Better to remain silent

Hugh Hewitt and Rich Karlgaard have noted the tongue-tied response from certain precincts on the left to Israel’s efforts to defend itself. The University of Michigan’s Juan Cole, on the other hand, has not been silent, but when he opens his mouth he proves himself a fool. TigerHawk catches Cole in the act of being himself. The adage that it is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt may apply here.

JOHN adds: TigerHawk takes Cole to task for his suggestion that Israel’s bombardment of southern Lebanon “may be an element of ethnic cleansing” because it is forcing some Lebanese to evacuate that area and flee to Beirut or Syria. A simpler explanation, of course, would be that Israel is bombarding the South because that is the area that has been controlled by Hezbollah and from which rockets are being launched against Israel. Mr. Cole, meet Mr. Occam.

That’s not to mention the fact that the would-be ethnic cleansers of the Middle East are the radical Arabs whose stated goal is to drive infidels, including but not limited to Israeli Jews, from the region. But Cole is one of those lefties who never lets the facts get in the way.

The good news is, Yale wised up in time and didn’t hire Cole. The bad news is, Michigan is stuck with him.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses