I invariably check the Middle Eastern connection of professors in Western universities

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Jun 15, 2022 at 18:29

Dear Dr Pipes, Re Dabashi's connection with the Iranian regime, whenever I read an article about Islam and/or Middle East, I do an independent search to determine if the author(s) are intimately related to any of the Muslim countries. And if the Authors are intimately related to an Islamic nation, I consider them either biased or bribed. In either case, the values that I attach to the articles is reduced. It is a lot of work but extremely important. This leads me to a related topic.

I consider all Islamic theocracies illegitimate. In the US, we value separation of church and state and Islamic theocracies violate this cherished principle. Even the countries that are 98% Islamic, should not be Islamic countries. The fact that a lot US academic institutions get part of their funding from Islamic sources is problematic and further illustrates why no country should be linked to a religion. If Iran can buy professorships in the US, why can't the US buy professorships in Iran? The answer is simple. First, US government is not directly allowed to support Christianity or any other religion. So we cannot buy a professorship in Iran that supports the cause of majority of our population. Second, and more importantly, even if we buy a professorship in an Iranian university, the Iranian regime will send the professor to jail or even kill them. Too bad (or to good) that we cannot harm our Islamist-sympathizers in University of Chicago, Columbia, MIT, Rutgers, or elsewhere.

Freedom has a cost and we are paying it. Lack-of-freedom is a selfish convenience and Islamists are shamelessly availing it.

My advice to the students of our universities would be to check for the Islamist connections of the professors before they sign up for classes. If you would not take a course by a communist, why should you take a course offered by an Islamist.

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