| Topic: |
Sociology > Education |
| User: |
"" |
| Date: |
19 Aug 2007 01:52:03 AM |
| Object: |
Appeasement Finds a Home in the Academy |
August 18, 2007
Appeasement Finds a Home in the Academy
By Cinnamon Stillwell
Instead of providing moral clarity in a time of war, too many
academics busy themselves inventing strategies to get along peaceably
with genocidal terrorist groups and the governments that aid and abet
them. Among the appeasers, three professors of Middle East studies
stand out: the University of Minnesota's William O. Beeman; Boston
University's Augustus Richard Norton; and Harvard University's Sara
Roy.
William O. Beeman, professor and chair of the department of
anthropology at the University of Minnesota, as well as president of
the Middle East section of the American Anthropological Association,
apparently thinks the bloody, belligerent Iranian regime can be
placated by politeness. In a recent article (scroll down), Beeman
counseled the U.S. to negotiate with Iran using "language" that is
"unfailingly polite and humble."
Humbleness toward a regime hell-bent on building the bomb, funding
terrorists worldwide, threatening to wipe Israel off the map, seizing
U=2ES., British and Canadian citizens as hostages, and supplying weapons
that kill American servicemen in Iraq?
"Politeness," is hardly the best tactic for dealing with opponents who
clearly hold strength in the highest regard, but such is Beeman's
recommendation. Unfortunately, it's advice that the Bush
administration, and the State Department in particular, appear to be
following, and the lack of desirable results thus far point to its
ineffectiveness. The recent decision to consider classifying Iran's
Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization provides
hope that realism may yet prevail.
If appeasing Iran's mullahs wasn't bad enough, Boston University
professor of international relations and anthropology Augustus Richard
Norton wants to do the same with their proxy, Islamist terrorist group
Hezbollah. Funded in part by the Iranian regime and responsible for
the deaths of untold civilians, Hezbollah hardly provides the
foundation for civil society.
Yet, Norton's recently published book, Hezbollah: A Short History
(2007) repeats all the usual talking points aimed at softening both
the group's image and the West's response. In his review of Norton's
book, the Jewish Policy Center's Jonathan Schanzer elaborates:
Norton, a former observer with the United Nations Truce Supervision
Organization, states in his prologue that he seeks to provide "a more
balanced and nuanced account" of Hezb'allah, which he calls a "complex
organization." Of course, there is little that is complex or nuanced
about a group that receives an estimated $100 million a year from the
radical Islamic regime in Iran to carry out violence, and has used
violence as its raison d'=EAtre dating back to the 1980s.
Extending his regard to the new terrorist thugs on the block, Norton,
along with Harvard University's Center for Middle Eastern Studies
scholar Sara Roy, penned an article for the Christian Science Monitor
in June titled, "Yes, You Can Work With Hamas." As they put it, "There
can be no peace process with a Palestinian government that excludes
Hamas." Norton and Roy assert that international recognition and
diplomacy will somehow obscure the fact that Hamas is dedicated to
wiping out Israel-an inconvenient fact that they simply ignore.
Roy has long been invested in forging the idea of a "New Hamas" by
attempting to downplay the group's openly genocidal ambitions and
picturing them instead an enlightened group of do-gooders interested
only in social services and education-a sort of Salvation Army with
real guns. Unfortunately, reality doesn't support this depiction, and
the push for normalization of relations with Hamas favored by Roy and
Norton represents nothing more than wishful thinking with lethal
results.
Such willful blindness is rooted in the reflexive anti-Western nature
of many of today's Middle East studies academics. Their eagerness to
put the best face on groups and governments widely known for
practicing the art of deadly deception parallels their instinctive
distrust of their own country and, in a larger sense, the West.
But these academic appeasers are playing a dangerous game. For, as
history has repeatedly proven, weakness in the face of aggression only
leads to further bloodshed.
Cinnamon Stillwell is the Northern California Representative for
Campus Watch. She can be reached at stillwell@meforum.org.
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| User: "Bob LeChevalier" |
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| Title: Re: Appeasement Finds a Home in the Academy |
19 Aug 2007 02:32:22 PM |
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wrote:
Such willful blindness is rooted in the reflexive anti-Western nature
of many of today's Middle East studies academics. Their eagerness to
put the best face on groups and governments widely known for
practicing the art of deadly deception parallels
.... those who defend the Bush Administration, which has practiced
"deadly deception" to a previously unheard of extent.
But these academic appeasers
Politeness is not necessarily appeasement.
are playing a dangerous game. For, as
history has repeatedly proven, weakness in the face of aggression only
leads to further bloodshed.
With what Bush has done to our military, we ARE weak, and have little
choice but to appear weak. Sabre-rattling only makes us look like
paper tigers; we cannot in fact back any threats against Iran with
military force because the public won't support it, and because the
military has been crippled by ill-management.
lojbab
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| User: "SueDoeCyAnts" |
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| Title: Re: Appeasement Finds a Home in the Academy |
20 Aug 2007 09:26:25 PM |
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on Sat 18 Aug 2007 11:52:03p
posted
in news:1187506323.587104.179110@g4g2000hsf.googlegroups.com:
Cinnamon Stillwell is the Northern California Representative for
Campus Watch
Campus Watch?
A part of the NeoCon Circle Jerk?
Headed by Daniel Pipes, 2nd generation NeoCon hatemonger?
That's one incredulous author you posted here.
------------------------------
In Re: Campus Watch
SourceWatch
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Campus_Watch>
The Nation
<http://www.thenation.com/doc/20021125/mcneil>
Counterpunch
<http://www.counterpunch.org/youmans0922.html>
American Association of University Professors
<http://tinyurl.com/2oa5qj>
Professor Juan Cole:
<http://tinyurl.com/4ar6g>
<http://tinyurl.com/6bxez>
<http://tinyurl.com/2rr6ow>
<http://tinyurl.com/lhwgb>
<http://tinyurl.com/aar8y>
------------------------------
I am curious though,
and maybe you can offer illumination:
Was Cinnamon ever able to work through
her psychological issues of parental resentment
because of the hippie-dippie God-Given name
that they saddled her with for life?
I'll never live with THAT Cinnamon girl;
I can be happy the rest of my life
WITHOUT that Cinnamon Girl.
(apologies to Neil Young)
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