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Reader comment on item: Push Back on the University Front
in response to reader comment: Universities still harbor huge leftist views

Submitted by Mike (Canada), Jul 14, 2011 at 11:49

I am a conservative student of philosophy in Canada. In a class on international 20th century diplomacy between the great powers, I learned that there was "no unified Arab response" to the creation of the State of Israel, in a lecture that avoided entirely any mention of the war of independence. In this same, 4th year class, students have asked, when the Middle East was under discussion, questions like "doesn't Israel just steal people's land so it can get everything for free?" I am not kidding. We had to read Chapter 4 of "Shattered Dreams", an account of the negotiations between Arafat and Barak at Camp David.

I urge anyone to read that chapter (available on Google Books) and to see whether their own critical evaluation accords with the unanimous position in class that "Israel was not willing to make any concessions." When I pointed out that Barak had been willing to allow the Palestinian Arab flag to fly over the Temple Mount (!), an Arab in class remarked "you can't really trust whether Israeli concessions are serious, just look what they're doing in the occupied territories today", and so on.

In other words, it is no different on the West Coast of Canada, not even in a school that is highly regarded, than it is on your West Coast when it comes to the question of anti-Israeli, anti-Zionist, anti-Jew, pro-Arab propaganda. I am an award-winning student here. In my eyes, there is no hope for the great majority of my classmates, one of whom, just the other day, told me that she is tired of reading books, like Plato's Republic, written by "dead white guys." Will somebody like that ever spend an extra ten or twenty minutes, nevermind ten or twenty hours, sorting through anything of worth that was written by someone who is now no longer? Perhaps, but only if he's black, or maybe if he's an Arab.

In my eyes, conservative groups and Jewish groups on campus need to ratchet up their pro-conservative and pro-Israeli propaganda campaigns in a very big way if they want to stand a chance in the war of ideas. Their classmates will soon go on to be journalists, voters, politicians, lawyers and so on, and if those classmates have never had the orthodox propaganda line challenged, they will be hard for the conservatives to befriend or to make use of.

So as not to pick on my history class, in which the above-mentioned remarks were made, let me end with a comment an "Ethics and World History" professor recently made: Christianity and Islam are both pacific religions, so how is a state, which is not pacific, to manage itself if it is a Christian or Islamic state? This position, that Islam is a pacific religion, is, as you know, a common and pernicious lie. I am merely reporting the circumstances under which it continues to circulate here in the Canadian university system,

Mike.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (22) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Ten Years Later - Purge of Intellectualism by Technology Still Parabolic [240 words]M ToveyJun 17, 2021 14:29268374
Universities still harbor huge leftist views [112 words]p. schwartzJul 12, 2011 19:58187223
Canadian schools. [491 words]MikeJul 14, 2011 11:49187223
Horowitz [14 words]aspaciaJul 8, 2011 14:37187110
very happy [64 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
concernedJul 8, 2011 02:29187097
1universities in Germany [906 words]mythJul 9, 2011 08:26187097
what primeministers studied in Germany [341 words]mythJul 10, 2011 09:10187097
3Show them their ideas are anything bu liberal [47 words]Abu NudnikJul 7, 2011 21:53187093
Conservatives are ever more intellectual [15 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Peter W BarberJul 7, 2011 09:54187086
Dumb? [49 words]aspaciaJul 9, 2011 11:17187086
1Bookless universities? [98 words]Llewellyn BROWNJul 7, 2011 03:16187082
Memorization is not pushed [15 words]aspaciaJul 8, 2011 14:40187082
2Liberalism? [189 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Gunther H. SchiffJul 7, 2011 01:44187081
From a Liberal [98 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
David H. PartingtonJul 6, 2011 23:52187079
2Humanities Departments Need External Accountabiility [486 words]Stu FaginJul 6, 2011 22:56187077
Stars and Stripes [97 words]Jay1Jul 6, 2011 22:38187076
2This is encouraging [209 words]Brad BrzezinskiJul 6, 2011 22:32187075
2Conservatives and Liberals [76 words]Nenette GrunbergJul 6, 2011 22:01187072
2Fight is a good word, Surrender is a bad one. [147 words]batya daganJul 6, 2011 21:39187071
1What is this rant? [452 words]Gary JosephsonJul 10, 2011 01:05187071
1Cracking the grip of liberalism [107 words]Jack HensleyJul 6, 2011 21:28187070
3The despicable Left everywhere [75 words]NuritGJul 6, 2011 20:49187068

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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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