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The Politics of Academia
Topic Started: Apr 28 2012, 05:21 PM (1,775 Views)
macgobhain
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Last night was my class presentation on the topic of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict entitled "The Problem of Israel" (that was the title assigned to me by the teacher). Given the title and the representation of the conflict in the book assigned to our class I thought it appropriate to present the true origins of the problem and present the issue as it is today, and since I'm currently living in the United States I wanted to talk about our involvement as a nation. Although my teacher has mildly misrepresented facts of history in our class to curve the opinions of the students in a certain direction (it is an election year for us after all), I did not expect the kind of vehement opposition to the facts that I presented so that she could tip the discussion in a specific direction so that she could draw the desired analogies. My teacher ended up representing my project to the class as "my opinion" and "completely one sided", opening up me as the presenter to the ridicule of the entire class. All I had done was represent facts that are not very often brought to the table of the discussion that are imperative in understanding Middle Eastern politics as they are today.


I was wondering if anyone else here had ever had similar experiences with the political agendas of their teachers?
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lamna
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Stop being vague, we need to know who's the crazy one.

And no, the classes I got was being a little smart-ass in RE during late secondary school and occasionally knowing stuff in science beyond the curriculum.
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Are nipples or genitals necessary, lamna?
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trex841
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i hate schools. i really do. this just dumps gasoline on an alrighty rageing rage inferno.
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Kamidio
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seascorpion
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Why Can't I Hold All These Mongols?

I go to a Catholic school, so yes it happens all the time, in every subject.
The history subjects are particularly bad, im fairly certain one of my teachers supported general franco's dictatorship of Spain (not that we would do the Spanish civil war, mainly because it paints an unfavorable light on catholicism), and I got in trouble when I told her North Korea wasn't predominantly atheist ( last time I checked Richard dawkins didn't believe in the eternal president) instead juchism is what is actually practiced.
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Kamidio
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Sounds like Uncle Fakey is going to have to smack a bitch.

*Awaits comments about being a year younger.
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Empyreon
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Are you plausible?

Political agendas of college professors is par for the course, and I've had few situations where this isn't the case.
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food for thought
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trex841
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this just makes me want to go to collage even less

and i have 2 videos for fakey
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lamna
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To be honest I prefer the Nationalists to the Republicans. The Spanish Civil War was fought between dicks, supported by dicks, and dicks, who were supported by dicks and dicks, but there was a lot of infighting between dicks on the dick side and dicks on the dick side. Then you get into the dick brigades and dick volunteers...

But in the end His Majesty Juan Carlos came along and fixed everything.

North Korea is mostly non-religious though, Juche isn't quite a religion, more a way of thinking about things. I wonder if in a thousand years westerners will be enjoying a bastardized version?
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colddigger
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Trex. I think you should, considering your spelling.

Yes, I've experienced a few teachers like that, but because of the way I am such matters I cared not for and decided to simply observe how the teacher went about things.
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trex841
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My grades in school are really good, it's just that I feel more comfortable here and don't try as hard to spell correctly. And sometimes I’m pressed to get a post out quickly.

But seriously, I get jumped more here about my spelling here then at school.
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At the present time, concepts within are inconsistent and ever shifting.

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macgobhain
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Alright well given that we had gone over the Holocaust, and that in the United States we are normally given at least one Holocaust assignment for a grade before college (high school, secondary school), and the fact that Holocaust documentaries play non stop on our educational networks, as well as the fact that our history book dedicated 3 entire pages to it (and it's a world history book mind you) and less than a page on Palestinian issues, I chose to try and balance out the subject.

In understanding the Middle East it is imperative that people understand the origins of problems and how they have morphed into what they are today. So, rather than starting with the Balfour Declaration or the Partition of Palestine (which is where I think she wanted me to start), I chose to go back even further to the Tanzimat Era of the Ottoman Empire, which is where the seeds of the conflict were sewn. The purchase of land by Zionist organizations and the eviction of Arab fellahin to make way for poor Jewish immigrants from Europe is where it all starts.

I also tried to emphasize the double standard of British policy regarding Palestine during the Mandate Era, as it qualified for independence under Article 22 Par. 4 of the Charter of Nations, yet was not granted independence because of British sentiments towards the people there and because British policy was to make a state for the Jewish people.

I was cut off at the Massacre of Deir Yassin, which is the most famous of a string of massacres committed by Jewish paramilitary troopers in an attempt to scare Arabs out of Palestine just prior to the end of the Mandate and the Partition. I was not allowed to explain the politics of the partition or go any further in explaining the rise of fundamentalism amongst Palestinians as triggered by Jewish discriminatory policies and laws, but instead told that I needed to focus on the Holocaust, and the UN's desire to come to a "compromise", which was what she said that Partition was. Mind you that the Partition Plan ceded 56% of Palestine to potential Jewish immigrants coming in from Europe and gave only the poorest farmlands to the Arab majority. This plan was presented by Westerners, who were unquestionably influenced by the opinions of the three greatest powers that be in the UN: the United States, Britain, and Russia. President Truman openly stated that he was more concerned with the Jewish agenda because he didn't have "thousands of Muslims in my constituency" (to paraphrase), Clement Attlee was a self proclaimed Zionist, and the Russians and the countries that had formerly been part of the Russian Empire had been trying to get rid of their Jewish population for years.

Furthermore, if it was an unbiased compromise on the part of the UN given the events of the Holocaust and the trials of the Jewish people, why then did the UN not also try and find a place for the Romani people? Jews are a religion with "sacrosanct" practices regarding race and lineage, while the Roman are a clearly definable ethno-linguistic group that was also persecuted relentlessly during WWII.


Given the strings that were pulled in the UN as well by these three superpowers, the policies and sentiments of the British prior to the partition, and the fact that a nation was not being sought out for the other groups persecuted by the Nazis, I think that it's fair to say that the Partition of Israel had far more to do with Zionism than it did with an attempt to find a compromise for the oppressed.

She also tried to paint out the 1948 Arab War and the Six-Day War as Arab nations "ganging up" on Israel because of nationalist ideals, and then said that the Palestinians "have been offered state recognition several times, but they've rejected it because they want the WHOLE thing". She then tried to tip the discussion in emphasizing the "importance of compromise" and her concern over the polarization of the two opposing sides of the U.S. government right now, which is itself a false representation of the situation in the House.

I don't agree by any means with the Republican Budget, but the Democrats have not even passed a budget in this administration, and they're holding it off to avoid criticism in the media because some 22-3 of them are up for reelection right now. So it's EXTREMELY unfair to talk about "lack of compromise" when the Democrats aren't won't even offer a budget to counter the Republican.

So essentially, not only did my teacher tell me that my presentation was too detailed, but it did not represent things the way she wanted them represented so that she could draw the analogy that she wanted...
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colddigger
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Joke's over! Love, Parasky
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Well, yea, you're supposed to feel sorry for the Jew.
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Kamidio
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Listen, Mac.


I can help you get rid of them. Like, permanently.

But you have to pay me in chocolate. And your bike.


I am totally serious, they will never find your teacher's body. Unless they start analyzing pig slop.
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