Shiraz Dossa Is A Loser, A Scumbag and A Bore
Dossa is that cringe-making poli-sci professor from Nova Scotia’s venerable St. Francis Xavier university who thought it would be a harmless bit of fun to present some of his dreary pseudo-left polemics at that recent conference of holocaust deniers and Jew haters in Tehran.
The fact that Dossa claims to acknowledge the reality of the holocaust, and referred to his fellow conventioneers as "hacks and lunatics'', makes him perhaps more pathetic than even the psychopaths that have managed to convince themselves that the holocaust is some kind of Zionist plot: Dossa knew very well what the conference was about. And he went anyway.
This is not about free speech:
As even embarrassed Iranians realise, the conference is a disgrace, a grotesque attempt to relativise, if not deny, a crime against humanity. Far from giving those in the Middle East a chance to discuss this historical event (a chance all too rarely given in their own countries), the organisers have already censored the proceedings by denying a visa to an outspoken Palestinian lawyer who said that denials of the “monstrous horror” harmed the Palestinian cause.
And this is not just an offence to Jews, either.
It's an offence against historical truth, it's an affront to the dignity of every literate human being, and it's a rebuke to all honest scholarship. It's an offence to all of us. It's perhaps especially a disgrace to the left, so much of which continues to tolerate the bigotry of anti-Semitism so long as it's dressed in the semantic guise of anti-Zionism. The fact that Dossa has been giving out of himself in this way for years at St. F-X, without any public notice, is sufficient testimony to that sorry state of affairs.
Dossa can carry on about how liberalism is a cover for Christian imperialism, and secularism is a some kind of new Crusader front, and he can rail about how modernity is bad and feminism is bad and the Enlightenment was bad and even Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms is some kind of fraud, and yet his left credentials remain untarnished - owing, no doubt, to his heavy reliance on assigning readings from the likes of Noam Chomsky, Tariq Ali, Uri "Apartheid Israel" Davis and Norman "The Holocaust Industry" Finkelstein.
What a goof. Word is he's still sightseeing in Iran but you can leave messages on his telephone answering machine here (902) 867-2105 or send him a congratulatory email for the tremendous contribution he's made to Canada's academic reputation abroad: sdossa@stfx.ca
Assigned readings on this subject: Jeff Weintraub, who's always excellent, and Gene, over at Harry's, who asks the right question about who, exactly, is more worthy of admiration and support from genuine leftists.
The fact that Dossa claims to acknowledge the reality of the holocaust, and referred to his fellow conventioneers as "hacks and lunatics'', makes him perhaps more pathetic than even the psychopaths that have managed to convince themselves that the holocaust is some kind of Zionist plot: Dossa knew very well what the conference was about. And he went anyway.
This is not about free speech:
As even embarrassed Iranians realise, the conference is a disgrace, a grotesque attempt to relativise, if not deny, a crime against humanity. Far from giving those in the Middle East a chance to discuss this historical event (a chance all too rarely given in their own countries), the organisers have already censored the proceedings by denying a visa to an outspoken Palestinian lawyer who said that denials of the “monstrous horror” harmed the Palestinian cause.
And this is not just an offence to Jews, either.
It's an offence against historical truth, it's an affront to the dignity of every literate human being, and it's a rebuke to all honest scholarship. It's an offence to all of us. It's perhaps especially a disgrace to the left, so much of which continues to tolerate the bigotry of anti-Semitism so long as it's dressed in the semantic guise of anti-Zionism. The fact that Dossa has been giving out of himself in this way for years at St. F-X, without any public notice, is sufficient testimony to that sorry state of affairs.
Dossa can carry on about how liberalism is a cover for Christian imperialism, and secularism is a some kind of new Crusader front, and he can rail about how modernity is bad and feminism is bad and the Enlightenment was bad and even Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms is some kind of fraud, and yet his left credentials remain untarnished - owing, no doubt, to his heavy reliance on assigning readings from the likes of Noam Chomsky, Tariq Ali, Uri "Apartheid Israel" Davis and Norman "The Holocaust Industry" Finkelstein.
What a goof. Word is he's still sightseeing in Iran but you can leave messages on his telephone answering machine here (902) 867-2105 or send him a congratulatory email for the tremendous contribution he's made to Canada's academic reputation abroad: sdossa@stfx.ca
Assigned readings on this subject: Jeff Weintraub, who's always excellent, and Gene, over at Harry's, who asks the right question about who, exactly, is more worthy of admiration and support from genuine leftists.
posted by Terry Glavin at 10:24 PM
7 Comments:
Dirk,
The neturei karta think that God is alone responsible for the Holocaust and that Israel shouldn't exist until the Messiah comes to earth to create it. Which is a fair enough interperation of their religious resources -- it's a good thing Jews have enough books to interpret and re-interpret into dust.
Here is a question: Would you trust these guy's interpretation of God's word when it comes to homosexuality? Relations between Jews and unbelievers? Non-violence? Women's rights? Whethere eating lobster is a sin? *Anything* outside of their disapproval of the state of Israel?
So please don't use them as some kind of crutch for your Jew hatred. Either you buy their religion, or you don't. And since you don't -- I presume you aren't waiting with bated breath for the Messiah to gather all the Jews in the world to his bosom ASAP and that you don't eschew non-kosher food and touching women who may be menstruating -- leave them alone. Either your Jew-hatred stands on facts or it doesn't.
I've always realized you can learn a lot about how to judge someonw not by what they say but by how others react to them. Thus it is no suprise to find that those who support this professor also say "I didnt hear any holocuast denial at the conference." Surely no, they didnt hear David Duke of the KKK. Of course not, they didnt hear Ahmadinijed compare Israeli actions to the Nazis and deny the actions of the Nazis during the Holocuast in the same statement. Under the guise of 'alternative' views and 'freedom of speech' the modern left supports Nazism and hatred and racism. That is fine, but it good to know. My parents were leftists, but something happaned in the last 30 years to the left, to be a leftist today is to identify with the ideological descendants of nazism and slavery, hence the reason people like Dossa cavort at a conference with David Duke of the KKK. Thank you Mr. Leftist who commented here for once again informing me of the reason I could never ever be involved with anything leftist, it is just a charade for holocuast denial and racism. The left accuses everyone it hates of 'racism' just so that it can then hate them and say they shouldnt exist, which is exactly what they accuse others of doing. The left is probably the most un-studied phenomenon of the modern age, how it thinkts and what it is linked to. Simply extraordinary.
I am a former student of Dossa, and I defend his right to academic expression. The man is not an anti-Semite. He is a victim of oppression and racism himself, and would never discriminate against another human being, black or white, christian or jewish, male or female. Dossa is an admirer of Hannah Arendt, Chomsky and has done plenty of research on German-Jewish relations which was a part of the reason he was invited. And so call him "stupid" and a "loser" is not only far from the truth but it makes the writer of this blog seem pretty ridiculous and immature.
@ Rebecca - excuse me, but unless his research on German-Jewish relations "which was a part of the reason he was invited" is highly antisemitic, he wouldn't have made it to the list. As you can see, those bedfellows to the conference were not Herbert Marcuse and other scholars on German history or on Holocaust; it was Neo-Nazis and their kind. A political rally of all kinds of extremists.
Before the conference was even announced, Ahmendijad has used several anti-Semitic overtones, like his famed "contest" of Holocats denial caricatures.
So if Dossa didn't know about it, he's:
- a bad academic - what kind of professor goes to a conference he doesn't check about;
- a bad academic - what kind of person who's supposed to be an expert on prejudices (as you said) is not aware of the hate Iran spreads?
A person like that should be dismissed because he's a bad professor.
And, @ NIxon. I am a proud lefty and I stand for what the real left stands for. No hate, equality and love. These people are not left.
As a former student of Dossa, I must say that I'm not a big fan of his teaching style or his radical views. But I do think he is entitled to his views (thanks 'the edible rebecca'), and if you hear his arguments at length, he has some very valid and interesting points.
On the otherhand, I think his attendance at the conference reflects poorly on StFX (but I don't think he really cares). Also, the "I didn't know there would be anti-semites and holocaust deniers there" argument just doesen't stand up either.
But calling him racist or stupid is just plain ignorance. And just so you (blondblueeyedgoblin) know professor Dossa is of indian, not arab, descent so maybe you should rethink your race-related anti-israel theory.
Finally, I think that those making such harsh and critical statements about Dossa, the political left (which I don;t think should be referred to so generally in the first place), etc. should do a little background research first.
blondblueeyedgoblin:
The irony of your claim is that he is persian and not arab.
Your ignorance is astonishing.
blondblueeyedgoblin:
The irony of your claim is that he is persian and not arab.
Your ignorance is astonishing.
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