Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2002 16:25:25 -0500 (EST)
To: gulf2000 list

Equal Opportunity Bigotry

Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2002 16:23:12 -0500
From: Juan Cole

Yes, I am outraged by Dr. al-Jalahma's column, and by similarly outrageous
pieces of gross bigotry that appear quite frequently in the Saudi press
and the Arabic language press more generally. I have complained on
Gulf2000 about such pieces. Saudi Arabia's writers and publishers are
especially influential in places like Pakistan and Indonesia and their
columns are often widely translated, because of the kingdom's prestige as
the site of the twin holy cities. They therefore have a special
responsibility to express judicious views, a responsibility they often
fail to fulfill.

Gratitude is a less common human emotion than is generally supposed, and I
suppose it is unrealistic to expect the Saudis and other Gulf nations to
realize this. But Saddam Husayn clearly had it in for them in 1990, and
they were saved from being put under his hegemony if not direct rule by
the intervention of the U.S. military and its allies, a military in which
American Jews serve with distinction. And yet, if one of those American
Jewish servicemen, now a civilian, sought a visa to Saudi Arabia as a
private citizen, [he might face difficulties because of] his or her religion.

However, the very sad state of human rights and the routine expression of
hate speech in Saudi Arabia with regard to religion, does not in any way
excuse Lowry's comments, sarcastic or contextual or whatever. I just ask
you to imagine what would happen if an American journalist of his
visibility sarcastically advocated nuking the Vatican or the Wailing Wall
in Jerusalem. I suspect he would have to resign from his journal in the
resulting firestorm.

By the way, we're all relieved that Nightline has been given a reprieve.
Without that show, the television news situation in the U.S. would be
altogether desperate.

Sincerely,

Juan Cole
University of Michigan

- Juan, 12:14 PM