Debbie Almontaser Hounded Out of a Job for Knowing Arabic

[Nullifidian]

Speaking of the Arabic language and culture school, which was referenced in the Horowitz thread, this is what happens when one lets these right-wing hyenas have an echo chamber (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/11/nyregion/11school.html?_r=1&ref=education&oref=slogin).

Debbie Almontaser, who was supposed to be principal of the Khalil Gibran School, stepped down because she had the temerity to translate the word intifada. :doh: She was asked for her response to the Intifada NYC t-shirts and said, “The word basically means ‘shaking off.’ That is the root word if you look it up in Arabic.” That's all she said. For this, she was hounded by the right wing press and media, particularly Rupert Murdoch's NY Post.

And the president of the United Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, who should have been defending the concept of using an interview with the media to--you know--actually convey information as a teacher said, instead, that intifada is “something that ought to be denounced, not explained away.”

Weingarten is a total moron if she didn't think this was about the school, rather than Ms. Almontaser.

What the hell kind of society have we become when simply knowing Arabic and Arab culture gets you labeled a terrorist sympathizer not just in the foetid confines of Little Green Footballs, etc. but also in the pages of a major New York daily? And how stupid does one have to be to argue that knowing Arabic, and making that knowledge public, is somehow a disqualification from heading a school devoted to Arabic language and culture?

[ChuckF]

Wow. Just wow. Check out Bloomberg's defense of her: “She’s certainly not a terrorist. She really does care.” Why even throw the t-word around? Leave that for the David Horowitzes.

[InTheServiceOfZeke]

she shouldn't have resigned. i understand why she did, but she should have stood up to it and let herself get fired. that would have played out much better. i guess the fight wasn't worth the aggro...too bad.

"What the hell kind of society have we become when simply knowing Arabic and Arab culture gets you labeled a terrorist sympathizer not just in the foetid confines of Little Green Footballs, etc. but also in the pages of a major New York daily?"

the same society that labels people as stupid and warmongers just for going to church and calling yourself christian. i'm not christian, but i don't see the treatment all receive from some asshole lefties as being fair for the actions of a few...

you live in a divided society...the invisible 'they' like it like that :)

[viscousmemories]

“She got a question, she’s not all that media-savvy maybe, and she tried to explain a word rather than just condemn,” [Mayor Bloomberg] said.

Imagine an educator trying to explain a word. Poor thing needs to learn how to speak in fearful, ignorant soundbites like a good politician. :no:

[Adam]

“She got a question, she’s not all that media-savvy maybe, and she tried to explain a word rather than just condemn,” [Mayor Bloomberg] said.

Imagine an educator trying to explain a word. Poor thing needs to learn how to speak in fearful, ignorant soundbites like a good politician. :no:

The appropriate response would have been to 'just condemn'? Jesus H.

the same society that labels people as stupid and warmongers just for going to church and calling yourself christian.

What society is this again?

[InTheServiceOfZeke]

the same society that labels people as stupid and warmongers just for going to church and calling yourself christian.

What society is this again?


the old corrupt one.

[yguy]

And the president of the United Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, who should have been defending the concept of using an interview with the media to--you know--actually convey information as a teacherHad Almontaser decided to "convey" the "information" that most Holocaust revisionists don't deny that Hitler mudered lots of Jews, but "only" murdered 2 million rather than 6 million, should she have defended that as well?

[yguy]

Imagine an educator trying to explain a word.According to the "educator" as quoted in the article, she did quite a bit more than that.

[Watser?]

And the president of the United Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, who should have been defending the concept of using an interview with the media to--you know--actually convey information as a teacherHad Almontaser decided to "convey" the "information" that most Holocaust revisionists don't deny that Hitler mudered lots of Jews, but "only" murdered 2 million rather than 6 million, should she have defended that as well?

Nice try. When in doubt, throw in the Holocaust.

[Watser?]

Imagine an educator trying to explain a word.According to the "educator" as quoted in the article, she did quite a bit more than that.

Nope, that is exactly what she did. What was expected of her apparently was to take a pro-Israeli political position.

[Nullifidian]

Had Almontaser decided to "convey" the "information" that most Holocaust revisionists don't deny that Hitler mudered lots of Jews, but "only" murdered 2 million rather than 6 million, should she have defended that as well?

I can hardly see her offering up a view on it, unless she's studied the matter. If she had done, then I'd say "Yes." Are we supposed to stop talking about controversial issues on the off chance that some nut from a Murdoch paper will accuse one of being on their (cue threatening music) side?

By the way, I don't know why you're putting information in scare quotes. Looked at either way, the statements are true: holocaust revisionists do try to minimize the number of Jewish deaths (they aren't as concerned about the deaths of gays, the Roma, Communists, anarchists, etc. because nobody else seems to be; this is one way the Holocaust revisionists have succeeded).

And intifada does mean "shaking off". So why the scare quotes around information?

[yguy]

Had Almontaser decided to "convey" the "information" that most Holocaust revisionists don't deny that Hitler mudered lots of Jews, but "only" murdered 2 million rather than 6 million, should she have defended that as well?

I can hardly see her offering up a view on it, unless she's studied the matter. If she had done, then I'd say "Yes." So you'd be OK with your kid taking a class in European history from a Holocaust revisionist. Right?
By the way, I don't know why you're putting information in scare quotes. Since I don't know what "scare quotes" are, I guess I'd be more apt to call them "sneer quotes". ;)Looked at either way, the statements are trueBeside the point.And intifada does mean "shaking off".No, it doesn't. As applied to the Palestinians in the present context, it means murder - just as "gay" now means homosexual rather than happy. Almontaser clearly knew this.

[D. Scarlatti]

Speaking of right-wing hyenas ...

So you'd be OK with your kid taking a class in European history from a Holocaust revisionist.

Still as fucking idiotic as ever. Is Almontaser a Palestinian terrorist?

[Nullifidian]

Had Almontaser decided to "convey" the "information" that most Holocaust revisionists don't deny that Hitler mudered lots of Jews, but "only" murdered 2 million rather than 6 million, should she have defended that as well?
I can hardly see her offering up a view on it, unless she's studied the matter. If she had done, then I'd say "Yes." So you'd be OK with your kid taking a class in European history from a Holocaust revisionist. Right?

:holmes:

Nope, still not seeing where I said that I'd want my kid taking a class in European history from a Holocaust revisionist. I would want anyone who teaches European history, especially modern European history, to be familiar with the arguments enough to recite them back in a fairly accurate manner. There is a difference between being an adherent of a view and being able to expound on the view.

Of course, in your world, this is not the case. So Daniel Pipes, for example, becomes an Islamist terrorist, a turn of events I'm sure he'd find shocking.


By the way, I don't know why you're putting information in scare quotes. Since I don't know what "scare quotes" are, I guess I'd be more apt to call them "sneer quotes". ;)

Scare quotes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scare_quotes)

Enjoy.

Looked at either way, the statements are trueBeside the point.

Of course it's the point. Is the media not supposed to be a venue for the dissemination of accurate information anymore?

And intifada does mean "shaking off".No, it doesn't.

Yes it does. Unless your name is Hans Wehr (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_Modern_Written_Arabic) in real life, you do not have any credible authority to say what Arabic words do and do not mean.

As applied to the Palestinians in the present context, it means murder - just as "gay" now means homosexual rather than happy. Almontaser clearly knew this.

Right, and Palestinian means "feeds parents their own babies" except when they aren't doing that, but even when they aren't doing that, what they do is so awful anyway that they might as well be feeding babies to their parents, so the blood libel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Saint_Hugh_of_Lincoln) is right even though it's wrong.

And of course Palestinians don't do anything like civil disobedience (e.g. the Palestinian freedom rides this summer that never happened), general strikes, boycotts, graffiti, throwing stones at columns of armoured tanks (which, contrary to the IDF, is not a lethal activity requiring that they shoot the stone-throwers), etc. No, they're all just BLOODY MURDERERS! Every last one of them.

ChuckF had better get a rush on that Islamofascist color-coded alert system--otherwise how are you to know when you need to wet yourself?

[viscousmemories]

Is Almontaser a Palestinian terrorist?
Duh, of course she is. As yguy so deftly pointed out, the fact that she responded to a question about the meaning of an unholy word truthfully, with the "definition", is beside the point. The point is that the word is unholy, and because she didn't immediately cast that demon reporter away in the name of Jebus, she is clearly possessed by the demon Allah. This of course makes her a Palestinian terrorist, among other things. Al Qaeda.

[Adam]

In fairness, the title of the thread is inaccurate. She wasn't hounded out of her job for knowing Arabic. She was hounded out of her job for failing to reflexively condemn the notion of sympathy for the Palestinians.

[Nullifidian]

True, but I take it as self-evident that one doesn't need to offer spittle-flecked condemnations when talking about etymology. Perhaps that's just because I've been brainwashed by sanity. ;)

[yguy]

Had Almontaser decided to "convey" the "information" that most Holocaust revisionists don't deny that Hitler mudered lots of Jews, but "only" murdered 2 million rather than 6 million, should she have defended that as well?
I can hardly see her offering up a view on it, unless she's studied the matter. If she had done, then I'd say "Yes." So you'd be OK with your kid taking a class in European history from a Holocaust revisionist. Right?

:holmes:

Nope, still not seeing where I said that I'd want my kid taking a class in European history from a Holocaust revisionist. I know you didn't. That's why I asked.I would want anyone who teaches European history, especially modern European history, to be familiar with the arguments enough to recite them back in a fairly accurate manner. There is a difference between being an adherent of a view and being able to expound on the view.Why would you want your child's teacher to give any credence to Holocaust revisionism by expounding on it at all?Of course, in your world, this is not the case. So Daniel Pipes, for example, becomes an Islamist terrorist, a turn of events I'm sure he'd find shocking.I'm not going to take the time to figure out how you came up with this inference, but I can nevertheless tell you for sure that it's idiotic.Enjoy.Thanks for nothing.Looked at either way, the statements are trueBeside the point.

Of course it's the point. Is the media not supposed to be a venue for the dissemination of accurate information anymore?[/quote]The media is not the issue here, but I doubt that you are particularly concerned about that ideal anyway.Yes it does...I'd tell you to go play with yourself if you weren't so obviously in the process already. ;)

[Nullifidian]

We have now reached the point beyond which yguy will not offer even the hint of a substantative response, so I guess I don't have to keep on clicking on that "View Post" feature.

[D. Scarlatti]

It probably says "U R Gay."

Oh and by the by ...

I'm not going to take the time to figure out how you came up with this inference, but I can nevertheless tell you for sure that it's idiotic.

What was yguy's old signature, that he got from seebs?

[Angakuk]

"I don't know what that means, but I am sure it is wrong" or something like that.

[D. Scarlatti]

Right, and there was seemingly no end to the mockery of seebs. yguy holds himself to a different standard, evidently.

[viscousmemories]

Yeah I caught that too. :laugh:

[But]

Yes it does. Unless your name is Hans Wehr (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_Modern_Written_Arabic) in real life, you do not have any credible authority to say what Arabic words do and do not mean.


Don't trust him! He's an arabist!!111

[Sauron]

And the president of the United Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, who should have been defending the concept of using an interview with the media to--you know--actually convey information as a teacherHad Almontaser decided to "convey" the "information" that most Holocaust revisionists

Irrelevant tangent.

Giving the translation of a foreign word is not the same as carrying someone else's propaganda water for them.

You haven't gotten any more clever, yguy. I'm disappointed.:yawn:

[Sauron]

And intifada does mean "shaking off".

No, it doesn't.

Uh, yes. It does. It's a verbal noun from the trilateral root nafadhtha. The long alif at the start of the word and the infixed letter taa mark it as an eighth measure product. At the eighth measure, the root takes on the meaning of:

VIII
to be shaken off; be dusted off; to shake; to shudder; shiver; tremble.

The noun can also be translated as "shiver, shudder, tremor."

You picked the wrong fight, yguy. As usual.:whup:

[Sauron]

Bumping this for yguy - I even lubed the post for you.:whipping:

[D. Scarlatti]

You need to read Arabic with the Guidance of the Holy Spirit.

[Uthgar the Brazen]

You need to read Arabic with the Guidance of the Holy Spirit.

:muahaha: