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Larry’s List: Higher-Education Edition (Updated)

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Posted on Dec 28, 2009

Today on the list: Does the English department have a Jewish problem? Plus: How to make change actually happen, and more.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

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Does the English Department Have a Jewish Problem?
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By apolloguide, December 29, 2009 at 12:13 pm Link to this comment

You seem to be suggesting that Jews need to monopolize the other 2% of
the media and politics and money and movies they don’t already
control.  When is enough… ENOUGH?

When Jews achieve a culture realistically distinct from other Semitic
peoples in the middle east and the Khazar region of the Ural steppes
then and only then should they be demanding such special treatment. 
What’s wrong? ...somebody get turned down for a job and now we have to
change the MLA ? You have all the money, you give it all to Israel
through Madoff and Abramoff and now you want an independent body of
literature to promote your self-centered “story-telling”?  What Chutzpa indeed.  For a culture which was made up out of whole cloth in
the late 19th century as Arthur Koestler and Schlomo Sand have
documented thoroughly, you need to learn that it takes more than a
pile of money to earn respect.

“Rachel Rubinstein,... assistant professor of American literature and
Jewish studies at Hampshire College said that students view Jewish
issues as being solely about Israel and its treatment of Palestinians,
a subject that has become “fetishized.” Meanwhile, she said,
“Jewishness has been associated with Israel, white privilege,
colonialism and racism.”

Well that says it all doesn’t it?  Stop murdering Palestinians and
maybe the rest of the world will start treating you as a distinct
culture.  It takes time and 1948 is an event which stains your legacy
until you start thinking straight we can’t all but help but remember. 
Return the money taken to float Israel while you are at it and stop
clamoring for increased privileges and begin to share the wealth you
continually steal from the rest of the world.

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By John, December 28, 2009 at 11:54 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Actually, far worse is the lack of Christian fundamentalist perspectives on literature.

I’m willing to bet that there are even fewer experts on Christian fundamentalist literature in English Departments than on Jewish literature.

It’s a dangerous game when you start to assert that particular religious perspectives need a voice in the curriculum.

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