Middle East studies

Submitted by hari iyer (United States), Feb 28, 2003 at 20:15

It is similar to a rogue cop on a anti-drug unit. How this happens? a good cop trying to penetrate a drug-mafia or a criminal enterprise, gets accustomed to the behavior pattern of the enterprise, remember, his purpose is to infiltrate so that eventually the whole criminal enterprise can be captured and brought to justice. However, in many instances, the good cop becomes a rogue cop because at some point he/she becomes part of the criminal enterprise to the core and cannot come out of it.

In many cases, you see rogue cops caught with possession of illegal drugs and you find out from news stories that these cops were part of some anti-drug unit. I suppose the rogue cops become part of the problem if they are not careful.

I think a similar theory exists regarding the middle-eastern studies. Good people may want to study the middle-east and they get influenced by radicals/leftists/islamic fundamentalists and pretty soon the good people you know become the radicals.

How can someone argue otherwise, when various middle eastern study-outfits were cramming on Bill Clinton's throat for him to take immediate action against Serbia and Milosevic and now the same groups oppose taking action on a similar tyrant, namely Hussein who tyranises his own people and kurds? Unless one argues, that people like Edward Saids, Clarks get influenced by middle east fundamentalist radicals.

It is a strange world.

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