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Who were the participants of the experiments?

Reader comment on item: Arabs, Israelis, and Underdogs

Submitted by Ianus (Poland), Apr 1, 2009 at 15:16

Having read Dr. Pipes review of the study and his comments I am a little puzzled. I miss a crucial variable in it - the mysterious 'participants'. Probably in the study they are defined and characterized more precisely and objectively. But when I read "Participants were asked ..." I cannot but ask "Who were they? What criteria were applied for selecting them? What was their background ? " Choosing wrong people might yield any imaginable result - in favor or against Israel irrespective of what sector and size of the map and graphs one confronts 'the participants' with.

This difficulty is reinforced by the notorious fact that the Arab-Israeli conflict has been massively present for more than sixty years in the world media (and it will be present for the next century at least). I remember as a little child I heard and watched the loud stories and high running emotions around the Yom Kipur war, the Camp David process, the Iraeli-Egyptian "peace" and a plethora of other propganda stuff (usually against Israel which after 1968 was not spared vilification in the Socialist camp). I found it so exotic, so remote and yet I felt it must have been important if so many people felt so strongly about it.

I know I was, objectively speaking, influenced as millions were and are now. I even wonder if among all the conscious and rational human beings there is a single person who hasn't been somehow influenced, biased, forced by the parties to form his or her opinions (or assume someone else's) on the conflict? In this life-and-death struggle of the Jews against Islam one can hardly remain indifferent and objective. Manipulating emotions and sympathies with help of zooming in or out maps and statistics charts presupposes an impossible thing - a human being unifluenced before the experiment by this major permanent conflict.

Submitting....

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Daniel Pipes replies:

I provided a link to the full study and you can read about the participants there.

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Reader comments (32) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
It all started with Oil Embargo of 1973 [124 words]B.N.GururajApr 5, 2009 10:43153345
What could be more!! [553 words]MansoorApr 3, 2009 07:58153254
Reply to Mansoor [77 words]joe six-packApr 5, 2009 11:12153254
Another Muslim intellectual [154 words]Chet LimbrightApr 5, 2009 15:22153254
You must be kidding!! [323 words]MansoorApr 8, 2009 15:42153254
Pakistan is a paradise? really? [147 words]dhimmi no moreApr 11, 2009 16:01153254
Right on Chet [16 words]MichaelApr 12, 2009 00:39153254
Dhimmi, Don't you know, Pakistan, the Land of Pure just kneeled in front of Taliban [119 words]Proud IndianApr 15, 2009 02:28153254
Is being the Underdog really a good thing? [107 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Josiah RotenbergApr 3, 2009 04:26153250
Brilliant demonstration. Thank you, Dr Pipes ! [114 words]Anne-Marie DelcambreApr 3, 2009 03:20153244
Isreal v Gaza [119 words]Bernice SteffanApr 2, 2009 19:47153227
Arab Drama [77 words]Sheryl RosenbergApr 2, 2009 13:56153196
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It is the Utopian desire to make all things equal- Anti War [195 words]saraApr 1, 2009 21:37153149
I remember as a kid "logic" based on "truth" & "history", was big ... [21 words]kmanApr 1, 2009 20:23153145
Underdog or overlord? [200 words]Rebecca MouldsApr 1, 2009 19:43153141
Who is the underdog? [103 words]StevenLApr 1, 2009 19:37153140
Who is the real underdog in the MiddleEast [176 words]IsaacApr 1, 2009 16:47153129
underdogs [102 words]Yuval Brandstetter MDApr 1, 2009 16:39153128
In the eye of the beholder, indeed [115 words]John BApr 1, 2009 16:05153124
Where is the support of the Arab community? [137 words]Shawn CohenApr 1, 2009 15:40153122
Who were the participants of the experiments? [310 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
IanusApr 1, 2009 15:16153120
Public Relations Will Not Root Out the Underlying Problem [198 words]Jan JackmanApr 1, 2009 15:07153119
It will always be Israel as the underdog; since the entire middle east is the enemy and that enemy is islam [164 words]William HillApr 1, 2009 14:51153118
Who is besieging whom? [374 words]IVANApr 4, 2009 07:28153118
Marvin Kalb [13 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
DavidApr 1, 2009 13:34153112
Public relations debacle [48 words]BertApr 1, 2009 12:45153109
who is the Underdog Israel or the Arabs [125 words]IsaacApr 1, 2009 12:30153108
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same old, same old [1113 words]the Grand Infidel of KaffiristanApr 5, 2009 21:20153108
1Wake up Mansoor before its too late! [476 words]Rana RajputanaMay 5, 2009 07:32153108
A correction and comment [112 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Mark GoldApr 1, 2009 11:43153105

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