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May 01, 2006
A Juan Cole potpourri
(In response to Professor Cole being in the news again, we retrieved the Best of Juan Cole from the Kesher Talk archives, which was a good first pass at assessing how Cole has acquitted himself in the fights he has picked. But Tony Badran of Across the Bay has been the most dogged and knowledgeable critic of Juan Cole; you can find all his posts here.)
Reading some of the responses to Yale's consideration of Cole, I realized that many people just don't know enough about him. They assume he is being demonized for his anti-Israel anti-Bush views. Although most Middle East Studies departments could use more diversity of thought than Juan Cole would provide, given his seniority in the ideologically lockstep Middle East Studies Association, his carelessness with facts and incessant conspiracy-mongering are the main reasons he should not be hired.
In fact, Cole doesn't care about verifiable facts even when they concern himself. Just last week, he claimed he never said something on his blog that it wasn't that hard to determine that he did say.
As for conspiracy-mongering, I was combing through old entries while writing about the Darfur rally as a feel-good exercise, and followed a link to something Mary noticed just a year ago:
. . . Juan Cole pointlessly weighs in by saying that the situation in Darfur can't be motivated by racism or Arabization because the bad guys don't look Arab.(Examples: scroll to "Charles Jacobs" here, also about halfway down here.)Yes, he really said that.
Cole also says:
The rightwing Zionists want to racialize the Sudan conflict in American terms, as "Arab" versus "black African" because they want to use it to play American domestic politics, and create a rift among African-Americans and Arab-Americans.Actually, Muslim ex-slaves "racialize" the Sudan conflict by describing their actual experiences.
More on Cole's expertise in Islamic sociology, from Michael Ledeen:
When he says: " (the Iraqi election) is not a model for anything, and would not willingly be imitated by anyone else in the region. The 1997 elections in Iran were much more democratic..." he has really disqualified himself from being taken seriously. The 2005 Iraqi elections were wide open. Anyone could form a party and run. The 1997 elections in Iran were a sham. The government decided who could run. The guy who "won," Khatami, was "cleared" by the mullahs after they had purged more than three hundred other candidates.And this is the president-elect of the Middle East Studies Association! Pfui.
But really, all you need to know about Juan Cole is that James Wolcott defends him, and quotes Justin Raimondo to support his defense. Not the best job references I would say.
More later, on Cole, the Harvard "Israel Lobby" paper, and internet petitions.
Judith | 05/01/06 at 08:08 AM | Categories: - Wackademia
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Blogs which link to A Juan Cole potpourri:
» Juan Cole Update from Kesher Talk
Michael Rubin said on Wednesday that Juan Cole will indeed be extended an offer from Yale. Here's the latest: The history department’s vote was . . . . to offer him honorary affiliation with the department when YCIAS formalizes his... [Read More]
Tracked on May 14, 2006 12:38 AM
» A gallery of nutty professors from Kesher Talk
Ward Churchill, Juan Cole, Andrew Wilkie . . . and now Deborah Frisch joins the ranks of immature academics who can't tell the difference between their professional responsibilities and their personal lives. (Since Frisch has a PhD in psychology she... [Read More]
Tracked on July 9, 2006 09:16 PM
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