http://www.theaugeanstables.com "Always be ready to speak your mind and a base man will avoid you." (William Blake, 1796) Mon, 12 May 2008 13:34:56 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Noah Pollak has an interesting piece on Barack Obama's position on the Lebanese crisis. One could hardly imagine a better definition of liberal cognitive egocentrism: define the problem in terms for which we liberals have a solution. (Hat tip: oao) Obama Stares Down Hezbollah NOAH POLLAK - 05.11.2008 - 2:19 ... http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2008/05/11/obama-on-lebanon-cognitive-egocentric-porridge/ The Times of London has run a number of articles of reminiscences of 1948. Here, thanks to a British willingness to self-criticize, the Brits are the bad-faith players, and the Israelis and Arabs show maturity. (Hat tip: EG) From The Times May 10, 2008 'The British wanted us to kill each other' Said ... http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2008/05/11/the-british-and-the-arab-israeli-hand-of-friendship-what-might-have-been/ Shlomo Avineri has written an interesting meditation on the Palestinian Nakba. He makes his criticism carefully, peppered with constant efforts not hurt anyone's feelings by suggesting that the Palestinian national movement is not legitimate, strong, etc. But the thrust of his argument suggests just the opposite: the institutional weakness ... http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2008/05/11/do-palestinian-arabs-care-enough-about-having-a-nation-to-self-criticize/ I have argued in a previous post that the easy inclusion of Zionism in the broader phenomenon of Western European imperialism and colonialism is not only superficial in its understanding, but actually disguises the most remarkable aspect of the phenomenon -- that unlike all other forms of European settlement in ... http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2008/05/09/alawis-on-zionism-further-evidence-that-it-was-not-imperialism/ The San Diego Union Tribune has an article by Nasser Barghouti, a Palestinian-American and president of the San Diego Chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, and Nassemah Darwish, a Kuwaiti-born Palestinian-American who lives in San Diego who has taught at Birzeit University in Ramallah. The piece is characteristic of the ... http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2008/05/09/1948-2008-part-ii-the-arid-desert-of-palestinian-self-criticism/ Efraim Karsh has an excellent article in the latest Commentary on the story of 1948 which, among other things, sheds significant light on the nature of the catastrophe (Nakba) that befell the Palestinian people at that time. I recommend reading the entire piece, but what I have excerpted below ... http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2008/05/08/1948-2008-part-i-the-sad-story-of-the-naqba/ Benny Morris has a new book out on 1948. In the course of researching it he discovered how intense the religious dimension of the conflict that year. Such an observation is on the one hand, quite ordinary and empirical, on the other, a violation of the principles of ... http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2008/05/05/failed-jihad-1948-the-real-naqba/ While on the Cape last week, I saw a number of signs that read "War is not the Answer." I had only recently brought up this bumper sticker with my students in order to illustrate the problems of liberal cognitive egocentrism: No culture has ever proposed such an idea, ... http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2008/04/28/war-is-not-the-answer-depends-on-the-question/ Lots to see, even thought they cut out at least three of the most obvious fake scenes. http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2008/04/23/france2-rushes-18-minutes-version-now-up-at-youtube/ Self-Criticism and the Humanities Let me begin with a paean of praise for one of the most overlooked but essential dimensions of both the “humanities” and of democracy: Self-criticism. The ability to look inside oneself – or one’s culture – and introspect, to appraise another’s rebuke, honestly admit wrongdoing rather ... http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2008/04/18/self-criticism-and-identifying-demopaths-a-pressing-agendum-for-the-humanities-in-the-21st-century/