Letters to the Editor
Eilonwy
Published Letters: 11 Editor's Choice: 4
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and the elephant in the room is...
[Read the article: Christmas with the Wilsons]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This whole piece is testament to the overbearing nature of identity poltiics. "Hi. I'm a half-Ugandan, half-Solomon Islander, Jewish convert to Rastafarianism who draws her beliefs from Buddhism and Sufism" "Oh, nice to meet, you I'm just a plain ol' human being." Not much room during the Holidays for my antiquated notions of egalitarianism and secular universalism when everyone is bent on being 'separate but equal' with their spiritual identity.
Despite her best efforts, the author also fails to convince me that Islam can play ball with the rest of us (i.e. her brief comments leave a lot of unanswered questions). Why can't this brother-in-law of hers listen to a gay Christian sermon without feeling uneasy or even disturbed? Could it *gasp* be religious-induced homophobia? Moreover, her sister has converted to Islam just because she married a Muslim? This is not a new phenomenon, but no matter how often I hear of one spouse converting to the other's religion (almost always the woman converting to the man's religion mind you) it makes me sick. It glosses over what should be profound doctrinally-based beliefs and makes conversion sound like changing one's clothing. It makes me wonder if this woman's sister has any comprehensive understanding of the Qur'an, Haadith, Sunnah, etc.?
I did like reading about the clash of the Muslim and the Scientologist, although again what sort of religions need to proselytise at a family get-together? The subtext of this meeting: "Crazy Cult Memeber A meet Crazy Cult Memeber B. Oh, I apologise Crazy Cult Member B...I'm not supposed to say 'crazy cult' in reference to your allegedly wonderful, misunderstood, peaceful, woman-and-gay-friendly religion. I forgot there are like a billion of you in the world and that within the rules of political correctness might and numbers make right no matter what your actual beliefs are. Too bad Crazy Cult Memeber A, but Tom Cruise’s sexiness just isn't enough to keep your beliefs from being publicly slammed. Now if we were afraid of you deep down...that would be a different story. Do you know how to fly a plane?"
Wow, was that a joke in poor taste or what? But that's the reaction your article elicited in me. And no I am NOT a Christian, Jew, pro-Iraq War, conservative, Republican, Fox-News watcher, etc. just a someone who forms her opinions based on people's actions and objective evidence rather than vague, anecdotal assurances that all is well. The Wilson family is far removed from the West Bank, Kashmir, Kosovo, Nigeria, southern Thailand, and various other locales where the Abrahamic ‘religions of peace’ spend their holiday season killing one another and any uppity non-Abrahamists who don’t find their paternalistic god and his holidays all that spiritually healthy. I just decided not to go to Christmas dinner tomorrow.
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Why expect balance out of Juan Cole?
[Read the article: The jailer]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Something people here overlook: Juan Cole has to be one sided, as in pro-Arab. Moreover pro-Arab in the far left's brand of racial determinism usually means pro-Muslim (as in criticism of Islam equates to support for Israel and the US). As a recent graduate of the University of Michigan I know first hand how people like Cole (I am not saying this is necessarily true of Cole himself) either are forced to tow a unilateral line and/or bully their students and fellow faculty into a narrow range of 'acceptable' scholarship. Columbia is even worse from what I have read.
Disinterested scholarship basically does not exist within Middle Eastern Studies programmes. Edward Said killed the discipline by replacing balanced research with shrill polemics. When Said accused Bernard Lewis of 'sexualising' Arabs in a discussion of the etymology of the Arabic word for revolution, I realised just how truly detached from reality some of Said's comments could be. Saidism rules the roost, however, and any challenge to the myth of Islamic/Arab victimisation will either be dismissed as racism or imperialist, usually both (as have several people here). Some people on the right do hate Muslims and Arabs just for being different, but some of us who have studied Islam and Arab culture are justifiably concerned vis-a-vis our belief in Enlightenment and non-Abrhamic values.
Moreover, getting mad at Salon for giving Cole such prominence is justified, getting mad at Cole and each other only plays into the hands of those trying to prevent a substantive debate.