4 Responses to “The Politics Of Al-Kitaab”

1. Grumpy Old Man, on July 6th, 2008 at 2:55 pm Said:

   Good Lord. If you study Arabic, it should hardly come as a shock that most of the Arab world is less than enamored of Israel.

   What do they want? Palestinian shepherds who enjoy being beaten by settlers from Brooklyn? Now that would be perverse.

2. James_Nostack, on July 6th, 2008 at 5:35 pm Said:

   One of the funniest moments of my undergrad experience came during a Comparative Politics class. A student who had chosen to write a paper about the recent history of Israel raised her hand and asked: “All the primary sources so biased! Where are the objective books about Israel?”

   I can’t remember how our T.A. - who was Indian, and working on her doctorate on Kashmir conflict - answered her, but you could tell she was amused.

   More seriously: a significant faction of the Republican Party’s punditry seems to be a modern version of the Know-Nothing Party. Biology is bunk (stem cells, cloning), ecology is bunk (global warming, endangered species), literature is bunk (post-modernism), law is bunk (lawfare, activist judges), and now even the language departments. I’m surprised they haven’t gotten around to denouncing mathematics yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

   I really wish there was some way that the people who are disturbed by this Know-Nothingism, and the President’s unconstitutional berzerks, could make common cause. I don’t like the thought of having my “HELL NO!” vote split between Barr and Nader.

3. Daniel Larison, on July 6th, 2008 at 6:00 pm Said:

   Nader could always drop out. Just a thought.

4. vanya, on July 7th, 2008 at 11:24 am Said:

   I agree. But it is it true that languages of our other “enemies” are often taught with a more pro-American bias. When I was studying Russian in the 80s all the textbooks were clearly prepared by emigres and were full of snide dialogues about Russian anti-semitism, bread shortages and shoddy clothing (which in fact proved quite useful when I finally got to Moscow). Apparently a lot of Farsi textbooks used in the US are also pro ancien regime. I think conservatives expect the same treatment for Arabic, but there simply doesn’t seem to be a large group of disaffected Arab speakers out there. Most Arabs of all political and religious persuasions hold pretty similar views when it comes to Israel.

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