Surviving the Smithsonian Experience
Tuesday, March 7, 2006 at 2:02PM Host was great: anthropologist who has argued meaning of PNM with his Pentagon intel brother for months.
Fellow panelists okay and bad. Okay was American Muslim scholar who spent ten minutes of his 30 telling us how authentic he was because he's really Muslim, travels there a lot and appears on CNN a lot. It was weird, this need for self-validation, especially when all he said was that AIPAC is ruining the Middle East.
Bad was the Brit anthropologist from MIT who was the height of bankrupt comparisons to Vietnam.
I pointedly confronted him over his BS claim of 100k Iraqis dead (that specious Lancelet-published report discredited many times over) and made my usual points about all the "good" dead we let Saddam kill in the 1990s or all the Iraqis we killed with sanctions, but the anti-mil hatred was on thick display with this jerk.
Being Scot-Irish, I wanted to bury the hatchet... right between his eyes!
But I regress...
The panel was a bit of a failure, in my mind, because I was the only panelist to address the broad subject of "culture and security," which was fun for me because I briefed the back half of Blueprint instead of the usual geopol-heavy front half, so it was a first-time ever brief by me of about 15 Bradd Hayes slides. But the other two guys basically refought the Iraq war (actually, only one refought that, as the other was still stuck in Vietnam--befitting his years).
Too bad, because a serious discussion would have been nice. But this event was a lot like the NHK thing: because the Bush hatred is so strong, real conversation becomes impossible. It reminds me so much of the same dysfunctional political discourse of the late Clinton years (for opposite leanings, of course).
Ah, when I tire of discussing politics, it's getting bad!
Fascinating morning at DTRA (Defense Threat Reduction Agency, whose name, coincidentally, was taken in vain today at the Smithsonian). Great meet to discuss what Enterra brings to the mix. We see good work to be done there.
Of course, my snotty Brit anthro friend would disapprove (he had me at "unwashed masses" when referring to hopelessly stupid hick military recruits from the American Midwest; perhaps I am too culturally sensitive), but I guess I am forced to continue living in the real world, instead of Cambridge or Washington (2 places I know all too well)--where all the sophisticates live.
Now, another dinner meet with Steve DeAngelis and Kevin Billings of Enterra. Then up before dawn to NYC again.
Reader Comments (9)
"I pointedly confronted him over his BS claim of 100k Iraqis dead (that specious Lancelet-published report discredited many times over) and made my usual points about all the "good" dead we let Saddam kill in the 1990s or all the Iraqis we killed with sanctions, but the anti-mil hatred was on thick display with this jerk."
I get that 100k figure thrown at me all the time, and most often the people citing the study will refuse to enter into a discussion or even consider that the methodology was hopelessly flawed. And one of those people was a political science professor at my university.
Brit lefty academics are surprisingly clueless about some of views (or prejudices) they have picked up regarding Americans. One character, a historian, who has made a career defending long dead, unmasked, Soviet spies, accused me of being a "Redneck" and was quite surprised when I informed him that:
a)True Rednecks can be found no closer than approximately 900 miles south of Chicago - and generally further south than that.
b) Given my Polish-German-Scandinavian ancestry, that he, as a Brit, was genetically speaking, far closer to being a " Redneck" than I would ever be.
Yup, my experiences (12+ years) in higher ed made me realize that most academics hold positions that they insist are "intellecutal," ie the product of hard and regular thought and experience, but in reality prove to be ossified emotions from their 20s that make them feel better about themselves by insisting they are superior to everyone else.
The insight that my career would could easily hinge on how I made someone "feel" vice my actual abilities made me run for the hills (the Sandias in this case), taking employment outside of higher ed.
The Brit seems to have missed out on the critical thinking portion of his education. He missed out on manners too.
Tom, I'm very glad you have moved to the midwest to be among the "unwashed masses". I've been reading and following you for over a year and one thing shines through - you are a real person, family man, person of faith, brilliant in your field and repository of some common sense too!
The ivory tower set, as evidenced by the British anthropologist, do not give the common man any credit. He would be shocked to know that "hicks-who-can-read" are able to educate themselves by reading voraciously and identifying those who make sense, such as Thomas P. Barnett.
Keep up the good work. The rubes are watching!
One thought on your muslim participant. Could it be that he has been socialized to insist on his true muslim nature this much for good reason? If you're in fear that somebody's going to issue a fatwa for being a collaborator/apostate/tool of the joooos it's not too surprising that you spend a considerable time avoiding that fate whether the actual danger is real or not.
So, what would be the counter-part "Civil Threat Reduction Agency" be???
Did C-Span cover this? I hope so, I would love to hear the exchanges. If C-Span covers any of your excursions to DC please let us know. Thanks
Diane Clark
One of the great unwashed masses
PS: See what happens to your status when you move to the middle!
Heh. Bury the hatchet.
(first time) -- Have heard of you slightly before; hope to come back.
I keep trying, at Marc Cooper (Bush hater who also hates Kerry and many Dems), to focus on policy and results.
In 1972, anytime after Tet or after Cronkite gave up, the choice was more war or leave; war or letting N. Vietnamese win; war or accepting genocide. Even Kerry admitted that thousands would be murdered if the US left (he said 2-3000; in Senate testimony).
War or genocide -- the Left supported the US out now; the victory of the commies; the genocide after commie victory.
I think Bush should re-fight the Vietnam war's history. We weren't "beaten", we decided it wasn't worth fighting. And all we had to do to win was wait 15 more years (1974-1989) -- but Dems are too impatient.