The Paradox of Edward Said

To me, Edward Said is more than controversial. He is a repugnant figure who has been in the legislative wing of a terrorist entity that has killed members of my family. Not only is he vigorously anti-Israel and Anti-Semitic, but he is also a hypocrite.

Let me explain, throughout the literature of the Anti-Zionist perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict the authors dive deep into orientalist mindset, only from the perspective of the Arab countries toward the Jews. To them, Jews are the other, the lesser people, the ones without agency. Their power is taken away in a system similar to the structures taking away the power of the East in the West.

Perhaps the best example of this is written by Edward Said himself, “Zionism from the Standpoint of its Victims.” This piece of academia, in addition to being filled with factual inaccuracies of and logical fallacies, displays Jews in a truly orientalist mindset.

To demonstrate this we must first define what an “orientalist mindset” is. First, it must be pervasive throughout an entire culture. This view is in no uncertain terms. In a majority of Arab countries, in which a majority of these authors either reside or are from, Jews are the devil of the world. They are the other to the Arab’s not other in just the same way that the East is the other to the West’s not other. Said plays into this fact with his description of Zionists throughout his piece.

Said also takes away the agency of the Jews in this literature in just the same way that most western literature describes the east as people to be subjugated by the west. He places them in one of two boxes, either servants of the Europeans with no agency at all or bloodthirsty savages lusting for the land and heads of Arabs. This portrait of the Jew is typical of this literature and fits perfectly into the orientalist mindset.

Finally, throughout this essay he bends the facts of the story in a way to tear down the accomplishments of the Jews in a way similar to western literature demeaning the east. He takes away any claim they have to the land of Israel painting them only as conquerors of the land. He goes back from before contemporary time to when the Arabs owned the land instead of the British or Jews, but conveniently stops before going to when the Jews own it. He also brushes over the violent and hateful acts the Arabs of this land perpetrated on the Jews when they were living in harmony.

Said when he is writing this essay ignores his own ideas and paints the story of the Zionist movement in an orientalist mindset simply one oriented to put the Arab world in power.

Obviously, this is a minuscule look at a 50 page essay that is truly disgusting and filled with factual inaccuracies and failures of logic at every turn. I encourage everyone to read the full essay here.