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April 14, 2003MORON WATCH-- COLUMBIA'S TUITION IS HOW MUCH?Columbia University's Ass't Professor of Anthropology, Nicholas De Genova explains himself. ....Q. Your comment about wishing for "a million Mogadishus" has attracted the most attention. I read your letter in the "Columbia Daily Spectator," which gave some more context, but I have to confess I don't see how the context changes the meaning of that statement. A. I was referring to what Mogadishu symbolizes politically. The U.S. invasion of Somalia was humiliated in an excruciating way by the Somali people. And Mogadishu was the premier symbol of that. What I was really emphasizing in the larger context of my comments was the question of Vietnam and that historical lesson. ... What I was intent to emphasize was that the importance of Vietnam is that it was a defeat for the U.S. war machine and a victory for the cause of human self-determination. Q. I'm a little hazy on the rhetorical connection between Mogadishu and Vietnam. A. The analogy between Mogadishu and Vietnam is that they were defeats for U.S. imperialism and U.S. military action against people in poor countries that had none of the sophisticated technology or weaponry that the U.S. was able to mobilize against them. The analogy between Mogadishu and Iraq is simply that there was an invasion of Somalia and there was an invasion of Iraq. Posted at 06:28 PM by
 
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"The analogy between Mogadishu and Iraq is simply that there was an invasion of Somalia and there was an invasion of Iraq."
I read his interview, and that's the sentence that jumped out at me. The bad faith required to call the military intervention in Somalia an invasion is astonishing.
If it were an invasion, why would the U.S. have left after losing 18 men? Surely we would have pursued our objectives until we met them.
Posted by: IB Bill on April 14, 2003 09:22 PMDeGenova is one of the first of what I call the nadir-Marxists. These are GenX Marxists in academia, who received their indoctrination from Boomer Marxists in academia in the Eighties and Nineties, who received their indoctrination from the original generation of American Communists during the Sixties and Seventies. As with the children's game "Telephone," in passing over the generations, the message, such as it was, has lost "signal" and acquired layers of distortion until it no longer makes any sense even to the people who espouse it.
This is both good and bad news. The bad part is that these creatures still get an unnatural amount of attention and respect from the Old Media. The good part is that any young adult with three functioning brain cells will laugh them off and turn at once to something with actual, sensible content -- say, Metal Gear Solid II or the finale of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
Posted by: Francis W. Porretto on April 15, 2003 07:49 AM
Posted by: RUTH KING on April 15, 2003 10:21 PMThat "victory for the cause of human self-determination" might come as a bit of a surprise to several hundred thousand "boat people" who fled Vietnam in the aftermath of America's withdrawal.
All rhetoric aside, the guy's still an asshole.
Posted by: GORDON on April 17, 2003 01:13 AM