This is an excellent letter. I have no doubt that Prof. Kayum Ahmed just discarded this letter and ignored it. This is the most common reaction by those in our activist class, who are positive they are correct, in spite of all the evidence. They usually decline to debate the issues, but when they do, all they produce is a torrent of abuse and nonsense.
I have had it with these "social justice" characters. It is long past time to push back on them, in ways that they will understand.
Social Justice dogma is stupid, malevolent, dishonest and can easily be sliced and diced in a fair debate—which is why the Soc Just priests and disciples always avoid it.
Their dogma is weak but these people are sly as foxes when it comes to tactics and strategy—their usual first step is the bigotry accusation, which is often enough to send opponents running the other way; but if this doesn't work they play wounded child and scream for an authority figure to rescue them and then denounce their opponents for violating rules of fair play and civil liberties, which they of course would never extend to anyone on the other side.
This is how they conquered the Humanities and then the rest of the culture, and they will continue this strategy because it almost always works.
Unfortunately many lefty/liberal Zionists are still too busy apologizing and explaining how they condemn the Israeli government whenever such arguments come up. I am a liberal Zionist and I condemn the Israeli government, but using this as an argument with a crazy social justice warrior doesn't achieve anything except making one look weak and apologetic and is used as an excuse to exert more power on you and humiliate you even more.
I think what we're dealing with here is the tension between two different faiths, each battling for supremacy, with liberal Jews having the most difficulty navigating this, as many pray in both temples.
Of course on one side is the ancient Jewish faith and Jewish history etc, but on the other side is a newer faith, Social Justice, which is the sacred belief system of almost anyone young and university-educated. The Soc Just faith is opposed to the older faith bc the new faith is universalist, egalitarian, and believes that "excluding" anyone from anything or assigning them a different value (as in native/foreigner or civilized/uncivilized) is ipso facto an evil manifestation of oppression that needs to be opposed. Also, the newer faith has roots in Marxism, which means it approaches any conflict by first deciding who is "oppressed" and who is "oppressor" and then believing that any lies, slander or even violence are justified to free the "oppressed" and thus achieve Justice.
Liberal Jews seem to be stuck in an unfortunate position and will probably have to choose one faith over the other, similar to how when the Soviets turned on the Jews and Israel, Jewish Communists had to decide which faith they were most loyal to.
It is a splendid letter. In the same spirit as the letter, may I share my ethnographic approach to the parties in the conflict? This approach takes seriously what the local parties have to say:
Great post! But why designating Ashkenazi Jews as "white" and Mizrahi Jews as "brown"? We are all indigenous to the Middle East. Some of us are mixed after many centuries in Europe, but we weren't considered "white" until a few decades ago, when it became convenient to do so.
I really like this letter and have posted it around a few accounts on X that are complaining about Columbia Univ. acting wrongly towards this toxic character. It is high time that there was a strong pushback against the simple-minded yet bullying or intransigent people who think they are so virtuous while using completely distorted - and abusive - reasoning. I blame the Left, which now is at its most extreme and we are in danger from it.
Yes, too true, alas. But I live in hope that funders of universities are going to push back where it hurts, which is the main way that people like the man who thinks that education is about political activism are going to be controlled or booted out of education forever. Keep writing! Maybe send your letter to Columbia funders?
This is an excellent letter. I have no doubt that Prof. Kayum Ahmed just discarded this letter and ignored it. This is the most common reaction by those in our activist class, who are positive they are correct, in spite of all the evidence. They usually decline to debate the issues, but when they do, all they produce is a torrent of abuse and nonsense.
I have had it with these "social justice" characters. It is long past time to push back on them, in ways that they will understand.
But when we decline to debate them, then all of a sudden they are "silenced" and we "suppress their free speech".
Social Justice dogma is stupid, malevolent, dishonest and can easily be sliced and diced in a fair debate—which is why the Soc Just priests and disciples always avoid it.
Their dogma is weak but these people are sly as foxes when it comes to tactics and strategy—their usual first step is the bigotry accusation, which is often enough to send opponents running the other way; but if this doesn't work they play wounded child and scream for an authority figure to rescue them and then denounce their opponents for violating rules of fair play and civil liberties, which they of course would never extend to anyone on the other side.
This is how they conquered the Humanities and then the rest of the culture, and they will continue this strategy because it almost always works.
Which is why it's so important to expose and call it out.
either fight the enemies of liberalism or live under their illiberal reign...hopefully more people are waking up to this.
Unfortunately many lefty/liberal Zionists are still too busy apologizing and explaining how they condemn the Israeli government whenever such arguments come up. I am a liberal Zionist and I condemn the Israeli government, but using this as an argument with a crazy social justice warrior doesn't achieve anything except making one look weak and apologetic and is used as an excuse to exert more power on you and humiliate you even more.
I think what we're dealing with here is the tension between two different faiths, each battling for supremacy, with liberal Jews having the most difficulty navigating this, as many pray in both temples.
Of course on one side is the ancient Jewish faith and Jewish history etc, but on the other side is a newer faith, Social Justice, which is the sacred belief system of almost anyone young and university-educated. The Soc Just faith is opposed to the older faith bc the new faith is universalist, egalitarian, and believes that "excluding" anyone from anything or assigning them a different value (as in native/foreigner or civilized/uncivilized) is ipso facto an evil manifestation of oppression that needs to be opposed. Also, the newer faith has roots in Marxism, which means it approaches any conflict by first deciding who is "oppressed" and who is "oppressor" and then believing that any lies, slander or even violence are justified to free the "oppressed" and thus achieve Justice.
Liberal Jews seem to be stuck in an unfortunate position and will probably have to choose one faith over the other, similar to how when the Soviets turned on the Jews and Israel, Jewish Communists had to decide which faith they were most loyal to.
It is a splendid letter. In the same spirit as the letter, may I share my ethnographic approach to the parties in the conflict? This approach takes seriously what the local parties have to say:
https://pjmedia.com/philip-carl-salzman/2024/03/27/what-do-israelis-want-what-do-palestinians-want-n4927679#google_vignette
I read your essay. It is a very nice summary.
Thank you, Octave.
Don't you dare bring historical facts and logical reasoning to a football match.
Great post! But why designating Ashkenazi Jews as "white" and Mizrahi Jews as "brown"? We are all indigenous to the Middle East. Some of us are mixed after many centuries in Europe, but we weren't considered "white" until a few decades ago, when it became convenient to do so.
Always great to see propaganda confronted and beaten.
I really like this letter and have posted it around a few accounts on X that are complaining about Columbia Univ. acting wrongly towards this toxic character. It is high time that there was a strong pushback against the simple-minded yet bullying or intransigent people who think they are so virtuous while using completely distorted - and abusive - reasoning. I blame the Left, which now is at its most extreme and we are in danger from it.
Thank you!!! Columbia is absurd - and their defense of “free speech” rings very hollow. They’re total hypocrites.
Yes, too true, alas. But I live in hope that funders of universities are going to push back where it hurts, which is the main way that people like the man who thinks that education is about political activism are going to be controlled or booted out of education forever. Keep writing! Maybe send your letter to Columbia funders?
This is a great idea. We need to be heard and to cause "trouble" of various sorts. The more often, the better.