Congratulations on a concise and beautiful essay/interview

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Mar 24, 2016 at 01:48

Dear Dr Pipes, I must congratulate you on your beautiful interview with Times of India (I am tempted to call it an essay because --as you yourself said-- you edited the transcript and clarified it. After a long time I read a piece of clear, concise and simple writing.

First of all, your article was instructive. Your definition of your work as "applied history" came as a novel idea to me. It is a very novel and scholarly way of seeing the work of philosophers and writers and I felt educated after reading your essay.

Your clear demarcation of the three positions vis-a-vis Islam is accurate and precise. Those of us who have followed your writings over the years exactly know where you and each of us belong. Precise taxonomies such as yours provide people tools to think about the problem. So thanks again.

India is a democratic society but India, as a cultural entity, does not like accuracy precision. India loves contradictions and comfortably lives with them. We know that God is one but even the learned among us freely use the non-word "Gods". We do not want to hurt anyone but we also love freedom of speech. Your answer to the "Mohammad Cartoons" question will certainly be instructive for people in India and will help them understand the western view regarding freedom of speech. And, of course, your answer has a direct and much-needed instruction for the Islamic scholarship.

Your assertion that west cannot be blamed for everything in the Islamic world is as truth-bearing as it can be. Until and unless the Islamic world starts to look inward for its problem, there will be no emancipation for it from its current turmoil.

Regarding your challenge that no one can show that USA supported bin-Laden against the Soviets, I would say that the challenge is unnecessary. Islamic world presents the rest of us hundreds of opportunities to choose between evils. We are helpless. No matter which side the world supports will grow up to be a monster when it grows. So no shame even if USA supported bin-Laden at some stage of his miserable life. Should we have chosen Saddam or Khomeini? Who should we choose between Assad and ISIS? When it comes to Islamic infighting the choice is always between bad and worse!

My only disagreement with you comes at the end of your interview when you call Mr Trump a buffoon and want to close the book there. The fundamental question is not whether Mr Trump is a megalomaniac buffoon or not. The fundamental question that no person of thought can ignore is why the buffoon is winning. And no easy answer to that question will be right.

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