Liberals should never again claim victimhood because of the McCarthy-era "blacklists". Hear Bill Whittle speak about "social proof"; known also as politically correct peer pressure that forces culture farther to the left.
Charles Krauthammer "For decades, the
American Studies Association labored in well-deserved obscurity. No longer. It has now made a name for itself by
voting to boycott Israeli universities, accusing them of denying academic and human rights to Palestinians.
"Given that Israel has a profoundly democratic political system, the freest press in the Middle East, a fiercely independent judiciary and astonishing religious and racial diversity within its universities, including affirmative action for Arab students, the charge is rather strange.
"Made more so when you consider the state of human rights in Israel’s neighborhood. As we speak,
Syria’s government is dropping “barrel bombs” filled with nails, shrapnel and other instruments of terror
on its own cities. Where is the ASA boycott of Syria?" ...
....
"What to do? Facing a similar (British) academic boycott of Israelis seven years ago, Alan Dershowitz and
Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg wrote an open letter declaring that, for the purposes of any anti-Israel boycott,
they are to be considered Israelis."
....
"Thousands of other academics added their signatures to the Dershowitz/Weinberg letter. It was the perfect in-kind response. Boycott the boycotters, with contempt.
But, as with teenagers jumping on the latest feel-good fad, here come artists, hoping to burnish their street cred for attaboys in desired social circles:
"But academia isn’t the only home for such prejudice. Throughout the cultural world, the
Israel boycott movement is growing. It’s become fashionable for musicians, actors, writers and performers of all kinds to ostentatiously cleanse themselves of Israel and Israelis."
Now, Dr. Krauthammer gets to the salient point that he has been preparing us for:
"How? How to answer the thugs, physical and intellectual, who single out Jews for attack? The best way, the most dignified way, is to do like Dershowitz, Weinberg or Kissin.
"Express your solidarity. Sign
the open letter or write your own. Don the yellow star and wear it proudly."
To wit:
A Call to Academics Worldwide to Join Nobel Laureates and University Presidents to Stand in Solidarity with Israeli Academics Facing Threats of Boycott
The text of this petition:
"We are academics, scholars, researchers and professionals of differing religious and political perspectives. We all agree that singling out Israelis for an academic boycott is wrong. To show our solidarity with our Israeli academics in this matter, we, the undersigned, hereby declare ourselves to be Israeli academics for purposes of any academic boycott. We will regard ourselves as Israeli academics and decline to participate in any activity from which Israeli academics are excluded."
