President Bush, long seen as dim-witted by the intellectual elite on college campuses everywhere, may be putting some intellectuals to the task on the issue of Islamic anti-Semitism:
Yet social scientists have essentially remained mum concerning a problem that President Bush, in a speech in November, has placed high on the world agenda. “Europe’s leaders, and all leaders,” he said in London, “should strongly oppose anti-Semitism, which poisons public debates over the future of the Middle East.”
The image of the president of the United States pressing ahead in the battle against bigotry while social scientists lag far behind is, to say the least, unusual — especially when one considers the mountains of research that have addressed past anti-Semitism and racism in Europe and the United States.
How could social scientists be ignoring such a rampant problem? It seems like for some reason Islamic countries have attained the status of “noble savage” among social scientists. Israel, with its democratic (albeit heavily socialist) government and technological advancement, is viewed as people who should know better than to pick on these noble savages.
This is all just another way of saying that in the world of the left, politics trumps academic rigor every time.
Hey Jared,
Weren’t you supposed to have a Books That Haunt entry out for this day?
Ryan,
“Books That Haunt” is on spring break, and will return at a time to be named later–as stated in the last installment.
I know this is an old post, but I’ve only now run across it. One more thing to consider: criticizing the violent expansionist policies of the Isreali government is often called “anti-semitism” by people like Bush. This is similar to how people opposing some of the current administration’s policies are being demonized as “Anti-American”. Yet, no one who opposes Islamic terrorist campaigns is called “Anti-Islam”. Just something to think about.