Posted on 01/30/2009 3:24:57 PM PST by Congressman Billybob
A movement has begun among American college professors to boycott Israeli universities and professors and Israeli culture, over the “oppression” of Palestinians by Israelis. I read some of the press accounts of this academic movement, and decided to investigate its leader.
David Lloyd, Professor of English at the University of Southern California, is the leader of this US effort. Anti-Semitism is commonplace in Europe, where such boycotts are old news. The background of Dr. Lloyd doesn’t look that bad on first glance.
On his Biographical Sketch, there are only a few hints that the man is off-balance. Half of his writing about literature is dedicated to the Irish. As a fellow Irishman, I consider all the Irish potentially dubious.
He has written relatively little, choosing to co-author or co-edit his more recent works. Two of those raise an eyebrow: The Nature and Context of Minority Discourse, co-edited with Abdul JanMohamed (1991); The Politics of Culture in the Shadow of Capital, co-edited with Lisa Lowe (1997).
We have to go into the gentleman’s Curriculum Vitae to get a clear index on this man’s thinking. We get some clues when we read that he sat on and chaired committees for “Ph.D. and M.A. candidates in dissertations in English, African American studies, Ethnic Studies, Comparative Literature, and Political Science.” These services began at the University of California at Berkeley.
The chapter headings of his perhaps widest-read book, Culture and the State, includes one that says, “Capitalism vs. the Democracy.” A major article is entitled, “Discussion: Post-Modern Critiques of Marxism: Implications for Political Practice.”
With a lot of digging we get a picture of Professor Lloyd’s sociology and politics. He is opposed to the western philosophies of government, except for Marxism which was developed by Karl Marx in his flat in London. Dr. Lloyd is a student of victimology. Whomever he classifies as a victim is more authentic, has better ideas, and produces better literature, than those he classifies as oppressors.
Like Professor Noam Chomsky, who is a world-recognized expert in linguistics at MIT, Professor Lloyd has a single expertise in one subject (Irish literature and poetry) which he has expanded into a uninformed and dangerous world view that will mislead all who take him seriously. There is a saying about PhDs that they learn more and more about less and less, until they know everything about nothing. Having a doctorate and holding a tenured position, and having assorted awards from organizations of people just like them, is no guarantee that the opinion of that person on a subject outside his field is worth a plugged nickle.
Why do I call this man a bigot? The classic definition of a bigot is not just racial. It is any person who holds a particular view so strongly that he/she immediately rejects any facts which would undercut that view.
Here is the position of Dr. Lloyd’s group: “As educators of conscience, we have been unable to stand by and watch in silence Israel's indiscriminate assault on the Gaza Strip and its educational institutions," the U.S. Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel stated. The group called for punitive measures against Israel assault [on Gaza].
Firing uncontrolled rockets into civilian populations is a war crime. Hiding those rockets in their own civilian areas so retaliation will kill their own children, is also a war crime. And sending bombers into civilian areas carrying bombs that will produce shrapnel and kill and wound a maximum number of civilians, is also a war crime.
The Palestinians have been doing these things for more than a decade. And the good professor is concerned with attacks on Palestinian educational institutions? Does he have the slightest clue what is taught to children in those schools about murder and martyrdom? Does he know the military activity taking place at those universities?
There is only one productive use of Professor Lloyd’s boycott Israel effort. All of the tenured professors that sign onto his effort are self-identifying themselves as economic and social bigots who should not be infecting the students of America with their entrenched ignorance. These are “educators” in desperate need of some education of their own.
How sad. But how important it is that we pay attention to these fools in our midst.
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About the Author: John Armor practiced law in the Supreme Court for 33 years. He now lives on the Eastern Continental Divide in the Blue Ridge of North Carolina. John_Armor@aya.yale.edu
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Then I wrote this column.
Hope you find this interesting.
John / Billybob
Maybe we should boycott tenured liberal professors....Oh wait they don’t produce or provide anything to boycott...Never mind.
:singing:: These are words that go together well, my Michelle...
“Dr. Lloyd is a student of victimology. Whomever he classifies as a victim is more authentic, has better ideas, and produces better literature, than those he classifies as oppressors.”
Ha. Good stuff.
“He is opposed to the western philosophies of government, except for Marxism”
It’s a tribal opposition, rather than an intellectual opposition, with these people.
“Does he know the military activity taking place at those universities?”
Of course he does. But it’s not about intellectual correctness, or moral correctness. It’s about tribal warfare. He has embedded himself in his tribe, and promulgates their position.
He’s a suicide bomber with words.
Thanks for the find CB.
I’m getting tired of this crap. My money pays lib arts “profs” who don’t have the creativity to run a McDs. Note to our legislators: Get rid of these losers NOW. Simply lay them off. Their courses are worthless. Their students belong in unemployment lines, and the sum total of their “research” could be summed up on an old 3” floppy.
Oh wait they don’t produce or provide anything to boycott...Never mind.
Obama will only bail them out. I’ve been boycotting Hollywood movies, NPR, Public TV etc for a number of years. Today I discovered Obama is bailing them all out in one way or another. It’s getting to the point that we no longer have a voice.
By which I assume that he means colleges and universities as opposed to paramilitary camps for little children.
It is always useful to note that none (ZERO) of these institutions existed prior to 1967 when the despicable Israelis began to administer these territories. This includes all of Gaza and all of the lands that are sometimes referred to as the West Bank.
ML/NJ
Thank you .
Good point. I was thinking more along economic lines, and how these leeches don’t contribute in that sense. But I like your outside the box idea.
John, I decided a long, long time ago that my generation had an absolute obligation to ensure that another holocaust did not occur on our watch. I never thought we would ever seriously face the chance of that happening, but here in the age of Obama, I’m not so sure.
I’m not surprised that a new anti-semitism is rising in our University system, but I am troubled when I think how much influence they will have among the uber-liberals who are taking power in the US.
The situation in the Middle East is tenuous at best, but having a rank amateur like Obama in charge of US foreign policy, assisted by Hillary Clinton as SecState is beyond merely troubling...
The only chance Israel has lies with electing Netanyahu as PM next month.
Perhaps a few emails to the chancellor of USC might be useful.
It is interesting - great post, in fact. I’m dealing with professorial nonsense of my own, however. In a class right now that is promoting Palestinian views and Pali side of all things. It’s enough to make one give up.
I have had similar feelings about not allowing this to happen again but I am much, as you, troubled.
I know it is a lot to ask, but is there any way to record or tape the professor and his bias?
good post
Yes, but the bias is coming from the top down. The bias is coming from the texts and other reading materials. I complained in a letter that I thought everything was slanted but she said the material is the same as that used by the Dean and the Dean was willing to speak with me about “my concerns.” She also emphasized that the Dean of the Department was a Jew, as if being a Jew excuses it.
The reality in college these days is that they are biased and they don’t care.
One more interesting note - the one book was from the viewpoint of a PA woman in Gaza during all the curfews, bombings and so on; everything the lady says is anti-Jew, anti-Israel and when I mentioned this, all the prof said was that there were books that were not as balanced. So, in other words, if I was teaching a course and using anti-semitic material, it would be like me responding to a complaint with something like, “Well, I’m not using Mein Kampf or material from the KKK or Aryan Nation” etc.
When people wonder why our children are so programmed and all vote for people like Obama, THIS is the reason. Very simple.
I am not so sure that the adminstration at colleges would want it publicized that they are openly providing and supporting that kind of teaching or text books in the classroom. Unfortunately, a great many of my fellow Jews are the useful idiots for the monsters in the dark.
I believe a little light goes a long way. If you can record it, she would have to explain this to the press, university trustees, religious groups, and others. I know it is dangerous and would understand if you did not want to do it. I do believe it would be effective in shutting down this kind of hatred in the classroom though.
Ay, there’s the rub. I probably will meet with the Dean when I am through with that class but I don’t want to cause trouble for the university - that could be calamitous and the sad truth is that so many people just plain don’t care. However, one bright spot: our local paper has been very good lately in posting opposing columns next to one another: Jewish perspective and Palestinian. I give them credit for doing so but we have a rather large and vibrant Jewish community so they might feel constrained to do so... I’m planning on copying the one in today’s paper and asking the prof if she’ll hand out copies. A shot anyway.
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