the university itself is holding investigations into the alleged intimidation. ...more... |
| Posted by:.com |
| #7 In the long run, we need to understand how the human brain acquires language and provide the biotech and computer teaching aids to accelerate the process. Exactly. President Bush has at least set us in the right direction, with the essence of the NCLB initiative: science-based/research-based learning. Out with the fuzzy boasts and feel-good methods, in with crystal clear results and performance-based methods. Good idea, lex, on Area Studies programs. |
| Posted by: Jules 187 2004-11-23 3:55:00 PM |
| #6 I'm also talking about policy advisers and regional experts. During the Cold War, if you were a bright kid interested in the Soviet Union you could learn from brilliant men whose political views were within the range of normal democratic debate: from Bialer and Legvold to Brzezinski to Ulam to Pipes. Where does a bright young person who wants to train with brilliant middle east scholars go these days? Columbia's corrupted, as are many of the other Ivy League arabist faculties. Juan Cole of Michigan is a good scholar but a rabid critic of everything the Bush admin does. Time for this nation to fund a massive increase in Area Studies programs, as we did during the Cold War, to attract normal and sane, patriotic future scholars to this crucial field. |
| Posted by: lex 2004-11-23 3:44:14 PM |
| #5 Lex: âHow are we supposed to train the thousands of scholars and experts we need to win the WOT if the well's poisoned by their fascist instructors?â I read an article on this issue a few days ago. One answer is to recruit language volunteers from within an organization and then train them intensively in language and culture. The US military is doing this. Start with loyal, intelligent people and then train them. Automatic translation software is also getting better. In the long run, we need to understand how the human brain acquires language and provide the biotech and computer teaching aids to accelerate the process. (This technology is also needed to help immigrants assimilate.) |
| Posted by: Anonymous5032 2004-11-23 3:38:18 PM |
| #4 If this represents the norm among this nation's Near Eastern Studies departments, then we have a huge problem. How are we supposed to train the thousands of scholars and experts we need to win the WOT if the well's poisoned by their fascist instructors? Looks like Congress needs to get involved here. |
| Posted by: lex 2004-11-23 8:23:03 AM |
| #3 A disgrace given that Columbia has been a Jewish friendly university with many building and wings named after major donors of the Jewish faith. Take a tour of the campus and the dedication plaques are there |
| Posted by: dennisw 2004-11-23 5:08:20 AM |
| #2 In the end, the Failed Left's/Angry Left's ultimate justification for Big-Government-centered/driven Socialism, despotic or universal Regulation, and militarized Centralism, etc. ARE THEMSELVES. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2004-11-23 1:40:54 AM |
| #1 Anyone notices that ledt "intellectuals" will not tell a word about, say, Sudan? Why? Is it because the victims are Blacks? Or is it because making Palestinians into victims allows them to hate the Jews without being told Nazis? |
| Posted by: JFM 2004-11-23 1:11:34 AM |