Posted on 02/10/2011 8:01:03 AM PST by La Lydia
LEXINGTON, Va. Feb. 10, 2011 – Undoubtedly, many of you have received information about the controversy during the past few days surrounding VMI’s “East Meets West” Conference which will be held March 23-25, 2011. The purpose of this is to dispel some of the misinformation that is appearing in e-mail and blog postings and ensure you are aware of what this conference is truly about.
The online registration information on the VMI website contained a summary of the conference. In that overview it was stated that this year was the 1300th anniversary of Tariq ibn Ziyad’s crossing the Strait of Gibraltar and thus began the period when Muslims, Christians, and Jews began living together. The focus of the conference was to “celebrate the vital story of the achievements” when these groups thrived together and built a society that we now know as modern day Europe.
Regrettably, a blogger portrayed this as a “celebration” of a “Muslim invasion” and implied that we were hosting a conference that is some kind of pro-Islamic “celebration.” That is absolutely and unequivocally incorrect. VMI did change the wording of the conference overview on the registration website to eliminate this “confusion”; however, e-mail and blog postings have continued – including some from VMI alumni. Some have contacted VMI, and this misperception hopefully has been cleared up. For others, we hope this information answers any questions or concerns you might have.
The “East Meets West” conference is the sixth in a series of conferences convened since the opening of the VMI Center for Leadership and Ethics ... These conferences help prepare our cadets for the future and also serve to provide current and relevant information to our faculty and staff. VMI’s Department of Modern Languages and Cultures was the recipient of a grant from the Department of Defense in support of Arabic language training. As part of that grant, “East Meets West” was designed specifically to supplement the study of Arabic language with complex information about history, culture, politics, economics, trade, and development, along with a strong component that provides hope for future relations between the East and the West. We believe VMI, in partnership with the Department of Defense, is the perfect place to add a robust component to facilitate a good understanding of the sophisticated complexities of the region. The conference has been carefully designed, through a series of panels and speakers, to provide balance and representation ...
The initial materials, designed to begin to inform attendees about some of our speakers and panelists, have continued to evolve as other speakers who had been invited earlier informed us of their ability to clear their calendars and deliver presentations. Over the past few days we have talked to dozens of people who have taken the time to call or write about the conference. We have listened carefully to their feedback on our conference plans...
We believe we have a responsibility to prepare our cadets for the world that all of our graduates will face, regardless of their chosen career path....Many choose to receive training in the Arabic language. VMI has the largest college Arabic language program in the nation, another signal of our commitment to their preparedness for life after graduation.
Please assure those who have questions or concerns that the “East Meets West” conference is for the purposes stated above and are not as represented in some of the blog postings and e-mail they may have read. We can assure you that VMI is extraordinarily sensitive to these issues – particularly since we are producing graduates who serve their country… many of whom are presently deployed in harm’s way.
VMI update
I guess that VMI has never heard of the Al Andulus Caliphate...
hhmmm...we’ll see...
VMI update
VMI: Training officers for the Dhimmi Army since 2011. I always get extremely offended with some educrat puts out a press release like this: “No, no, you little people don’t understand what we really were trying to accomplish.”
Just cancel the @)!($* thing.
It’s this part that makes me tear my hair out and want to scream:
“this year was the 1300th anniversary of Tariq ibn Ziyad’s crossing the Strait of Gibraltar and thus began the period when Muslims, Christians, and Jews began living together. The focus of the conference was to ‘celebrate the vital story of the achievements’ when these groups thrived together and built a society that we now know as modern day Europe.
WHY do they want to “celebrate” dhimmitude?? This is such a bogus re-writing of history! Where is El Cid when you need him?? I posted on the prior thread the contact info for the school; alumni and non-alumni should demand that Robert Spencer & Pamela Geller also be invited to this Islamic Lovefest to give the true history of Islamic jihad.
Please include me on your VMI ping list! Will try to contact the school in the next 2 days to voice my displeasure.
"In that overview it was stated that this year was the 1300th anniversary of Tariq ibn Ziyad’s crossing the Strait of Gibraltar and thus began the period when Muslims, Christians, and Jews began living together."
The contact info I posted from the 2/4 thread on this:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2671547/posts?page=5
Fact 1: Tariq ibn Ziyad 'crossing the Strait of Gibraltar' WAS a muslim invasion of Europe.
Fact 2: The materials for the conference originally stated that it's purpose was to 'celebrate' this time where muslims, Jews and Christians 'thrived together'.
I wonder if the writer would care to explain what, exactly, he finds 'regrettable' about a 'blogger' telling the TRUTH about the conference.
CORRECTION to prior post: contact info, different than what’s on the VMI site currently, is here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2668402/posts
I think I's startin' to unnerstan' the sichyashun now.
Turns out, th' real important-like stuff they'se tryin' to accomm-plish is jus' too darn 'complex' fer the likes a me t' figger out!
Why, if they'da jus' tol' me that frum th' git-go I never wooda raized such a fuss over this ol' bidniss!
Well, you see, the (apologetic writer - “You idiots out there reading this”) author never DID refute the original charges, nor did the (very apologetic writer) ever CORRECT the (pro-Arabic bias) error made in the original.
About all you can claim from this message is that they invited more speakers. Some of who can come.
But who are new speakers? Who is being “knocked off” from the original (almost exclusively pro-Muslim/anti-West) list? Has the bias been addressed?
Looks like the EESH (Evil Elves of Smith Hall) are at it again.
Unfortunately, the conference as described by VMI itself went beyond legitimate educational purposes and proferred a pro-Arab agenda that distorted the real historical events. And while the early period of the Cordoba Caliphate was relatively tolerant for its time and place in history, the West in general, and the U.S. in particular have long surpassed the levels of "tolerance" shown in that Caliphate. So the idea that we have something to learn about peace and tolerance from a culture that was both less peaceful and less tolerant is simply absurd.
Unless, of course, the conference was going to advance the concept that Cordoba was more tolerant than we are today, which is how the program sounded. And THAT is a historical lie that needs to be refuted.
Maybe present this conference in the Taliban and convince them that they need to look back 1100 or so years in history to find a time when they were a bit more civilized. But we are already far beyond that.
“VMI leadership is lying in their response. “
They certainly are. That used to be frowned upon at VMI.
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