Jaun Cole on Eva Fairbanks
Juan Cole discusses a negative op-ed peice on the W-M paper by Eva Fairbanks in the LA Times.
Juan Cole
The illogic comes in from several contradictions. She admits that over 1,000 (actually over 1,500) academics have signed my petition asking the Conference of the Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations to condemn the playing of the race card against the authors for simply writing an academic analysis. But she goes on depicting academics as moral cowards afraid to speak out. Doesn't she recognize what courage it takes to sign that petition after the Washington Post itself shamefully invoked David Duke's praise of the LRB paper? She dismisses the petition as an example of my being "publicity-hungry." She then goes on to talk about Alan Dershowitz with no adjectives about him! [Alan is a publicity whore!] If academics speak out in defense of the authors from being smeared, they are mere publicity hounds. If they decline to talk to her, they are cowards.
Juan Cole
posted by Brian at 1:51 PM
1 Comments:
Rush Limbaugh led the charge in reducing all political discourse to name-calling. Eva Fairbanks, Ann Coulter, it's all the same - attack your opponent. The educated mind recognizes this as weakness - lack of facts or reasoned position to argue from, the trademark of bullies and their toadies. Now the debate must be taken back from the namecallers by those who draw strength from reason.
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