Eventually the larger universe, and particularly academia, will recognize blogging as published writing and factor it in with every other hiring factor out there. It will be up to those bloggers seeking those rare openings at Yale (sorry not to get all choked up about it) to make sure their spelling and their stories are correct.

Rather a different thing.

Sheesh, talk about bad editing……

As I observed before, he might not appear left to you – if you’re standing on the left he might be close by to your views – but to those of us who are not consistent lefties, but are more eclectic, he sure looks very sinistral. I don’t doubt that he states the truth as he sees it, but don’t you see that “as he sees it” is a whopper of a qualifier? If I thought Pat Robertson was the second coming of Leonardo da Vinci, the total Renaissance man (I don’t, of course, but stay with me on this), then if I said so I’d be stating the truth as I saw it. And that view would be no less extreme than what you said about Cole. Yes, I understand that agree more with Cole than with Robertson (me, I tend to disagree with both), but the analysis is precisely the same. I believe Robertson has a doctorate, too.

This is an issue of perception, Barry – it’s not a stupid assertion by me about Cole, it’s simply a difference of how one views the world. You view it differently. That’s what makes the world go ‘round.

‘sinistral in the extreme’
How is Juan Cole an extreme leftist?

‘…he has voluntarily made himself a poster child for the leftie view…’

He’s spoken the truth as he sees it, and, again, not for the ‘leftie’ view, but for the view of (probably close to) half of the US population.

I don’t appreciate being called stupid. I find disagreement perfectly fine (I’m a lawyer, after all, so dealing with disagreement is my bread and butter), but there was no reason to call me stupid. I have opinions just like you do. If you find my conclusions erroneous, say so. I didn’t insult you, please don’t insult me.

Hegel using a word in a “technical” sense in The Philosophy of History is very different from one using a word in a “technical” sense in a news interview or a blog. The problems with Hegel stem from taking him out of context, not from Hegel placing them into a context in which they are inappropriate.

Besides I fail to see anything dangerous in Cole’s views in any event. He’s a highly accomplished chap who did not seem to earn what he deserved.

P.S. I’m afraid that while I live in the UK, I am actually from that New Haven place (forget the name of its main university though…) and poor at old British sayings…

Thom, once you read the full paragraph which Cole wrote, it’s much more clear – that’s the trick that the cole-bashers are using, of exerpting part of a paragraph.

Have you ever heard of the (legendary?) old British saying, ‘wogs begin at Calais’? Cole is clearly referring to that. I used the phrase ‘hook-nosed jew/arab/etc.’ to describe what Cole was discussing (IMHO); the general idea that ‘they’ are violent, dirty, untrustworthy, dark, etc.

Does this help?

“Third, he has voluntarily made himself a poster child for the leftie view of the Iraq war, Israel, and related subjects. ”

“His political views are, shall we say, sinistral in the extreme, but in academia that’s hardly unusual. ”