University of Michigan comedian Juan Cole is at it again. Using his curiously-named blog, Informed Comment, he has done what he does best-make us laugh.
Actually, the article I am referring to was penned back in February and centered around the flap that Harvard University was having with its problematical professor, Cornel West. West is a colorful activist who spends much of his time opining on the subject of race. In truth, he is a windbag. The last time I saw him was on Fox News' Sean Hannity show when LA attorney and liberal-turned-conservative, Leo Terrell, was telling him off and reducing West to an enraged, screaming buffoon.
But I am not here to take issue with West. The topic I would like to focus on is Cole's assertion that West has burned his bridges with Harvard (for the second time) as a result of his support for the Palestinian cause. Cole would have us think that any professor who attacks Israel and sides with the Palestinians is destined to be persona non grata in academia.
https://www.juancole.com/2021/02/harvard-denying-palestine.html
First of all, it is absurd to try and make the case that supporters of Israel rule the roost in our universities. The opposite is true. So Cornel West is anti-Israel? He is just a dime-a-dozen in academia. From Maine to California, from Alaska to Florida, like a burst sewer pipe, our universities are overflowing with anti-Israel activists masquerading as professors, people whose only mission in life is to indoctrinate their students. Try to get a teaching job in a university Middle East Studies Department if you are pro-Israel.
Cole even drags out extreme cases of leftist professors who are anti-Israel who have had problems with their employers, people like Marc Lamont Hill, the kooky Norman Finkelstein, Steven Salaita, and John Cheney-Lippold. What Cole fails to mention in this piece are the specific reasons they had problems. Each of these gentlemen, in fact, brought embarrassment to their universities (in Hill's case, he was fired as a commentator by CNN.).
And if attacking Israel is so dangerous to a professor's livelihood, why is Cole still teaching at the University of Michigan? I will tell you why. Because he exists in a culture that agrees with his views. I could spend the next two hours listing the names of professors who are anti-Israel activists. That is certainly their Constitutional right, but don't tell me it takes courage to attack Israel on a US university campus. It is not pro-Israel events on campus that are disrupted; it is pro-Israel events. They can expect to be disrupted by bullies like Students for Justice in Palestine and the Muslim Student Association.
The anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian forces, be they teachers or students, are in charge on American campuses, bullying and intimidating anyone who dares take Israel's side. Anti-Semitism is running wild on our campuses as a result. West may be at war with Harvard's administration (again), but he is hardly isolated on campus. He is surrounded by people who think just like him-on Israel and on other matters. West is no Joan of Arc at the stake. He is just a burr under Harvard's saddle. But they hired him (twice), so I don't feel sorry for them.
And as for Juan Cole at Ann Arbor, he is always good for a laugh.
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