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Excuse me, professor, is this jihad on the final?
: The Washington Post reports that terrorism and homeland security are hot on college campuses for both research and teaching. Does anyone yet offer a degree in terrorism? And if so, will that be aimed at preventing and killing it or understanding it?
“And if so, will that be aimed at preventing and killing it or understanding it?”
I guess that we aren’t allowed to consider whether “understanding” terrorism is a prerequisite to “preventing and killing it”….
As an academic I suspect it will be more on the order of becoming a participant. By the way Paul, by saying “understanding” Jeff is saying being sympathetic to terrorism.
Just to change a few words to make a point:
“Excuse me, professor, is cancer on the final?
: The Washington Post reports that cancer and oncology are hot in medical school for both research and teaching. Does anyone yet offer a degree in cancer? And if so, will that be aimed at preventing and killing it or understanding it?”
Isn’t understanding necessary for prevention, Jeff?
Not in a sympathetic, hand-holding way, it’s not.
Ok Jeff, gotcha.
I just want to be sure that the people keeping me safe to know all they can know about the enemy. But read the article, I didn’t see any hand-holding sympathy in there.
The last paragraph in the article sez it well:
“It’s very intense,” she said. She used to think just about police response. Now she thinks about prevention. Now she thinks like a terrorist.
That is who I want watching my back.
There are no general supporters of cancer. Few if any demonstrations in support of cancer and its effects. Few professors who feel that cancer is justified. So there could be just a hint of concern when the education industry states a desire to understand terrorism. Obviously Hmm… would like to understand terrorism. Maybe even some practical demonstrations for extra credit?
Because as we all know, no terrorist in history has ever had a legitimate axe to grind in the eyes of our latter-day Armchair Warriors.
Except for maybe… oh, I don’t know… David Ben-Gurion?
File me under “How quickly we forget…”
(Or, what’s good for the gander is NOT good for the goose.)
People who fight real wars call this phenomenon by its proper name–asymmetrical warfare–and yes, they do attempt to understand it intimately so as not only to fight it when it springs up but to prevent it from occurring in the first place.
Real warriors don’t care about being called “soft” on terror for daring to fathom the enemy’s strategy and understand his motives. Only armchair warriors have the luxury of seeing the world in black and white–real warriors understand that yesterday’s mujahideen turned today’s jihadi might very well prove to be tomorrow’s ally in a future war against a hitherto undeclared enemy.
p.s. I hear John Brown is making the rounds in antiabortionist circles these days as a role model and hero, as well. But killing is only good when the Christian God tells you to do it, right?
That was just blistering, Jersey. The war supporters may never recover. The IRA and psycho abortion clinic bombers are just as eligible for the electric chair as any other terrorist. My fear is where these new departments will lead. First there will be “concern” expressed by administration about the aggressiveness and potential for violence such studies may produce. This will require a review of the process with suggestions on how to make them more life-afirming and positive for everyone involved – including the terrorists. With the terrible reputations of the mid-east studies departments at many universities surely you can understand why some of us would be worried. Perhaps that is your greatest hope Jersey? That this will become yet another academic program to attack your country with?
I am admittedly ignorant of the goals of these new educational programs but I fully endorse the seemingly dreaded ‘understanding them’ aspect as one of many facets of the Anti-Totalitarian cause. Some of the more fascinating work I’ve read from Jeanne Kirkpatrick and more recently from other internationalist scholars is about the psychology of people on the eastern block and now, in the middle east. Especially the middle east.
Ptolemy-
You’re absolutely right, that metaphor was a bit ineffective and more than a bit strained…what I should have written instead:
“Excuse me, professor, is this rape/murder on the final?
: The Washington Post reports that rape and murder are hot at Quantico for both research and teaching. Does anyone yet offer a degree in crime? And if so, will that be aimed at preventing and killing it or understanding it?”
My point isn’t that I want a practical demonstration of terrorism – I got enough of that when my uncle died in the north tower. It’s just that I think that if the FBI uses profilers to good effect, Homeland Security should be allowed the same tools, and not get bashed for it.
Ok let’s carry the cancer analogy along. Why don’t you all walk in to a cancer research center and ask them to stop trying to understand where cancer comes from. When the laughter erupts you can all scream that these people are supporters of cancer engaged in “cancer speak”.
Jeff, if when you say “understand” you don’t really mean “understand” but instead mean to say “sympathize” why not change the post to correct the misleading impression?
We know Jeff is sensitive on this matter and I think most of us who are sensible grasp the difference between ‘understand’ and ‘sympathize’. Just a misunderstanding.
That being said, it should also be said that most of what entails ‘understanding’ them I.E. Know your Enemy, already exists. Me thinks these new classes are more along the line of ‘They deserved it’.
Yes, I like the cancer analogy. Islamofascism is a cancer. Eradicate it.
One of the main complaints and concerns at the time of 9/11 was that we had so few people in the intelligence and state departments who had complete understandings of these cultures & languages. If that was the case, isn’t having universities dedicate resources (resources granted to them by the federal government, mind you) to such matters a necessary step in our “war against terrorism”?
If it’s done in a legitimate manner and in good faith, absolutely. But there is the very real prospect that many of these ‘understanding terrorism’ courses could be thinly guised efforts of promoting the Anti-American view of the war on terror. Not that they aren’t perfectly within their rights to do so, but still….
“But there is the very real prospect that many of these ‘understanding terrorism’ courses could be thinly guised efforts of promoting the Anti-American view of the war on terror.”
But what is your evidence for this suspicion?
Trust me, if these programs are getting funding from DHS as the article describes, they won’t be able to just use the money to do whatever they want with it. The controls on grants within universities are many and often severe.
A teacher could be fired for telling the truth. It’s happened before. Teachers couldn’t even refer to the scum as muslims after 911–Jews was OK, though.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14401918&BRD=985&PAG=461&dept_id=161556&rfi=6
Well Sue Blackwell has been able to lead her academic buddies over in Britain to “Victory” in “the academic intifada” against Israel. So we have members of the British academy borrowing the terminology of terrorism to robe their efforts more grandly.
Given the far leftists slant not only of most American academic departments, but of perhaps the majority of Middle Eastern academic departments, I’m quite sure that Jeff is correct, that the effort to study terrorism is going to soon transmute to the effort to understand the terrorists and then to sympathize with their goals, which is to calumniate America.
Exactly my concern and fear alcibiades and epitome. When this new department goes wrong like the mid-east studies departments there will be no one promoting the course on this thread that will have anything to say about it then. They will be at peace. Perhaps that is the reason for their lack of concern at present.
FDD has some fellowships, undergrad academic and some other programs… looks like they just teach and let people think for themselves.
-j
The site does seem to be refreshingly sane. If the typical university types are kept out of it this may be an incredible operation.
You know, the CIA, DIA, FBI, etc. already look to universities for advice/information about terrorists/terrorism. It’s clear that many of the foremost experts in these fields (mid-east politics, cybercrime, etc) can be found on university campuses. Why is it so wrong to bolster their ranks? Why doesn’t it make sense to further study something that is the most immediate security issue facing the world today? There’s a difference between understanding and/or sympathizing (whatever Jeff meant to say) and condoning. In order to solve the problem, don’t you need to know the roots of it?