UPDATE: Thanks to Tom Ricks, who runs one of the best blogs around, for the shout out. I would like to clarify one thing up front, because I realize my post led to some confusion: I did not do a TV interview. The below story occurred during an ordinary classroom discussion. I have declined to participate in the TV program.
My university class tonight may have been my worst experience in Jordan so far. For a full semester now, I have listened to this professor spout rabid anti-Semitism and wild conspiracy theories. I have mostly kept my mouth shut--partly because my Arabic isn't good enough to articulate satisfactory replies, and partly because I've never sensed that the teacher has any desire to hear my political opinions.
Tonight the teacher asked me if I would participate in an interview on a local television station, along with a couple other foreign students. The topic would be how Muslims and the Middle East are viewed in our countries. I didn't feel comfortable the idea, but I didn't want to offend him by declining outright. I told him I would think about it.
I spent the rest of the class wondering how to politely tell him no. The teacher, however, simply pressed on ahead as if I'd said yes. During class, he told us he had an idea. He would do a practice interview with us, to set us up for the TV program. Here is a paraphrased transcript of the key moments. This was all in Arabic, by the way.
[TEACHER] If the Jews launched new aggression against Palestinians after you return to America, how will you feel?
[ME] (dumbfounded) I expect there will be more violent conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, but I will be very sad if a new war begins--
[TEACHER] (interrupting) No, no, how would you feel? What would you think about Israel attacking Palestinians?
[ME] I think there are problems on both sides, but I am with all Jews who want peace and all Palestinians who want peace. I would--
[TEACHER] (interrupting) If Israel attacked Jordan and the United States helped, would you participate in the war against Jordan?
[ME] (totally caught off guard) Um, I don't know...
[TEACHER] If you had a rifle, and one of your Jordanian classmates was standing in front of you, would you open fire on him?
[ME] Of course not.
[TEACHER] How did you feel when you saw the Israeli war on Gaza in 2008?
[ME] Frankly, I was very angry at both sides. I was angry at Israel for launching such an extreme response, but I was also angry at Hamas for firing missiles at Israeli civilians. Hamas has never worked for peace and always tried to sabotage the peace process. Both sides were at fault. There will only be peace in this region when both sides recognize---
[TEACHER] That was your opinion at the time, right? But it has changed now?
[ME] That was my opinion at the time, and it's still my opinion now.
[stunned silence from everybody in the room]
[OTHER STUDENT TRYING TO BE HELPFUL] Doctor, maybe that's because of bias in the news sources that he saw. If a person saw all the suffering and destruction inflicted on Palestinians, he would have a different view. But in America--
[TEACHER] -- the Jews control all the media. (never mind that I watched the war for an hour every morning on Al Jazeera) [looking to me] Who occupied whose land?
[ME] Israel occupied the Palestinian territories. Of course, I understand the history and the occupation and the reasons Palestinians are so angry. But if you look at the 67 war, Israel launched its attacks because of things President Nasser did, like withdrawing peacekeeping troops from Sinai and closing the Straits of--
[TEACHER] That's absolutely not true. Next question. Do you have Muslim friends in America?
[ME] Yes.
[TEACHER] How do other Americans treat them?
[ME] Actually, they mostly have good experiences with other Americans. Americans are very divided on the topic of Islam. Many Americans are afraid of Islam, but many Americans try to respect Muslims and show tolerance...
[TEACHER, clearly not interested in this answer] Next question...
And so it went. It's going to take me a while to recover from this one. I'm in one of my funks where I'm feeling bitter and cynical about trying to build peace, and am desperately repeating my mantra: do not grow weary in doing good. I'll post a story from the other side of the clash of the civilizations in the next couple days. Needless to say, I won't be going on television for an interview. I'm still looking for a culturally acceptable way to escape.
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13 comments:
welcome to our world.
Scary eh?
sound more like you attended a madrass
the appropriate way to say "no":
I will not be used for propaganda. Fail me in the class if you want, but I'm not your goddamn puppet."
What an abuse of authority.
That sounds pretty intense.
Perhaps you could say something like, "Out of respect for the topic I'm not qualified to speak to the matter." something innocuous but agile. Then you avoid disrespecting the professor and perhaps avoid getting into such an unpleasant situation.
Either way, good luck.
Ah, yes. It's definitely time to revert Israel to its pre-1967 borders - when Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip and Jordan occupied the West Bank. Life was so much simpler for everyone when the Palestinians were suffering at the hands of other Arabs.
:( don't be discouraged, Mark! You can't change the world immediately, and it's gonna take more than one even-minded american to get people to see both sides of things, right? Besides, in discussions like this, when you're the interlocutor, people often exaggerate their own position in contrast to yours. But you don't know, maybe they'll think twice in other scenarios, perhaps they'll find a wider perspective, if not an altered mind, you know.
marc,
I think you might not perceive the seriousness of this event.
Did you clear this with the USEMB and their Public Affairs officer? I ask because you are still under Chief Of Mission authority (i.e. not an academic on your own dime) and something like this can end your Olmsted experience VERY quickly.
I have met and drank adult beverages with foreigners from not necessarily friendly nations (e.g. Syria) to the US. On a personal level, I liked them and enjoyed their company. On a professional level, I would not hesitate to kill them if our countries were at war or they were part of a declared hostile group to the United States. Nor do I harbor any doubt they would hesitate to do the same to me. Your definitive answer, "No" about killing your classmate if at war tells me you are in danger of going native and losing your way. There were better answers to that question. And you should have begged off the entire interview.
You are an instrument of war that HOPEFULLY enables our government to build a better peace afterward, but your job is to be the hammer if required.
Fellow Olmsted Scholar:
Dude, first of all, this was not a formal interview. This was an ordinary classroom discussion that suddenly turned into an interrogation. The prof came out the gate with the very worst questions, and I rapidly tried to steer the questions to other territory. I am definitely not doing the television interview he wants.
Second, believe me, everything I know about officership flashed before my eyes before I answered that particular question. It wasn't a good answer, but in the moment, it was the only way I could think to avoid getting dragged into a trap. Nobody in this class knows I'm a military officer, but the teacher suspects it. He gave me a lecture the very first week about how Abizaid once studied here, learned the language and culture and acted like he loved Jordan, and then turned around and started killing Muslims. The teacher was pushing me into a trap, and there was no way I could have given an intelligent answer without disclosing I was in the military. He wouldn't let me finish a sentence and was framing the entire conversation, so if I had answered otherwise, I would have looked like a monster.
Believe me, I know who I am and what my profession is, and I'm not going native. Could I have done better? Of course. But it was a hard situation, and every day is a learning experience here.
Marc,
Got it. I read your post a few times...I thought this was the prep session and the actual thing combined. My mistake.
I have some experience with similar issues from my Olmsted tour. Expect to be found out (I was open about my service...but, other fellow scholars in my OS class in China, for instance,were mixed depending on their military job) and then expect to be accused of being a CIA agent (I was in the national newspaper six weeks before I was going home...fortunately it was on page 6 so no one read it).
I assume you are plugged in with the RSO. I would report this interaction to the RSO. Perils of studying in a non-Western country.
recall that Jordan stood against us in the Persian Gulf War, even when Syria (!!!) stood with us.
And to think that if Israel wouldn't intervene in 1970, they would all be part of Greater Syria now...
Look at it from an academic perspective. You are in a Humanities class. Is what you went through any different than what you might have got if you'd have gotten an extreme Left Wing prof in a US University who suspected you were in the military? Politics and extreme views are more tolerated in the Humanities at Universities because they make people stand out and enhance the dull politics of academic politics and life. If you were in an Engineering class, you might have been asked to analyze the Hamas rocket technology instead.
I suppose what I am saying is that people have a lot invested in their egos. In academia, their egos revolve around their ideas. It's all some people have. If you want to get spiritual, think about Jesus, MLK, Jr., and Gandhi. Those men were all killed promoting peace and nonviolence. They were killed because people didn't like their ideas. If we are all immortal souls inhabiting bodies, why should even the threat of death deter us, especially if we speak the truth as we know it? Did killing Jesus stop Christianity's spread? Did killing Martin Luther King, Jr. stop civil rights? Did killing Gandhi stop Indian independence and statehood? This can be seen as another level of meaning to, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set ye free". If you are the Truth, if you are the Peace, you will set people free. You likely set some people free during your interrogation by your responses which were a form of "turning the other cheek". Some of your fellow students may have seen the professor in a new light for the very first time. I say, "Well done!"
We all despair at the egoic stupidity and overall human condition at times, at least those of us who hope and try to understand our world and promote understanding. If you keep appealing to others' common humanity, you will win in the end. Evil and discord are spread by promoting differences among people. That tactic worked for Hitler and the Nazis. Good luck and stick to your convictions so long as you know in your heart that they are true.
Well, as bad as that was, it was not much different than getting Q&A from a hippy about global warming or GMOs, or from some 9/11 truther a lecture on the melting temperature of steel, or listening to radio programs where people are still debating whether Obama is a mulim from Kenya (or indonesia, I forget)
Meaning, there is no monopoly on stupidity. Especially amongst the highly-educated.
Having been through about a half dozen confrontations like that in college, I offer my sympathies. John's comment is spot on about the extremist professors here in the US. My eventual defense was to disguise my self as a typical college loser, and to deny any military background.
It sucks, but just remember that it is his failings as an intellectual that brought this on. Your answers were diplomatic and sensitive in a very difficult situation, and you should be commended on your discipline.
-David
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