Profs on Mideast Turmoil: Blame America, Israel, and Free Speech

In an article for Campus Watch posted today at Frontpage Magazine, I offer up a sampling of egregious commentary from Middle East studies academics on the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East. It begins like so:

In the wake of the al-Qaeda attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya on Sept. 11, 2012, the seizure of the American embassy in Cairo, Egypt, and the ensuing anti-American protests and riots throughout the Middle East—the latter ostensibly over an anti-Islam YouTube film trailer that originated in the U.S. months earlier—what do Middle East scholars have to say about the turmoil in the region?

As self-styled supporters of "academic freedom," are they rushing to defend First Amendment rights instead of kowtowing to Muslim religious sensibilities? Are they denouncing the prospect of self-censorship rather than pushing YouTube to pull the "offending" video by claiming that it constitutes "hate speech?" Are they standing up for religious freedom instead of encouraging Americans to adhere to Sharia law-driven prohibitions on blasphemy? Are they putting aside their anti-Western biases and laying blame where it belongs instead of on America and Israel?

If the following quotes from Middle East studies academics are any indication, the answer to all those questions would be a resounding No!

To read the entire article, please click here.

Ten Years of Campus Watch

To commemorate Campus Watch's ten-year anniversary this week, I have an article at Frontpage Magazine today that begins like so:

It was ten years ago this week, on September 18, 2002, that Campus Watch—a project of the Middle East Forum that reviews and critiques Middle East studies in North America with an aim to improving them—opened its doors. The response was instantaneous: the Middle East studies establishment, long unused to outside scrutiny, recoiled in horror at the prospect of accountability and proclaimed themselves martyrs. 

To read the entire article, please click here.

Middle East Forum president and CW founder Daniel Pipes notes the occasion at National Review Online's The Corner:

Campus Watch, the Middle East Forum's project to critique Middle East studies in North America, opened its metaphorical doors on September 18, 2002, to a hysterical opposition from the academics that did much, thank you, to propel it to prominence and effectiveness.

On the project's fifth anniversary, I wrote an assessment in which I noted some of our accomplishments but noted that "the field's basic problems remain in place." Ditto on the tenth anniversary.

To read the entire post, please click here.

Profs. LeVine and Zunes Plot to Globalize BDS

What do Middle East studies professors do when they're not in the classroom? Write books? Engage in research? Advance important scholarship? Conduct outreach to students? In the case of two anti-Israel activist professors—Mark LeVine, University of California, Irvine history professor, and Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and international studies and director of the Middle East studies program at the University of San Francisco—plotting strategies for furthering the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel is the unfortunate answer.

In his latest Al-Jazeera op-ed, LeVine conducts an interview with Zunes on the all-important question, "Can the BDS Movement Go Global?" Attempting to address the failures of the BDS campaign, which stem in part from accurate criticism that it "singles out Israel" and also leads to what Zunes describes as "spurious charges of 'anti-Semitism,'" the always-inventive professor has come up with the following solution . . .

To read the entire post, click here.

USF Prof Stephen Zunes Still Shilling for Iran

Writing for Campus Watch, Rima Greene and I report on a recent lecture from University of San Francisco professor Stephen Zunes, who continues to act as an apologist for the bellicose Iranian regime. Our article appears today at Frontpage Magazine:

On August 5, 2012, Stephen Zunes—professor of politics and international studies and director of the Middle East studies program at the University of San Francisco—made his seventh appearance at the hilltop Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley (UUCB) in the northern enclave of Kensington. Zunes is a regular at UUCB, no doubt because his views are in line with the church's "Social Justice Council," which, according to their website, "sponsors forums focussing [sic] on social justice topics" in pursuit of the quixotic goal of "working towards a better, more just world." Accordingly, there were copies of the British-based newspaper Positive News in the vestibule with the headline, "U.N. Calls for Happiness-based Economy."

The church may call for happiness, but as Zunes's lecture demonstrated, it willfully ignores terrorists, who have been known to cause quite a bit of unhappiness, not to mention death. His topic was "The United States and Iran" and in keeping with his past talks on the subject, Zunes assured the audience of approximately fifty people that Iran is not a threat.

To read the entire article, please click here.

Will Muslim Girl Power Win ‘The Glee Project’?

Capitalizing on the success of “Glee,” the Oxygen Channel has come up with “The Glee Project,” a reality TV talent competition in which contestants vie for a coveted spot on the show’s namesake. Currently about to conclude its second season, “The Glee Project”—in keeping with the high school-era outcasts that inhabit “Glee”—put out a call for the awkward, the overweight, the disabled, the curiously little, the racially ambiguous, the sexually confused, the openly gay, the transitioning transgenders, and, of course, some plain old cute guys, no doubt to corner the teenage girl market.

Notable among this season’s contestants is 19-year-old Aylin (pronounced “Eileen”) Bayramoglu from Chicago. She’s a confident, vibrant, flirtatious young woman with what I consider to be the contest’s best voice. She also happens to be a Muslim.

To read the entire post, click here.

Update: Well, Aylin didn't win after all. Instead they picked the talented but rather bland Blake, repeating last season's pattern of choosing the best-looking guy out of the bunch. I guess they've got the teenage girl and gay guy markets cornered. It's a shame they didn't rise to the occasion, but I'm sure Aylin has a bright future ahead of her.

When Television and Politics Collide

I have a confession to make: I watch a lot of TV, and I’m not going to pretend that all or even most of it is educational. This would hardly be considered unusual except that I’m a serious political person who does serious political work and people like us aren’t supposed to admit that we watch a good amount of—let’s face it—trashy TV. The way I look at it, we all need a little fluff in our lives, especially after a day spent reading and writing about the decline of Western civilization. And as the cliché goes: if you can’t beat them, join them.

Also, I’ve found that there are political aspects to even the most seemingly superficial of television shows . . .

To read the entire post, click here. 

AMC's Addictive "Mob Week"

I've gotten sucked in by AMC's "Mob Week" and so far, have watched all or parts of The Godfather I, II, and even III, The Untouchables, Goodfellas, Donnie Brasco, and Scarface---all for the umpteenth time. The series is hosted by foodie tough guy Anthony Bourdain and the films are interspersed with interviews with real life mobsters, authors, and more.

There's something about gangsters--not to mention the fact that some of these films are amongst the best ever made--that keeps us coming back for more. And the madness continues through August.