While perusing the entry for this book (The Dream Palace of the Arabs, by Fouad Ajami) I came across this screed-
Ajami's book is a perfect example of the disasters inflicted on the Arabs by a group of self-loathing and deracinated intellectuals, who could not come to terms with their own history. Rather than construct a modernism that is not at odds with the rich past of the Arabs, they foisted on us the "glories" of Arab nationalism and socialism. Long before Ajami and his ilk took off for their academic posts in the West, they abandoned their homelands to the barbarians whom they nurtured by their incessant and vicious demolition of the Arabs' unique world view. What they left behind was a half-baked pseudo-modernism, that was rooted in no authentic tradition- in fact in nothing.
Ajami rails against the theocracies of Iran and elsewhere. His true heirs are the officer gangsters and crass cliques that have gobbled the area's resources and turned it into a cultural desert; all the while mouthing the slogans of secularism and democracy. This book is an outrage against all those who were marginalised, exiled, ridiculed, and ultimately betrayed by the intellectual elites of the Arab World of the 50's, 60's and 70's. Give me an ayatollah anyday in preference to the neo-fascists of the Baath and the heirs of Nasser. Ajami does not admit that the intellectual elites of West Beirut whom he glorifies paved the way for the racketeers and criminals who inherited the Arab World. His solution for this cul-de-sac that his crowd led us into is to throw the Arabs into yet another horrid experiment; this time into the arms of the New World Order with all its injustices and inequalities. Ajami and a few like him may have found their bolt hole in the West, and became more royalist than the king, but this is no recipe for the millions trapped in a civilisational limbo. No reader should be seduced into believing that Ajami's work is anything but a piece of well-written fiction that camouflages an ugly reality. Stick to Edward Said, Robert Fisk, Jonathan Randall and Patrick Cockburn if you are seeking the truth.
You can almost see the beads of bloody sweat coating this guys face, and the flecks of froth at the corners of his mouth as he smashes at the keys...
Because I'm slightly masochistic, I tried to follow the narrative as he led us the merry dance around the 20th century middle east. But I became unnerved by the catalogue of terrible crimes committed by Fouad Ajami. Here is my distillation of them:
1. caused a disaster of unspecified nature to Arabs
2. cannot come to terms with own history
3. constructed a modernism that is at odds with 'rich' history of Arabs
4. caused nationalism
5. caused socialism
6. abandoned homeland to the barbarians
7. nurtured said barbarians by incessant and vicious demolition of the Arabs' unique world view
8. left behind half-baked pseudo-modernism
9. this half-baked pseudo-modernism was rooted in no authentic tradition- in fact in nothing (unlike the well-baked pseudo-modernism)
10. railed against theocracies
11. spawned officer gangsters and crass cliques of resource gobblers
12. turned the middle east into a cultural desert
13. mouthed the slogans of secularism and democracy
14. committed an outrage against all those who were marginalised, exiled, ridiculed, and ultimately betrayed by the intellectual elites of the Arab World of the 50's, 60's and 70's by writing this book
15. threw the Arabs into the arms of the New World Order with all its injustices and inequalities
16. ran off to a bolt hole in the West
17. provided no recipe for millions trapped in civilisational limbo
18. wrote fiction disguised as truth to camouflage an ugly reality
Whew! Thats a Herculean burden of horrors this guy is responsible for! Forget Hitler and Stalin. Mr Ajami must qualify as the worst person EVER.
What does perplex me is, what agenda would our correspondent support? He hates modernism, nationalism, socialism, militarism, gangsterism, monarchy, non-specific barbarians, secularism and democracy. What does that leave us?
Oh hang on. I know. Traditional Wahhabist Islam and its 'rich' culture; and the dreary apologists for it (Edward Said, Robert Fisk, Jonathan Randall and Patrick Cockburn).
"But hacking off peoples heads with rusty scimitars is part of our rich cultural tapestry..." We know.
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