Saturday, September 29, 2007

Meet Steven Salaita, Jihadist English Professor at Virginia Tech

My dictionary defines jihad as "a war of Mohammedans upon others, with a religious object." Steven Salaita, English professor at Virginia Tech and advocate of "Palestinian literature" (as well as the extermination of Israel) fits this bill exactly.

Every semester I receive as an alumnus of the
Virginia Tech English department a copy of "A Feast of Words," a newsletter update of the going ons of the Virginia Tech staff and students in the English department.

It is the usual postmodern nonsense that quickly goes into the trash bin. Take the first paragraph of the commentary by Carolyn Rude, the chairwoman of the department: "Those of us who work with words understand the role of narrative in defining who we are and where we will go. Our stories become our destiny as well as our story. They become the "truth" as surely as measurable facts."

Notice the quotes around "truth" and the postmodern relativism. This is so normal that it hardly fazes me.

However, one thing did, something I found quite disturbing. Virginia Tech has just hired an English professor that openly promotes jihad and the
extermination of Israel: Steven Salaita.

In the Recent Faculty Publications in "A Feast of Words," I found this book promoted: Anti-Arab Racism in the USA: Where it Comes From and What it Means for Politics Today: Steven Salaita (Pluto Press, 2006). Here is the description in "A Feast of Words":

"Steven Salaita blends personal narrative, theory and polemics to show how deep-rooted Anti-Arab racism in America affects everything from legislation to cultural life, shining a light on the consequences of Anti-Arab racism both at home and abroad."
The premise is definitely from Pluto: America is a racist country where peaceful Muslim Arab-Americans are the victims of violence and hatred, not the perpetrators, and that this supposed racism at home fuels jihad against America. Therefore, when we are attacked like on September 11, we deserve it because we are racists.

Here is another description of the book, which also seems--surprise!--to be published by the University of Michigan.

Of course, the Patriot Act is a crime that Professor Salaida rails against in this pro-Arab and anti-Israeli and anti-American book. It seems according to the Arab jihadist Virginia Tech English professor that fellow Arab jihadists in America are protected by the Constitution they aim to destroy and should be able to plot against us without having their conversations be recorded because we are a racist country that is causing them to hate us. What logic! This type of thinking certainly does not have its origin in America and Europe's Western civilization with its influences of Judaism, Greek and Roman philosophy, and Christianity. Of course, places such as Virginia Tech's English department have dedicated themselves to destroying and replacing our heritage, not celebrating it. Therefore, even a supposed literature professor, like jihadist Steven Salaita, can be an expert of sociology. They can invent a nonexistent field such as "Palestinian literature" and then use that as a platform for their jihadist agenda. They are then in demand by all the postmodern departments that stupidly prize this "multiculturalism."
In another openly anti-Semitic book advertised in this semester's "A Feast of Words," Steven Salaita openly declares that Palestinian terrorists are involved in a "colonial war" against Israel. The book description by the publisher states that Salaita proposes in the book that "Indian attacks on white settlements were a natural reaction to a European colonial invasion, so too Palestinian attacks on the highways and suicide bombings in towns are a consequence to Jewish proliferation in the land." This is shocking that in 2006 Virginia Tech would knowingly hire such a person.
Here are some questions for Virginia Tech, which seems to be a hotbed of Muslim extremism these days:
1) Did they know that Steven Salaita advocates the destruction of Israel when they hired him? He states implicitly that Israel should never have been created. Therefore, logically, he would have no problem if it were wiped off the race of the earth.
2) Did anti-semitic celebrity Nikki Giovanni have any say in hiring Steven Salaita?
3) Did Steven Salaita teach Cho Seung-hui? If not, what contact did he have with him? It is hard to believe that this constant bashing of America would not have had an effect on him.
"'Tis time to give 'em physic, their diseases are grown so catching." Shakespeare in Henry VIII.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very good catch. Those are the first of several direct and cutting questions, hopefully.

La Bibliotecaria Laura said...

Well, you could have a Jihad on a test, you could be named Jihad--your very narrow understanding and definition of the word fails to understand it in its cultural context. It is like when Italians say, "in the mouth of the wolf!" And you answer, "May the wolf die." Are they talking about hunting?

NO-this is an expression that is used like we say, "Break a leg."

It is stupidity like this that just demonstrates to me that the Imperial US is on its way down. We are blinded by own own self-centered perspective.

Oh, and the Italian express is said when one is taking a test.

Anonymous said...

http://yousefmunayyer.blogspot.com/2007/10/and-down-goes-my-gauntlet.html

Moderate Muslims are just like Moderate (insert religion here) believers in a particular truth which have STRONG opinions based on this truth, but DO NOT use violence.

You can find many of us, especially in Northern Virginia!

Unknown said...

Palestinian literature & history are viable and relavent topics that should be addressed in higher institutes of learning. The unwarranted and unjustified accusations the writer makes about this college professor is only a reflection of his own ignorance and racism. Attitudes like his are the reason worldly issues cannot be solved.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure that your conclusion in the first question follows. Just because one opposed a certain occurrence doesn't necessitate one's desire to abolish it. For example, just because I might not like that a cookie business opened next to my house, I may now appreciate the cookies that it supplies me with. I agree that Mr. Salaita seems inimical towards the idea of Israel, but it would be wrong to spuriously attribute ideas to him if he doesn't actually promulgate them.

Anonymous said...

That Salaita's opposition to a brutal and illegal occupation should be dishonestly equated with advocating the "extermination of Israel"(sic) says about all one needs to know about the intellectual quality and integrity of this blog.

Anonymous said...

Ha ha, this is the blog that keeps on giving. It's so funny that the star logician behind this setup reads a little blurb about a book, and then just goes on for PAGES and PAGES making up what he thinks it's about. Then the cherry on top was the Flannery O'Conner quote at the top that is captioned all, "it's what she said, about liberals." LIB-RALS! You just can't make this stuff up. Comedy gold! Thanks!

Anonymous said...

You're lazy.

You're also just as ideologically indoctrinated as "the products of the academic postmodern mumbo-jumbo blah-blah left".

And boring.

Anonymous said...

It's true. You're just as rigid, dogmatic, self-righteous, narrow and ridiculous as Salaita is.

You're both idiots.

Adroit said...

http://www.vanguardnewsnetwork.com/letters/letters187.htm

Here's the real sentiment of Steven Salaita, self-proclaimed perverse egoist. Notice how he deliberately, calculatingly provokes a premeditated response from a few people, then claims they prove the baser, hateful nature of all Jews everywhere.

These hypocritical games are the work of a six-year-old trapped in an adult's body. Just forget the brat.

Adroit said...

Here

Anonymous said...

I read the book. It opened my eyes to facts regarding the israeli/arab conflict that we tend to ignore or misjudge. We, Americans, are so narrow-minded and very unfair and ignorant when it comes to this issue. Jews existence in the middle east is an obvious OCCUPATION -- a fact that we fail to confront. Let's take our hands off this issue. An entire century of support of israel is more than enough. Mr. Salaita was very clear AND right. Isn't America the land of freedom? Aren't we free to say and express our viewpoints?It's time for us to wake up. Yes, I agree with the person who said that the writer of this blog is a racist.

Anonymous said...

hahahaha.

This blog reeks of ignorance and uneducated assumptions from a bitter bitter person. Salaita says Israel should not have been created (because of the conditions under which it was created), and that automatically means he wants it wiped off the earth? That's insane.

The man is giving the point of view that the American media refuses to shed light on.

But kudos to this blogger for bringing to light Mr. Salaita and adding me to the list of those who have purchased and recommended his book.

Gus Mac said...

You seem, sadly for you, to be very much in the minority even on your own blog. Perhaps you need to check whether you may have missed something, and maybe - who knows - perhaps even take a deep breath and read the book, before expelling such a similar foul cloud of hot air.

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Rich said...

It's hard to beat Salaita on facts of the Middle East, but he does err on the side of venom and emotional shortcuts.

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Anonymous said...

"Steven Salaita blends personal narrative, theory and polemics to show how deep-rooted Anti-Arab racism in America affects everything from legislation to cultural life, shining a light on the consequences of Anti-Arab racism both at home and abroad."

The premise is definitely from Pluto: America is a racist country where peaceful Muslim Arab-Americans are the victims of violence and hatred, not the perpetrators, and that this supposed racism at home fuels jihad against America. Therefore, when we are attacked like on September 11, we deserve it because we are racists.

haha WOW. you surmise a whole lot of stuff that is definitely not there. "racism exists in america" DOES NOT equal "america is a racist country." and are you saying that all muslims, including muslim americans, are inherently violent?
it's attitudes like that that fuel hatred for americans abroad and sometimes lead, in part, to attacks on american citizens or american soil - which is exactly what salaita is saying, only he doesn't say americans deserve it. that idea is all you. it's hatred - like your hatred for salaita, like your hatred for, apparently, all muslims - that leads to instances like when anti-american jihadists attacked the twin towers or when seung-hui cho attacked virginia tech.
and it's obvious that you don't know shit about the israel/palestine situation besides what you've heard on fox news. get some facts and stop spewing hatred. that's not going to help anyone.

Anonymous said...

take it from a vet. you need to be deported or stand in front of a gun.