[Austin-ghetto-list] Edward Said

[Michael Eisenstadt]

Wayne,

I am amazed that you would praise Edward Said's
books. His view that Western scholarship on the 
subject of non-Western cultures is 100% 
distortion and lies (he calls said scholarship 
Orientalism) and that said scholarship is and 
has always been a handmaiden of capitalist 
exploitation through the centuries is total 
nonsense.

Yes, I have read his books. His position is that
what he says about the Near East is true because
he is an Ayrab and that your view is necessarily
false because you are NOT an Ayrab and that you
or your cousin is or was a capitalist. Yes, that 
is in fact his actual position. If you are in
favor of Western civilisation, you are ipso facto
guilty of bad faith and a dishonest scholar. He 
on the otherhand being a Palestinian and a victim 
(despite being a tenured professor at Columbia U)
is pure in heart as YOU can never be.

Mike Eisenstadt