Looking for a teaching job in history? If you turned today to the main website listing such positions — H-net.org/jobs — here is what you would have found at about 12 noon:
• Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam, Head of Department “Communism and Society”, posted today
• Auburn University, Assistant, Associate, Full Professor African American Literature, posted today
• Duke University, Arabic Culture, posted today
• University of California – San Diego, Assistant Professor of Critical Muslim Studies, posted today
• University of California – Davis, Associate/Full Professor, posted today
This turns out to be, when you click on the link for further information, a tenure position in African-American studies.
• University of California – Berkeley, Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor – Modern Middle East/Arab World, posted today
• University of Southern California, Assistant Professor of Contemporary Chinese Literature and Media Studies, posted today
• Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, Molina Curator for the History of Medicine & Early Science, posted today
Not a teaching position.
• Bradley University, Assistant Professor, African American Politics, posted today
• University of California – Riverside, Assistant Professor of Art and Material Culture of the Islamic World, posted today
• Cornell University, Islam in the Modern Middle East and North America, posted today
• Bowdoin College, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, posted today
If you click on the Bowdoin College link, you find the de rigueur boilerplate of this age:
We welcome applications from candidates committed to the instruction and support of a diverse student population and those who will enrich and contribute to the College’s ethnic and cultural diversity. We value a community in which students of all backgrounds are warmly welcomed and encouraged to succeed. In your application materials, we encourage you to address how your teaching, scholarship, and/or mentorship may support our commitment to diversity and inclusion.
• University of California – Davis, Assistant Professor, Black Studies/Critical Race Studies, posted yesterday
• History Associates Incorporated, Cataloging Archivist, posted yesterday
Not a teaching position.
• Florida State University, Assistant Professor – Religions of South Asia, posted yesterday
Hindu and/or Buddhist traditions in India.
• Williams College, Tenure-track Assistant Professor, posted yesterday
Tenure track Asst. Professor of Arabic Studies.
Here’s part of the expanded description of this position at Williams:
The Arabic Studies program at Williams College seeks to appoint a tenure-track Assistant Professor, beginning July 2018. … The college and the program value teaching and research equally highly, and will expect the new colleague to contribute to the ongoing process of building our vibrant Arabic Studies program.
Arabic Studies is especially interested in candidates who are enthusiastic about contributing to the rich and diverse intellectual life of a campus made up of colleagues and students from widely varying backgrounds. Individuals from groups that are underrepresented in academia are particularly encouraged to apply.
Applications are due no later than September 20, 2017 and should include a cover letter, CV, and three letters of recommendation, at least one of which addresses the candidate’s promise as a teacher. In the letter of application, we ask that candidates speak to their ability to work effectively with a student population that is broadly diverse with regard to gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, and religion.
• Pennsylvania State University, Postdoctoral Scholar, African-American History (PSU #73737), posted yesterday
• Williams College, Visiting Assistant Professor of Chinese, posted yesterday
• Xavier University of Louisiana, Assistant Professor — African American Literature, posted yesterday
I have changed nothing. I’ve simply reprinted the first nineteen announcements of job openings that appear today at H-net.org/jobs, a site for those seeking college or university employment as a teacher of history.
I included the listings for two non-teaching jobs, the first a Cataloguing Archivist at “History Associates,” and the second the “Molina Curator for the History of Medicine & Early Science at the Huntington Library,” simply for completeness.
There were also two positions listed that did not include the subject matter to be taught. In both cases, I clicked on the link to find out more, and I’ve listed the subjects — one was for a tenured position in African-American studies at the University of California, the second for a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Arabic Studies at Williams — below the announcement. In both cases I thought it worthwhile to include a paragraph or two from the fuller descriptions of the jobs, so as to convey the full flavor of current academic life — in all its diverse inclusiveness and inclusive diversity, until the cows come home.
To sum up: of the nineteen positions listed first today, 17 were for teaching jobs. Of those 17 teaching jobs, six, or more than a third, had to do with Arabs and/or Islam.
Another six had to do with African-American Literature, African-American History, African-American Studies, Black Studies/Critical Race Studies, Black Studies, African-American Politics.
There was one opening for all of India, ancient and modern: an assistant professor focusing on “South Asian Religions,” that is, Hindu and Buddhist Studies.
There were two opening for China-related jobs: teaching Chinese language, and Modern Chinese Literature and Media Studies.
There was one opening for an Anthropology position, for the study of Native American or other indigenous peoples. Here is a fuller description, which like all of the jobs listed,is careful to mention the importance of, commitment to, celebration of, diversity and inclusiveness, or words to that effect:
Bowdoin College’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology invites applications for a tenure-track faculty appointment in Anthropology at the Assistant Professor level beginning fall 2018. We seek a cultural anthropologist whose research focuses on issues of indigeneity, sovereignty, the environment, and/or media in Native American or other indigenous communities. We are especially interested in candidates whose areas of geographic and topical specialization complement and broaden those now covered in the Department.
We welcome applications from candidates committed to the instruction and support of a diverse student population and those who will enrich and contribute to the College’s ethnic and cultural diversity. We value a community in which students of all backgrounds are warmly welcomed and encouraged to succeed. In your application materials, we encourage you to address how your teaching, scholarship, and/or mentorship may support our commitment to diversity and inclusion.
While China merits one teacher of the language, and one non-language teaching appointment, and India merits one position on Hindu and Buddhist studies, the only aspect of American history that appears in these announcements is that involving African-Americans. Six positions are listed: African-American Literature, African-American and African Studies, African American Politics, Black Studies/Critical Race Studies, African-American History, African American Literature. Nothing about Colonial America, the Road to Independence, the Revolutionary War, the Constitution, the Westward Expansion, the Era of Good Feelings, the Civil War, Manifest Destiny, the Great Trusts and the Sherman Act, the Immigration From Europe (1880-1925), nothing about the Depression, the New Deal, World War II, America as a World Power, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and so on.
Completely absent, too, from this sampling, is the history of Europe, from Classical Antiquity to the 21st century. No Greek city-states, no Periclean Athens, no Peloponnesian War, no Roman Empire to both rise and fall, no Dark Ages, no Middle Ages, no Crusades, no Renaissance, no Reformation, no Discovery and Conquest of the New World, no Louis XIV and the French Empire, no British Empire, no French Revolution, no Napoleonic Wars, no Revolutions of 1848, no Industrial Revolution, no Rise of Democracy, no……..well, you get the picture. Europe has fallen, it appears, pretty much off the academic map; its place has been taken by Diversity and Inclusion neither of which appears to include, or is made diverse by, courses about boring old white Europeans, and Europe itself is in steady retreat as a subject of study in our universities.
Meanwhile, Islamic and Arabic studies appear to be very much in academic fashion. Six of the first seventeen listings for teaching jobs today — listed as of noon– are devoted to Arabic Culture, Critical Muslim Studies, the Modern Middle East, Art and Material Culture of the Islamic World, Islam in the Modern Middle East and North America, and Arabic Studies.
Almost every one of these announcements proclaims the vital importance of “diversity and inclusion” or, just to make things interesting, of “inclusion and diversity.”
A number of questions about all these Islam/Arab studies courses immediately present themselves.
Will those doing the selecting of teachers of Islamic history, or the history of the Middle East, have themselves be Muslims? Or even Arabs? Could candidates include Copts out of Egypt, or Maronites from Lebanon, provided they have a “distinguished scholarly record”? What about the many outstanding Israeli scholars of Islamic history — could they even be considered? Or, mirabile dictu, hired? Why does one have the uneasy feeling that the for the Muslims on the hiring committee, “only Muslims can teach about Islam”? Given what we know about Muslim attitudes toward non-Muslims, described in the Qur’an 98:6 as “the most vile of creatures,” and the “loyalty and disavowal for the sake of Allah”’ doctrine (Al Wala Wal Bara) how likely is it that, say, a Lebanese Christian would be chosen to teach a course on “Muslim and Non-Muslim In the Middle East,” which would offer a wider view — be more inclusive, stress the region’s historical diversity — than a view that reduces the Middle East, over the past 1400 years, only to its Muslim inhabitants?
Will there be non-Muslims on the hiring committees, who are themselves historians, not necessarily of Islam or of the Arabs, who may sense the need for teachers who are not apologists? How does one prevent a closed circle, where Muslim apologists hire and promote only other apologists for Islam, both Muslim and, if they are like John Esposito, non-Muslim?
Faculty members and parents might wish to investigate what their college-age children are being taught about Islam. They might, for example, take a look at the course syllabi. What has been assigned, and what has been left out? Will there be any of the studies by the great Western scholars of Islam, such as those by Joseph Schacht and C. Snouck Hurgronje? Or by the great Arab scholars of Islam, such as Majid Khadduri, who wrote the indispensable War and Peace in the Law of Islam?
What about, more recently, that noted historian of Islamic peoples, especially of the Arabs and Turks, so feted in Istanbul, Bernard Lewis? Or should he not be assigned in courses because of his celebrated contretemps with Edward Said, which for many Muslims is evidence that Lewis is a neo-colonialist, Zionist, and all-purpose villain? Will, instead, John Esposito, Karen Armstrong, and others of that apologetic ilk be assigned in these courses? Anything is possible in this brave new world that has come into being on our campuses. Will the students studying Islam learn that Jihad is a never-ending duty, until the entire world is subjugated to Islam, and Muslims everywhere rule? Will Jihad itself be presented not as violence for the sake of Allah but, rather, as an “internal struggle,” to be a better Muslim, a claim based on a weak hadith that Muslim apologists are fond of quoting in support of a pacific Islam? Will students read, and study, the complete Qur’an, without tears, or will there be an attempt to divert their attention from the violence and hatred of Infidels with which the Qur’an is so disturbingly full?
I have heard stories of college courses on Islam where the teacher — an artful dodger, avoiding having to lecture by calculated use of videos — routinely takes up quite a few class sessions by showing videos of pilgrims performing the entire Hajj, from the very start to the finish, with each detail of the journey being shown, and discussed in detail. It begins with shots of Muslims preparing across the globe — we see them, of all races, packing their bags excitedly, in Kuala Lumpur, in London, in Marrakech and Paris and Timbuktu and New York and Tehran and Baghdad and Berlin, and dozens of other places (the point being that Muslims are all over the world, the undeclared theme being Tomorrow-Belongs-To-Me), and then see them settling into their plane seats, their souls in upright position, and then arriving in Jeddah — or possibly Medinah — then it’s on by coach to Mecca (where no Infidel is allowed under any circumstances to set foot), and we see the pious pilgrims settling into their lodgings, and then, the next day, suitably rested, starting on their hajj, changing into their white costumes walking widdershins seven times round the magic wonderstone draped in black cloth, and so on, pelting with pebbles the three walls at Mina, all the way to the finish, and the return trip, with scenes of landing where they had begun, beatific smiles on their faces. That’s not the problem. The problem is that so much attention is given to the Five Pillars that there no time to discuss, no time even to mention, in some of these courses, the concept, and treatment, of the “dhimmi.”
What will those hired to teach these courses on Islam and Arabic studies, or Islam “in the Middle East and North America,” allow their students to read? Will they include on their syllabi books by the most articulate apostates from Islam, to see how they regard the faith, and what led them to leave it? Wouldn’t that contribute to the kind of lively debate universities should welcome? One thinks of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, with Nomad, Infidel, and, especially, Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now. Then there is Ibn Warraq, a longtime scholar of early Islam, author of, among many books, Why I Am Not A Muslim, Christmas in the Koran, and The Islam In Islamic Terrorism, who also deserves to be read, not least by devout Muslims who have been discouraged, all their lives, from the habit of free and skeptical inquiry. Or will these courses be taught from the viewpoint not of a disinterested scholar, but only of the Believer?
This is not an imaginary problem. Some years ago, a Mexican student of my acquaintance complained to me about a course he had just taken, “Introduction to Islam,” at a well-known Ivy League school. When he received back his final exam, with a grade he thought was far below what he deserved, he went to discuss it with the professor, a Muslim originally from the Middle East. He couldn’t understand why he had received a C. The professor pointed to a sentence in the answer for which he received his lowest grade. That sentence read “Muslims believe that Muhammad went from Mecca to Jerusalem and back within 24 hours, supposedly on a fabulous steed, Al-Buraq.” “There,” said the professor. “I don’t understand” said the student. “What is wrong with that?” “Right here, you write that ‘Muslims believe that Muhammad,(pbuh) was carried into Heaven.’ Are you questioning that? Do you think he didn’t ascend into Heaven, didn’t travel from Mecca to Jerusalem and back?” The student was too shocked to reply. “You are essentially saying that this story is a lie. And then you wrote that Muhammad (pbuh) ‘supposedly’ travelled on Al-Buraq? I almost think you were trying to deliberately offend me, and all Muslims. Under the circumstances I thought I was generous with the grade I gave you.”
The student left, he told me, flabbergasted and speechless. I wonder how many similar teachers are now ensconced in tenured chairs.
How will the figure of Muhammad be handled in these courses? Will he be presented as the Model of Conduct and the Perfect Man, that is, as a devout Muslim sees him? And if so, will all the disturbing aspects of his life simply be omitted? What of the role he played in many assassinations, as he did at one remove by prompting his followers to kill those who had either mocked him, such as the 120-year-old Jewish poet Abu ‘Afak, or had defended those who did, such as Asma bint Marwan? Will his taking part in the killing of 600-900 bound members of the Banu Qurayza be mentioned? What about his marriage to little Aisha, consummated when she was nine years old?, Will Muhammad’s raid on the inoffensive Jewish farmers in the Khaybar Oasis be mentioned? What about Muhammad’s ordering the torture of Kinana, so that he would reveal where some valuables were hidden, and once he had done so, further commanding that he be killed? Will a course on Islam, which must also be a course on Muhammad, the central figure in the faith, include the episode with Saafiiya, the Jewish beauty from Khaybar, whom he raped on the evening of the day he had her father, husband, and brother killed? On what grounds will all this be left out?
And there is much more to cause concern. Will the sectarian split between Sunni and Shi’a be properly covered? What about the thesis, associated with the scholar and apostate Anwar Shaikh, that Islam is “the Arab National Religion”? Could those who maintain, with Shaikh, that Islam has been a vehicle for Arab imperialism, and there are now other non-Arab Muslims, including Berbers and Kurds, who do so, conceivably be hired, or if by some fluke they were hired, wouldn’t they be told to not even discuss that damaging, because so obviously true, thesis about Islam? What will be taught about the spread of Islam, through both violence and conversion by many millions who became Muslims in order to avoid having to pay the Jizyah and satisfy other onerous conditions demanded of all dhimmis?
There may be ways to push back against this academic degringolade, which does not affect only the teaching of Islam, but of many other subjects. We have to find out, as a civic duty and a matter of homeland security, how Islam, its texts, teachings, and history of conquests and subjugation, are now taught in our colleges. It should be possible for interested parties to monitor these classes — to obtain copies of what is assigned as reading, to have students (or even parents) who share a justified alarm to sit in on, or even regularly audit, and take notes about, or otherwise record, the lectures given in these classes of Islamic or Arabic studies. If the results reveal deliberate misrepresentation of the texts and teachings of Islam, or either deny, or defend, the existence, easily confirmed, of misogyny, homophobia, and antisemitism in both the Qur’an and Hadith, this should be brought to the attention of other faculty, college administrators, and the wider public. To simply allow this sort of thing to continue, with the offending professors never having to worry about any consequences, would be a colossal dereliction of duty. Those who assume tenure protects them, no matter what meretricious nonsense, easily disproven, they may offer, have another think coming. So, as one example, consider what so satisfyingly happened to tenured “Professor” Ward Churchill. He lost his tenured post when he was discovered to have repeatedly plagiarized, and for other misdeeds.
As for poor neglected Western Civ, perhaps some day it will come back into fashion. You never know. I once had a student visit my office, look with astonished recognition at a copy of Plato’s Republic on my bookshelf, and exclaim: “You’ve got that book, too? We had that in Western Civ. I loved Western Civ, but my boyfriend hated it.”
In the meantime, if you want to get some sense of how fashionable Islamic and Arabic studies have become, and what kind of faculty members are likely being hired and promoted to teach those subjects, exhibiting the right kind of diversity and inclusion, prepared to teach not in a spirit of disinterested scholarly inquiry but almost certainly one of defender-of-the-faith apologetics, you might begin with this sampling, being nothing more than what was put up, just today, at H-net.org/jobs.
ItsReallyQuiteClear says
For a good start at checking out course syllabi, try entering this search into Google:
arab*|islam* syllabus filetype:pdf site:edu
Fewer results using MS Word format:
arab*|islam* syllabus filetype:doc site:edu
In Google searches, the “|” character, which is the upper case “\”, just above the Enter key on US keyboards means “or”. The asterisk, is of course, a wildcard character, and the “site:edu” limits the search results to the entire US educational domain. Limit to a particular college or university with something like “site:harvard.edu”.
JawsV says
Times have changed. During my college days (early-mid 1980’s) it was all about America and Europe. No Arabs, no Islam. A favorite poly sci class was called “Western Political Thought” beginning with Plato. It was very popular. I still have the textbook (it’s big!). An English class I took was “American Romanticism” — Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Whitman, Poe, Dickinson etc. In History I took “History of Britain” beginning with Roman Britain. How sad to see Britain now overrun with Muslims and Jihad. I took 18th century English novel — Fielding (“Tom Jones” and “Joseph Andrews”), Defoe (“Roxana” and “Moll Flanders”), Smollett (“Humphrey Clinker”), Sterne (“Tristram Shandy”), Oliver Goldsmith (“The Vicar of Wakefield”) and “Emma” by Jane Austen. I loved that class! Are the English novels taught anymore? Or, is everything African and Islam now? I also enjoyed 18th century satire — Swift, Pope, Dr. Johnson, John Gay, Moliere. A theatre class was called “Plays and Playwrights” and they were all American, British, French, Spanish and Norwegian (Ibsen). I don’t think Muslims have ever written any plays and such a creative enterprise would be “un-Islamic” anyway. Lest I forget: Shakespeare! My two favorite plays: “Hamlet” and “Julius Caesar.”
Those are a few examples of liberal arts college classes in the 1980’s. I truly pity college kids today who are being indoctrinated by Islam propaganda and the twin idiocies “diversity” and “inclusion.”
Shakespeare joke: Who is the biggest chicken killer in Shakespeare?
Answer: Macbeth. He committed murder MOST FOUL!
“Macbeth” is also called “The Scottish Play” due to a supposed curse on the play concerning the weird sisters. So, shhh! Say “The Scottish Play!”
gravenimage says
+1
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
Hugh Fitzgerald mentions “(the point being that Muslims are all over the world, the undeclared theme being Tomorrow-Belongs-To-Me)”. Yes! This song certainly needs Islamic lyrics, which might be elicited by a songwriting contest in madrassahs all across America. You might think that CAIR would sponsor such a contest, but the CAIR hierarchy seems to be a bunch of unimaginative fuddy-duddies. Ibrahim Hooper recently rejected the bring-us-together proposal of replacing statues of Robert E. Lee astride his horse Traveller with statues of our favorite Prophet astride his magical mule Buraq.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN7r0Rr1Qyc
ItsReallyQuiteClear says
So that’s why ISIS referred to Buraq Hussein Obama as the “mule of the Jews”…
/sarc
manat bint allaha says
buraq?
love your spin.
reminds me of that joke: what’s the difference between obama and osama?
just a little bs..
ItsReallyQuiteClear says
Back at you!
I hadn’t seen that one about Obama and Osama before.
Thanks.
gravenimage says
Except that music is un-Islamic–but the supremacist attitude is not.
Westman says
When I think back on all the crap I learned in college….
More useless courses adding an extra burden of debt upon the socially oriented student who will graduate without a job. He might be so incredibly diversified as to earn a degree in ‘General Studies”. His fellow students of science, engineering, technology, and math will have no time for such courses and will generally have jobs related to their disciplines before graduation. Where are the summer internships for the liberal arts?
Universities that concentrate on liberal arts and social engineering, suggesting it is preparation for employment, are a fraud in the US; providing their own accolades, yet leaving the students more entertained and in debt, than educated for employment in a meritocracy.
University tuitions have inflated 2 and 1/2 times faster than the consumer price index since 1985. That must mean the demand is enormous, since cost follows a price-demand curve in a normal economy. That must explain why the multi-nationals are looking for the highest skills at the lowest wage from other countries and leaving many graduates unemployed.
There is a side benefit for uber-sensitive college-educated liberals, living with Mom: They can take out their frustration by clubbing cars, windows, and conservatives at demonstrations to show what they learned about respect at the overpriced university.
JawsV says
College isn’t trade school. If you want to learn welding go to trade school. College is called getting educated. There’s more to life than “science, engineering, technology, math.” It’s not just about “getting a job.” My favorite classes were in English literature, French language and literature, art history, history and anthropology. So, speak for yourself. My liberal arts college years were wonderful. I miss those years a lot.
My tuition has long been paid. I don’t live with my mother. I’ve long had a job. So, you can take your “uber-sensitive college-educated” jealousy and resentment and shove it. I’m not a liberal. If college wasn’t for you (all the “crap”) then speak for yourself not others.
old white guy says
I enjoyed history and English lit, but neither subject prepared me for work or the work I eventually wound up doing.
JawsV says
You were educated. That’s what English and History are supposed to do. About work, go to trade school, law school etc. There are many options for work.
Kepha says
This is written with all due respect to Hugh Fitzgerald, whom I am glad to see posting here again.
Jaws, to you I say: Hear, hear. I studied Chinese language and Sinology in college, and don’t regret it. I’ve been teaching and have been a male head-of-household for decades. Further, I have never been an apologist for Mao’s regime and its successors.
I have read Edward Said’s _Orientalism_, and while I get his point about how some studies dehumanize the object they purport to inform us about (something I came to appreciate when I lived and worked in the Far East), I also see Said’s book as an attack on the intellectual curiosity that made the Western world great. I have nothing against American students learning about other parts of the world, and think that real study of such subject (as opposed to mere indoctrination) serves a very useful purpose. Having studied Far Eastern culture and language as well as important chunks of the Western tradition, I am appalled at academics, teachers, pundits, and policy-makers who expect every culture in the world to mirror the America that existed and exists in my lifetime. This is a problem I see not only with the Leftist EmCeePeeCee crowd, but also with some on the “America first [,last, and always, period.]” RIght as well.
I also think that most people who come to this site regularly know that I am conservative Evangelical Christian and vehemently opposed to the introduction of Sharia law in the USA.
Lydia says
That sentence read “Muslims believe that Muhammad went from Mecca to Jerusalem and back within 24 hours, supposedly on a fabulous steed, Al-Buraq.” “There,” said the professor. “I don’t understand” said the student. “What is wrong with that?” “Right here, you write that ‘Muslims believe that Muhammad,(pbuh) was carried into Heaven.’ Are you questioning that? Do you think he didn’t ascend into Heaven, didn’t travel from Mecca to Jerusalem and back?” The student was too shocked to reply. “You are essentially saying that this story is a lie. And then you wrote that Muhammad (pbuh) ‘supposedly’ travelled on Al-Buraq? I almost think you were trying to deliberately offend me, and all Muslims.
______________________________________________________________
I would have answered: You bet I don’t believe that! I am a Christian. I believe the Bible. Do you believe what my faith teaches? No, of course not. So then I should think that you are deliberately trying to offend me, and all other Christians. I am not here to change my faith to pass a class. That is not the test here. Grading me on ‘beliefs’ is against the policy and you are discriminating against a person’s religion, which is illegal in workplaces and campuses and so on. If my grade is not changed to an A, and maybe even if it is, I will report and sue you.
_______________________________________
Now I also never would have taken such a class that discusses this at all, but that is besides the point at hand here. To leave in defeat is a huge part of the problem here. If you don’t stand up, they will run you over. Even if your ‘college career’ or whatever is at stake. The priorities need to be in the right order.
This is all So reminiscent of the nazi time when all the truth was silenced, anyone who said anything was in danger, and everyone was afraid and all conversation was hushed. (Except for some of my bold ancestors, God bless them!)
It is like that all over again, the ‘politically correct script’ and anything else is given harsh glares. The weak are bullied into silence. Ironically, all of this in the name of ‘diversity’ and ‘tolerance,’ and ‘inclusion,’ just for that good old ‘Orwellian’ feel to it.
EDDIE says
Lydia:
I love your CHUDSPA!
Dacritic says
Christians and other infidels have too often, like you said, left in defeat. Oh, we don’t want to be confrontational. More often than, when we dare to stand up and confront Muslims about Islam, they scurry back into the darkness like cockroaches or change the topic like a slippery fucking eel.
mortimer says
It has been pointed out that there are THREE points of view from which to discuss Islam: 1) the Muslim point of view which says everything Islam has done is wonderful and can’t ever be criticized. 2) the Dhimmi point of view which says Islam is peaceful and jihad is an aberration and ‘who are we to judge’… it was probably our fault and finally 3) the Kafir point of view which states that Islam is totalitarian, misogynistic, intolerant and expansionist and that it is an existential threat to the West and all other cultures.
These points of view are inimical, but I think only the Kafir view can be shown to be supported by fact-based rational arguments. The first two points of view are fanciful and unsupported and they are the predominant views in academia.
Westman says
Exactly. 9/11 is like a Ghost of Christmas Past, almost 3000 people dead and forgotten in a terror attack by Saudis – an attack that the terrorists completely justified by reference to Islam’s ideology. 7/7 is also well forgotten. The masses want to go on believing they are safe and, knowing that, the purveyors of Islam are scratching the itching ears of the masses.
Shmooviyet says
“…almost 3000 people dead and forgotten…” Yes! So sad and infuriating!
Does anyone recall a documentary, post- 9/11, with young children app. 5-8 years old being interviewed and reacting to the horrors? It was heartbreaking to watch.
Now so many of that same generation has shrugged off 9/11— to demand *tolerance & diversity* in the most INtolerant ways, attacking anyone who dares to remember and question. Any remaining memories were drilled from their consciousness and replaced with all the ‘tolerance’ of islam itself, by brainscrubbers teaching them why America had it coming.
gravenimage says
I will never forget. Here is my painting, Always Remember; Never Submit:
http://photobucket.com/gallery/user/gravenimageartist/media/bWVkaWFJZDo0MjMzNTI2Nw==/?ref=1
Matthieu Baudin says
“… To simply allow this sort of thing to continue, with the offending professors never having to worry about any consequences, would be a colossal dereliction of duty…”
But they have been at it for a long time now – from the early ’70’s onwards they have entrenched their attitudes and fashionable obsessions into course content; they have been captivated by a type of messianic political drive to change the world through the indoctrination of a steady stream of students. Their authority derives primarily from their title and tenure rather than the quality of their scholarship and while they are able to continue to shamelessly give their ilk a ‘leg up’ this academic scandal will continue.
ItsReallyQuiteClear says
Matthieu,
I definitely agree. I also think that there’s an incestuous cycle of jumping on the cause célèbre bandwagon, and legions of risk averse academic administrator copy cats. Hiring of “diverse” faculty members is good, but when the time comes for them to participate in university service — and they’re always sought to serve on university diversity committees (otherwise the diversity committees would just consist of white males, right? /moderate sarcasm) — what are their interests? It’s only natural that many would have a passion for serving and promoting the group with which they identify. So, in our case, we wind up with a university diversity committee that releases an annual report of their activities, and 80% of them represent or promote a single group identity. In my opinion, that’s not diversity, it’s a stacked deck of programming based on a somewhat stacked deck of committee membership. The effect of that is to project and reinforce an impression that “diversity” is synonymous with those particular groups, and the concept begins to lose its meaning.
To be fair, universities can’t hire people who aren’t in that job market, and that’s at least in part due to the obstacles and challenges faced by disadvantaged groups. But once academia identifies a cause célèbre, many institutions compete to hire representatives of those groups, to be like their peers who are getting all the positive press and admiration for promoting their “diversity”. Then the grant money follows, to further facilitate creating and filling positions to support and promote those groups. Then the courses, concentrations or programs, extra-curricular activities, and scholarship follows.
So I think it’s no surprise that there’s been a sharp increase in the number of Islamic Studies faculty positions, courses and programs, and I think we’re likely to see them increase even more sharply. Like the game goes, no faculty wants to be caught without a chair when the muezzin stops…or something like that…
dan christensen says
Now we know, where the arabian petrodollars go.
John A. Marre says
In other words, no Whites or people from a Christian background will ever be hired. These jobs are in line with the college’s ideology, that the civilization based on Christian values MUST be eliminated. The college is using its vast resources and money to speed up the replacement of Christian culture with Muslim “culture.”
The entire left (academia, media, Democrat party, major corporations) is acting in concert to eliminate Christianity from this country and from Europe, and is working hard to replace Christianity with Islam.
Michael Casmer says
Ah diversity. That’s why I couldn’t get a job in a museum (my area of studies in college). As a veteran I’m entitled to a 5 point preference for Government jobs (such as at the Smithsonian museum). but nooooooo.
Makes you wonder who is hired then? Its a mess
gravenimage says
Sorry to hear this–but sadly, not surprised.
Tjhawk says
First, I must say that I support the arts, both liberal and fine. If career and technical education was the only thing there was to learn, life would be far less rich and satisfying. Having said that, students must start to develop realistic ideas about how they are going to make their own way in this world.
In the social activism “———— Studies” majors, I think most intend to stay in academia to teach more social activists. This is not a sustainable economic model. Somebody’s got to generate some money somewhere, and academia doesn’t do that.
I saw an interesting exchange on YouTube where an SJW type was eloquently and passionately defending the value of her education with a much more pragmatic student. She hit all the globalist, utopian high points that her viewpoint would lead to. The guy listened politely and then asked, “But what are you going to do?”
She answered, “Don’t you worry about me. I going to be an activist!”
Where does one get a paying job as an activist?
Who pays all the aspiring activists?
How does activism generate economy, or Where does the money come from?
Will activism support all the new activists comin out of university?
Larry says
I was an engineering student at Cal State Fullerton in the early 1980’s. There was not separate student housing for all the different skin colors, as is the case now. Segregation was a thing of the past at the time. Now blacks and Hispanic students are self segregating by demanding separate facilities. I remember the student lounge, at the time, was full of students of all colors and races, debating the events of the day. It was rowdy, and loud and fun. No one was violent, everyone respected one another’s opinion. We communicated. I am a white male, and conservative, and I remember those debates and discussions very fondly. Identity politics and self segregation have wrecked our ability to communicate. Now add all these bogus “studies” to the mix, I think we are doomed.
Tjhawk says
Yes Larry, when I was in the dorm ( late 70s), we were not segregated. It was even co-ed. Each floor had a central co-ed lobby. Turn right to go down the girls wing, turn left to go down the boys wing. I may have been tone deaf, but I really believe the women did not feel under constant threat of rape and the black students didn’t feel under constant threat of lynching. There was some self segregating by interest and lifestyle, but I don’t recall sexism and racism as the alpha and omega of every interaction. We were all aware of injustice, even the white guys. It just felt that we were trying to move into a new world. My 17/18 year old self could not have predicted the current state of affairs.
Politicianaphobia says
Darling Nihad Awad said “Give schoalarships, in five years you will have an army of lawyers, politicians (politics is a weapon), journalists, teachers who got to schools, universities, who can educate people about the history of Islam-the true Islam“. Another darling, Jaafar Idris said “So there is a jihad, the primary jihad, according to the Qu`ran, is the jihad with the word but then there is jihad in the sense of violence. There is no doubt about this, Islam is a realistic religion“. Maybe the profs will include quotes like: I will die to establish Islam, War is deception, Oh Allah, destroy America, Peace is the absence of opposition, The West will be elimated, Sabotage its misserable house from within and don`t forget Ultimately we can never be full citizens of this country because there is no way we can be fully committed to the institutions and ideologies of this country.
Jan Skerion says
The same thing happening in science and technology.
– Harvard School of Engineering increase in diversity: female employees 51%, faculty 22%,
– Cornell University looking for Associate Director, Diversity Programs in Engineering,
– University of California looking for Assistant Professor Position in Provost’s Diversity in Engineering Fellows Program.
– Princeton University, School of Engineering looking for Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion
…
gravenimage says
Hugh Fitzgerald: Western Civ and Its Diss Contents
…………………….
When I was at Berkeley in the late ’70s and early ’80s, the History Department was an oasis (pun intended) of sanity amid all of the “___________ Studies” Departments. I doubt that this is the case there any longer.