Nadine, you are pushing things together that need to be kept separate.
The first is the charge that because some of the Arab leadership tried to work affinities with the Nazis, that therefore one can say Arab "ideology" whatever that is, is so similar to the Nazis that it can be called such. I don't know the Lewis' texts which are the basis for Beeman's claims. And see no need to find them. I'm not trying to settle claims here; just trying to note the Lewis' views are controversial within the field and should not be used as a standard to judge others, much less to judge the patriotism of others which is what I see in Daniel Pipes' work.
Moreover, while I'm not terribly knowledgable in this field, I do know an overgeneralization when I see one and am cynical enough to speculate as to the reasons for it.
Second, this post of yours reminds me of the talk of an Arab mentality, culture, mindset, whatever, advanced here without any attempt to make careful arguments pulling all the evidence together to substantiate it. I'm not convinced that the term "culture" helps much in social explanations for two reasons: (1) the difference between texts which are often offered as evidence and practices is not only rarely explored but often used indisriminately to substantiate wildly differing views; and (2) the causal power of "culture" is certainly not only not a settled matter within the social sciences but, in my view, the arguments about the relative causal power of culture and structure often are irrelevant to specific issues.
Third, on the anti-semitism of the Arabs. I increasingly believe all sorts of things are being thrown into this category without much discussion as to whether they belong. Clearly criticism of the actions, statements, whatever of the Sharon government is not, on its face, anti-semitic. Clearly, also, criticism of the Israeli state for not moving out of the West Bank after 67 is not, on its face, anti-semitic.
Finally, on this same point, a sentence which reads the "Arab world" and then attaches something a Saudi paper printed as evidence for the "Arab world" is far too much over generalization for me. |
