dagblog - Comments for "Steven Salaita Not Begging in Beirut"

$875K. Please censor my

PeraclesPlease — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 16:49:11 +0000

In reply to I am solely concerned about

$875K. Please censor my dagblog rantings and send a check for even half that much.

I am solely concerned about

Flavius — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 15:34:16 +0000

In reply to People are censored all the

I am solely concerned about the appearance of an academic institution censoring an unpopular position. Like Larry Summers. Perhaps you're right it happens all the time. Too bad.

I knew and know nothing about Mr. Salaita but assume he was qualified for the position for which he was hired. And was paid $600K because the school believed the courts would agree..

Censorship is censorship whether it's outright suppression or a requirement to avoid plain talk and mask your message.Which doesn't require a college degree.

People are censored all the

PeraclesPlease — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 13:52:33 +0000

In reply to no one who says A says B and

People are censored all the time - quite often if their level of rhetoric and skill at expressing themselves is quite primitive. Now the fact that half or more the current GOP lineup fits this description doesn't mean a university should lower its standards to the current sad state of politics. I'm sure most people Juan Cole gave time for debate are largely real professors in the traditional sense of the word, and not just ranters with a God-knows-how teaching post somewhere. And maybe if he'd been so ineloquent in trying to talk about the field he was hired for I could at least say, "well, they're desperate for Native American profs, so we'll put up with fallow in a season of want". But he was already embarrassing the school through his rants on a completely different topic - and by embarrass, I again don't mean the content - I'm continually hard on Israel re: treatment of Palestinians - I'm talking about his presentation and apparently his level of intellect and self-perception. Considering the cost of university education these days, having him for a class would be a horridly bad investment unless there's something about his Native American and classroom prowess that's completely lacking from his public outbursts. Hopefully he's at least potty trained - I guess that wouldn't be grounds to sever his contract either, right?

no one who says A says B and

Flavius — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 13:35:53 +0000

In reply to A and B are distinct

no one who says A says B and means it.

Surely you know people who strongly disapproved of , say, bombing of the King David Hotel and (you choose) any one of the heartless Palestinian acts of violence.The Israelis and the Palestinians are in the eighth decade of a war and as in all wars both sides do horrible things.

There may be " different ways of saying" that the assassination of Rabin was despicable but making the acceptable choice among them shouldn't be a teaching requirement.

When the British association of University professors (whatever it's called) passed a resolution opposing invitations to Israeli academics Juan Cole eloquently disputed that essentially saying 'Having debated those people all over the world, it would be contemptible for me to stand by when their right to express themselves is challenged '.

I suspect those Israelis would have been more popular if they chose to-mah-to but that shouldn't have been a requirement for them to speak in the UK.Nor for Professor Salaita to hold his job.

A little bit of censorship is like a little bit of pregnancy.

A and B are distinct

PeraclesPlease — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 05:27:41 +0000

In reply to A

A and B are distinct universes - no one who says A says B and means it, and vice versa. But there are different ways of saying A - to-may-to, to-mah-to, to-muh-to, fuckin' A... Most academics need to at least be able to spell A, even C-A-T cat. For this one, it seems doubtful.

A

Flavius — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 04:21:25 +0000

In reply to Steven Salaita Not Begging in Beirut

Individual Jews and various organs of the Isreali Government have done terrible things to Palestinans.

And vice versa.

An academic who said either A or B would have only been stating a fact and should not have been fired for that.

And anyone who says either A or B, here, is simply stating a fact, Certainly "balance" requires that if you state A you should immediately follow it with B. But since when has balance been a requirement for blogging.

Or for being an academic?

An Arab academic who so humiliated a Jewish student that he couldn't learn should be fired. Etc.

I could comment upon appropriate behavior here but this post is already long enough so I'll stop.

Well, I can't agree that

Aaron Carine — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 12:11:55 +0000

In reply to Writing in an unhinged,

Well, I can't agree that academics should lose their jobs--or prospective jobs--because of their political views. That seems like McCarthyism to me. Whether he is "unhinged" is largely subjective. If he were a Nazi, it might be different, but I don't think he is. What matters is whether his work meets the university's standards. In my neck of the woods, there were people demanding that a UNH professor(a guy I was arrested with) be fired because he was a 9/11 Truther; I didn't like that much either.

"What are you in for?"

moat — Sat, 05 Dec 2015 22:06:14 +0000

In reply to Steven Salaita Not Begging in Beirut

Comment removed by author. Was written for another place.
That was weird; gremlins in the code.

Writing in an unhinged,

PeraclesPlease — Sat, 05 Dec 2015 18:05:21 +0000

In reply to The fact that Hamas kills

Writing in an unhinged, juvenile, embarrassing fashion in a public forum when you haven't even started your gig as a tenured supposedly-professional professor seems like it *SHOULD* be reason enough to scuttle an appointment.

I think the university was hoping to get a professor of Native American studies, not an 8-year-old using his position as soapbox for annoying, poorly thought-out messages on the Palestinian-Israeli crisis. If he wants to apply for a political advocacy position, or even university tenure for say Palestinian affairs, perhaps he's got a career ahead. Otherwise, he's playing a particularly annoying bait-and-switch.

I'd support the foray into current politics more if it were actually even in the wide ballpark of academic quality, but it's more of the grade of throwing up on the rector's wife and calling it free speech.

So the untalented bastard got $875,000 payout for an $85K a year job he never started, and whines that U of I "destroyed my career".

I appreciate that Chomsky has made a 2nd career of his politics segued from his linguistic brilliance - while I can critique and criticize some of his pieces, they are invariably written with some thought and pedigree. In short, MIT is honored to have a stimulating figure. Saliata probably forgot that he hadn't risen through the 1st career yet, much less put in the thought on his 2nd career. Still he gets his pay - reality sometimes has a unfair balance. Oh well, next outrage.

Thanks NCD!

HSG — Sat, 05 Dec 2015 14:24:32 +0000

In reply to If the guy was an Israeli

Thanks NCD!