I was called in by the head of one of my courses and subject to a serious warning. Students have complained about my population estimate class. We build infrastructure to supply future demand, so we need to know how population will behave in the future. For example, to design a water supply system, we use the water demand 20 to 30 years from now. One of the techniques is based on the logistic or sigmoidal curve, where population growth is proportional to resource availability. I like to use real situations in my exercises, so I took the Israeli Statistics Bureau publications and adked the students to apply the method to two paired populations. I paired Tel Aviv with Rahat, a Beduin village in the Negev; Petach Tikva with nearby Arab Kafr Kassem, etc. When they went to the statistical yearbooks it appeared that many Arab villages had few hundred inhabitants in 1948 or, like Rahat, did not exist or were not registered. They didnt like the exercise and complained.
My course head didnt say a word about what was the issue at hand, and she didnt have to. Obviously, bad people out there are searching for imagined offenses so they can hurt careless persons like me and feel powerful. From now I shall use totally imagined situations, with no relation to reality. Most professors in Israel avoid anything related to Israel and use American statistics and examples that are not representative of our life here. I always criticised them saying they acted as if Israel was situated somewhere between California and Nevada, or between Switzerland and Austria, but now I understand they avoid anything remotely controversial or related to a real situation.
How do I feel? Very badly. Depressed. This too will pass.
16 comments:
Yes, please do be careful. Especially right now when the Arabs are clearly looking for provocations that they can use as levers against Jews - this is how routing planning approvals become international incidents. Don't give them any ammunition.
The same thing goes on here in the US with racial minorities. In one famous case (at the University that my son attends) a former Yeshiva student was being disturbed by a loud group of black sorority sisters on the lawn outside his dorm room late at night while he was trying to study. He asked them to be quiet several times but they refused. Finally, in exasperation he shouted from his window, "Shut up you water buffaloes", translating in his mind the Hebrew/Yiddish "behema" (which, in Yiddish is equivalent to calling someone an "ass" (meaning donkey) in English - insulting but without any racial connotation). But, in their ignorance, the black girls claimed that is was a racial epithet - are not water buffalos large dumb black beasts from Africa (actually, they aren't - they are from Asia, but why quibble over details when you can gain leverage) and lodged a complaint. The student was pressured to admit his "crime" and be punished but luckily he was defended by a brilliant Jewish professor and the University received bad feedback in the press for attempting to regulate speech (in the US we have extreme freedom of speech - even advocating Naziism is legally protected). Not only was he exonerated but the whole kangaroo court process whereby such specious complaints were given credence was discredited. Once it was clear that their provocation was backfiring, the black girls and their enablers - the cowards in the University administration who were too scared to stand up to them initially dropped the whole matter like a hot potato. These cowards will always follow the path of least resistance (so don't make yourself the path of least resistance).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_buffalo_incident
For now, I suggest that you take a low profile and see if the issue just blows over. But if it is taken further against you, then I suggest you learn from Jacobowitz and from Zahal - the best defense is a good offense.
K
I did not call any behema a water buffalo. And water buffaloes are large, docile bovines, and very silent. Are Israeli official population statistics a sensitive issue better to be avoided?
One feature of a diverse, conflicted society: It causes stress.
The answer to your question is "yes".
IIRC, Lebanon has not conducted a census for many decades because population statistics are so sensitive.
The US is now conducting a census and there are ever more racial groups one can choose from - you can designate yourself as a "Chamorro" or a "Tongan". However, all "white" people are the same in the eyes of the Census from Libson to Vladivostok , from Eilat to Murmansk, there is only one "white" box to check. There is, I suppose, no need to make fine distinctions since there is no special benefit associated with being white in the eyes of the government. I chose other - "American" as I believe that the government really has no business asking such questions at all.
Do not be stressed. It is Shabbos. Have a little vodka to steady your nerves and Yasher Koach. Again I repeat that those against you are cowards and are hoping that you won't fight back if they bully you. Eden Jacobowitz was saved only because he fought back and brought the spotlight of media attention on their rotten system - then they scattered like cockroaches. But he was put in corner first - there were going to be real consequences against him. If all that you have now is a verbal warning then keep your head down and your nerves steady and maybe the storm will blow past.
K
Thanks K, you are a friend.
שבת שלום
A git Shabbes!
K
K and J, Israelis and Americans should avoid giving ammunition to Arabs or Muslims — but there is always a trade-off. With regard to the "water buffalo" I think there is a cultural misunderstanding — but African-Americans have very good reason to regard the term "buffalo" as a racial insult. Once I saw on the wall of a library (library not bathroom!) the following exchange:
N******S ARE PROOF THAT THE AMERICAN INDIAN F*****D THE BUFFALO! ( here we have the N-word and F*** in the sense of shtoop)
HONKIES ARE PROOF THAT THE AMERICAN INDIAN F*****D THE BUFFALO!
IF THAT'S TRUE HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN YOUR CURLY HAIR?
This kind of the stuff is why the women got mad.
Also, African-Americans and Korean grocers have a cultural misunderstanding — American culture promotes eye contact as politeness, whereas Korean culture promotes eye contact impoliteness.
If little things cause ethnic conflicts, I can see how human biodiversity facts can lead to blood in the streets. Science says that, in terms of statistics, group A is genetically superior to group B. Such hypotheses are the main justification that Jefferson Davis used for moral arguments about slavery! If "water buffalo" is offensive, then human biodiversity is radioactive.
In many countries of South East Asia, "water buffalo" is a compliment, specially for females.
(I just made that up :=)
It is always possible to fetishize differences to the point of hatred. The wrong way of holding a fork, spelling Koran instead of Quaran, scratching the balls with left hand, I am with you so so far doggytwit and would like to hear what proposals you have for dealing with biodiversity. Do you want all of us to go around dressed in Mao jackets, is that what you want?
I'm always reminded of the Star Trek episode where they visit a planet where the people are white on one side and black on the other like Dalmatian dogs. 1/2 the people seem to despise the other 1/2 and at first Kirk can't figure out what the difference is. Then he realizes that one group is black on their left half and white on the other and the other group is the opposite. Likewise, from an outsider's POV, Serbs and Croatians, Irish Protestants and Catholics, etc. seem almost indistinguishable - the more similar 2 groups are, the more they hate each other. When American blacks visit Africa they realize that they are much more American than African.
Yes the Indians (oops, sorry, Native Americans) called black troops "buffalo soldiers". But Jacobowitz grew up in a religious environment - he did not know about Indians and buffaloes (and American buffaloes are not really buffaloes at all anyway - they are bison). What he actually said was of little importance anyway - the intention was to use him as a pawn in a racial-political game. Unfortunately, he refused to play along.
K
Why, one might ask, is it that universities and the media are such hotbeds of political correctness?
Anon.
Leftists are strongly attracted to academia/journalism - they both offer the hope that you can "remake the world" according to your vision of it and not just make money. Leftist misunderstand "tikkun olam" as meaning "messing with other people's business." Political correctness is just a byproduct of totalitarian leftism - see Orwell.
K
I am glad I do not have to attend a university now.
The culture is so stifling and boring, apart from being fallacious.
In my time, the issues were real, rebellion was all over, people actually died, debate was intense, and we actually changed the world.
Unfortunately, it was for the worse.
Never mind, we had the time of our lives.
Anon.
Sorry this happened to you, J. We may disagree on ultra-orthodox Judaism or intermarriage, but I respect your professional work and your intelligence. It's unsurprising but still a shame that leftist lunacy inhabits Israeli universities as well as American and European ones.
Thanks. I do not blame my "bosses" because they are acting out of fear. We in Israel are under such intense observation by the UN and hundreds of Human Right NGOs, that the institutions are terrorized of appearing racist, apartheid, whatever they accuse us of. You know, many British universitites are boycotting us and the pest has spread to America too. It is almost painful to read in American blogs that Israel is an ethnically assertive country, and to live in our rather different, sad reality.
Everything has a price.
And for you, the sad reality is you will either lose your country by lowering the demographic barriers; OR you will be accused of practising apartheid,of injustice, of being fascistic, of being Nazis (especially offensive to you),etc, especially by your own 'human rights' groups, who are interested in everybody's rights except yours (and, theirs).
Study carefully the South African experience, both pre- and post apartheid, for something like that could be your destiny. University boycotts? Just the beginning. A warm up.
Anon.
I"ll not see it. I'm lucky.
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