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lukescalone's review against another edition
2.0
"Because Israel is a racist apartheid state, it cannot see the world except through its own tribal lens."
"And if they--the US government and the Jewish state (the two most violent states on planet Earth)--don't invade Iran, it still makes no difference."
"The propaganda machine at the disposal of Israel will have the world believe that a populist demagogue like Ahmadinejad is "the dictator" of Iran, as one of their spokesmen in New York, Columbia University president Lee Bollinger, once put it."
"the losers include the US Congress, and its headquarters at AIPAC."
We get it, you don't like Jews.
I thought that this book would be a lot more provocative, dealing more closely with criticism of the Western philosophical tradition. Instead, this is a collection of Dabashi's articles for the popular press, many of which are polemical without saying much that's new. I'm as critical of Israeli settlements in Palestine as the next person, as well as Israel's treatment of non-Jewish citizens. The creation of Israel in the first place was fraught with error after error, but it's here now and it isn't going anywhere. Instead of making substantive criticisms, Dabashi regularly attaches the epithet "Jewish" to Israel, which can only mean that he's accentuating the "Jewish" nature of the state. Moreover, he continuously frames Israel as "tribal," no doubt a reference to its tribal history. Instead of correcting Orientalist attitudes towards non-Europeans, Dabashi instrumentalizes them and (at times justifiably) throws them back at Western states and intellectual opponents.
This could have been much better--I was excited to take a look at it, but I was disappointed all the way through.
"And if they--the US government and the Jewish state (the two most violent states on planet Earth)--don't invade Iran, it still makes no difference."
"The propaganda machine at the disposal of Israel will have the world believe that a populist demagogue like Ahmadinejad is "the dictator" of Iran, as one of their spokesmen in New York, Columbia University president Lee Bollinger, once put it."
"the losers include the US Congress, and its headquarters at AIPAC."
We get it, you don't like Jews.
I thought that this book would be a lot more provocative, dealing more closely with criticism of the Western philosophical tradition. Instead, this is a collection of Dabashi's articles for the popular press, many of which are polemical without saying much that's new. I'm as critical of Israeli settlements in Palestine as the next person, as well as Israel's treatment of non-Jewish citizens. The creation of Israel in the first place was fraught with error after error, but it's here now and it isn't going anywhere. Instead of making substantive criticisms, Dabashi regularly attaches the epithet "Jewish" to Israel, which can only mean that he's accentuating the "Jewish" nature of the state. Moreover, he continuously frames Israel as "tribal," no doubt a reference to its tribal history. Instead of correcting Orientalist attitudes towards non-Europeans, Dabashi instrumentalizes them and (at times justifiably) throws them back at Western states and intellectual opponents.
This could have been much better--I was excited to take a look at it, but I was disappointed all the way through.
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