Martin Peretz' Bigotry

[jsteele]

There was much outrage -- and deservedly so -- when 89-year-old Helen Thomas said that Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine". Despite apologizing, Thomas was forced into retirement in the face of widespread condemnation. Earlier this month, The New Republic editor, Martin Peretz, wrote a column in which he stated, "But, frankly, Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims." Peretz then went on to question whether Muslims deserved 1st Amendment protections.

Peretz issued an "apology" for questioning Muslims' 1st Amendment protections. But in regard to his comment on life being cheap stated, "This is a statement of fact, not value" and explicitly did not apologize for it.

Given all the outrage concerning Thomas, one would expect similar widespread condemnation of Peretz. But, to the contrary, there has been mostly silence. This Friday, Harvard University is actually planning to name a social studies chair after Peretz. Can you think of anything more ironic? Harvard wants to name a social studies chair after a guy who proudly states that "Muslim life is cheap"? What's next, a religious tolerance studies chair named after Usama Bin Ladin?

To their credit, many Harvard students and staff members are protesting the University's plans. I doubt they will be successful. We see daily in the media how you can say just about anything about Muslims and probably even get the ADL to support you.

[Anonymous]

Precisely the reason why the U.S. will never be safe from terrorist attacks.

[Anonymous]

This is disgusting, but not surprising. Anti-Muslim sentiment now fills the role that anti-Antisemitism did 80 years ago. We haven't really come so far.

[Anonymous]

Harvard is just a hedge fund in an educational wrapper so people will give them money and they don't have to pay taxes.

To be honest, it probably takes at least a million dollars to endow a chair at Harvard, and I bet they would name a chair after anyone for a million dollars as long as they thought it wouldn't affect future fundraising.

[Anonymous]

Awful.

His article: http://www.tnr.com/blog/77475/the-new-york-times-laments-sadly-wary-misunderstanding-muslim-americans-really-it-sadly-w

The apology: http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-spine/77607/martin-peretz-apology

The protest: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/21/harvard-faces-revolt-martin-peretz

[Anonymous]

Agree with you completely, Jeff. His remarks were egregious and indefensible and his Yom Kippur statement struck me as one of those non-apology apologies, the kind we often hear from racists that's more of a "I'm sorry if you found my comments offensive," rather than a sincere and responsible "I was wrong. I'm sorry I hurt you."

I'm a Brandeis alum, and I'm so proud of the public letter my university wrote to Marty. Brandeis has always struggled financially relative to his wealthy neighbor, Harvard, and its donor base was especially hard hit by the Madoff scam, but I'm sending them a donation for having the courage to forcefully and movingly call out one of their own. By the way, Andrew Sullivan and James Fallows over at the Atlantic have been following this fairly closely from the start.

From the Brandeis Community:

Dear Marty Peretz '59,

Your recent remarks are appalling, and do not reflect the values of the broader Brandeis community.

Recently, in your September 4th column, you claimed that Muslims don't value human life, that they are soft on terrorism, and that you wish to strip them of their First Amendment Rights.

That was unacceptable, irresponsible, and wrong.

Mr. Peretz, your name and likeness is used in our admissions materials, the University lists you among its most prestigious alumni, and not two years ago you accepted a Distinguished Alumni award from us. For better or worse, your actions reflect on us.

Brandeis University stands for love, not hate. Brandeis stands for respecting the truth. Brandeis stands for recognizing the humanity in others. We value our Muslim community members here; they are part of our broad family.

If nothing else, this University was founded to fight back against discrimination, bigotry, and fear of minorities.

Attacking people's First Amendment rights is un-American, un-Brandeisian, and unethical. You're hurting us. You're hurting our Islamic community members, our pride in you, and our good name.

We, the united Brandeis community, respectfully and firmly demand you apologize.


Here's a link to the letter, if any other Brandeis alums want to add their names:

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6254/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=4111

[Anonymous]

I really shouldn't have clicked on this link and read this story. It hurts me to the core because my children are Muslim -- my little innocent, loving kids -- who thankfully haven't experienced any prejudice yet in life. How can anyone hate them so much?

But even before I married a Muslim guy and had kids, the thought of anyone from any background painting an entire group of people with such a broad brush has always been so repulsive to me. And to even suggest that "any" human life is cheap -- unbelievable. I don't care if the target of that is Muslim, Jewish, black, or fill-in-the-blank. There are no words strong enough for how ugly that is.

[Anonymous]

Go Brandeis!

[Anonymous]

Actually, part of his apology was okay but it's the last two paragraphs that are absurd. See below. When you start a sentence with "Muslim life is cheap" that indicates that you think it is cheap -- that is, worth less than other lives. If he's not a bigot then he needs to admit that he needs an editor.

The other sentence is: "Frankly, Muslim life is cheap, especially for Muslims." This is a statement of fact, not value. In his column, Kristof made this seem like a statement of bigotry. But on his blog, he notes that he concurs with it. "Peretz makes some points that are valid, and I agree with him that Muslims haven’t said nearly enough about those Muslims who kill other Muslims—in Kurdish areas, in Iraq, in Western Sahara, in Sudan, and so on."

Every week brings more and more gruesome evidence of this, in the the Middle East and Central Asia and elsewhere. The idea that in remarking upon the cheapening of Muslim lives I was calling for the cheapening of Muslim lives, as some have suggested, is preposterous. There is no hatred in my heart; there is deep anxiety about the dangers of Islamism, and anger at the refusal of certain politicians and commentators to adequately grasp those dangers, but there is no hatred, none. In these unusually inflamed days, I am glad to say so clearly.

[Anonymous]

Maybe he was making an indictment of the way the US has been willing to cause the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians in Iraq?

Guess not.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:
To their credit, many Harvard students and staff members are protesting the University's plans. I doubt they will be successful. We see daily in the media how you can say just about anything about Muslims and probably even get the ADL to support you.

I agree that Peretz's comments were insulting. A good part of my family is muslim so to me, this is particularily insulting. However, I disagree with you on the point you make about how anything could be said about Muslims and even the ADL will support you. Many people have said outlandish things about muslims and many times they end up getting death threats. For example: the nut case who wanted to burn the quoran. Or how about the cartoonist who did the whole "Everybody Draw Muhammed" day. In addition to that, if you say anything critical about Islam, you will be considered a bigot. Meanwhile, if you say anything critical about Catholicism, it's a completely different story. I respect both religions deeply, but I think in today's society, there's a huge double standard that we're ignoring.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:
To their credit, many Harvard students and staff members are protesting the University's plans. I doubt they will be successful. We see daily in the media how you can say just about anything about Muslims and probably even get the ADL to support you.

I agree that Peretz's comments were insulting. A good part of my family is muslim so to me, this is particularily insulting. However, I disagree with you on the point you make about how anything could be said about Muslims and even the ADL will support you. Many people have said outlandish things about muslims and many times they end up getting death threats. For example: the nut case who wanted to burn the quoran. Or how about the cartoonist who did the whole "Everybody Draw Muhammed" day. In addition to that, if you say anything critical about Islam, you will be considered a bigot. Meanwhile, if you say anything critical about Catholicism, it's a completely different story. I respect both religions deeply, but I think in today's society, there's a huge double standard that we're ignoring.

Are you seriously suggesting that there is a double standard that favors Islam over Catholicism?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:
To their credit, many Harvard students and staff members are protesting the University's plans. I doubt they will be successful. We see daily in the media how you can say just about anything about Muslims and probably even get the ADL to support you.

I agree that Peretz's comments were insulting. A good part of my family is muslim so to me, this is particularily insulting. However, I disagree with you on the point you make about how anything could be said about Muslims and even the ADL will support you. Many people have said outlandish things about muslims and many times they end up getting death threats. For example: the nut case who wanted to burn the quoran. Or how about the cartoonist who did the whole "Everybody Draw Muhammed" day. In addition to that, if you say anything critical about Islam, you will be considered a bigot. Meanwhile, if you say anything critical about Catholicism, it's a completely different story. I respect both religions deeply, but I think in today's society, there's a huge double standard that we're ignoring.

You apparently have not read this site much. There are people here who yell "bigot" anytime the Catholic Church is referenced in any negative way. So DCUM alone is adequate proof against your case.

[Anonymous]

12:28 here: Well, I think that's up for debate. But I do think that it's socially acceptable to question the Catholic church. However, it's not socially acceptable to question Islam. I think it's safe to say that if I speak out against the sexual abuse the Church was hiding it would be okay. But if I so much as say a single criticism against Islam (or even draw Muhammed), I'm a bigot. Again, this is obviously debatable. But I think a lot of people would agree. I personally think that we should be able to have an open discussion about any religion (fairly) without being labeled racist, bigot, whatever... Of course I mean this without actually insulting other religions, just discussing them. But my opinion is that we're not at that point yet where we can do that. It's like we have to walk on eggshells.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:12:28 here: Well, I think that's up for debate. But I do think that it's socially acceptable to question the Catholic church. However, it's not socially acceptable to question Islam. I think it's safe to say that if I speak out against the sexual abuse the Church was hiding it would be okay. But if I so much as say a single criticism against Islam (or even draw Muhammed), I'm a bigot. Again, this is obviously debatable. But I think a lot of people would agree. I personally think that we should be able to have an open discussion about any religion (fairly) without being labeled racist, bigot, whatever... Of course I mean this without actually insulting other religions, just discussing them. But my opinion is that we're not at that point yet where we can do that. It's like we have to walk on eggshells.

You clearly have blinders on. The reason that I started this thread is because not only is it socially acceptable to criticize Islam and Muslims, you can even have a chair at Harvard named after you after having done so. Do you seriously think that Peretz would still be receiving this honor if he had written that "Catholic life is cheap" and suggested that Catholics don't deserve First Amendment protections?