Another Berkeley Professor Trying to Figure Out the Meaning of Something

Hat tip Jihad Watch



The Washington Post is featuring a piece by UC Berkeley Professor M. Steven Fish, who offers us a treatise on why we see so much Muslim violence in the world today. That spurred a critique by Robert Spencer in Jihad Watch.

As you follow the link to Fish's article, you have to follow his line of thinking carefully. The bottom line as he searches for the reason for all this madness today is that it is-you guessed it- the West's fault.

                                                                        Yeah-YOU!

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/01/uc-berkeley-prof-in-wapo-islamic-terrorism-stems-not-from-quran-but-from-muslim-frustration-at-fact-that-christians-won-big/comment-page-1#comment-1189574

As Fish mentions in his piece, Robert Spencer gives him a clue as to the cause, but Fish refuses to take the bait (no pun intended). Instead he launches on a winding hypothetical that brings us back to the same old academic party line: It is all the fault of the West and the Christians.

No further need to slice and dice Fish here. Spencer has done that very well. The only question I have is whether Fish is guilty of sloppy scholarship or shaping his scholarship to fit his personal world view. Actually, I think I answered my own question. I'll opt for the latter.