Ha’aretz has a piece on the academic
world’s virulent hatred of Israel that has many Israeli and Jewish academics worried.
Recently in the humanities faculties in the United States anti-Israeli and anti-American theories and basic assumptions have been disseminated, which are usually attributed to intellectual circles in Europe. "The post-colonialist vision has prevailed for many years now in academia as a means of understanding texts," says Professor Robert (Uri) Alter, a lecturer in Hebrew literature at the University of California at Berkeley. According to the standard bearers of post-colonialism, "The Arabs in general and the Palestinians in particular are perceived as people of the Third World and as victims of colonialism. According to their mistaken concepts on race, the Arabs are perceived as dark-skinned and the Israelis as white – the last offshoot of Western colonialism."
For far too many academics, tht post-colonialist viewpoint has become the sole method of viewing the world. The majority of academia is controlled by people who espouse the same radical leftism. They are the children of the 1960s who long for the days when their anti-Americanism was widespread. To them, there is no moral compunction against the Palestinians war on Israeli women and children, they share the view of radical Algerian anti-colonialist Franz Fanon that teaches that violence against "the oppressor" is perfectly acceptable, and indeed the only way to overcome one’s supposed oppression.
The academic world couches its hatred in a dispassionate language and attitude, but it is still hatred. They react to any condemnation of their opinion by either belittling or ignoring those who question the status quo. The goal for these radicalized academics has little to do with real critical thinking, but acceptance of their worldview and their method of thought.
It’s no surprise that the academic world is turning against Israel. The have drawn the world into a constant struggle between the oppressed minority and the oppressive majority. It is a worldview that cares little for the common dictates of morality or common sense. It also this time that more academics challenged the stranglehold that these radicals have on the American academy.
(Via Little Green Footballs)
