Twisted Logic

Some Americans are all in a tizzy about the opening of an Arabic-language public secondary school in Brooklyn. As for this column -- it appears that it was written by two different people, who then decided to combine their work and sign the new creation, "Daniel Pipes."

First, Pipes proclaims that the school is "a marvelous idea, for New York and the country need native-born Arabic speakers. They have a role in the military, diplomacy, intelligence, the courts, the press, the academy, and many other institutions...I am enthusiastic in principle about the idea of this school, one of the first of its kind in the United States." Well, great. And they all live happily ever after, right?

No, actually. Because in the next paragraph, Mr. Pipes announces that he opposes the school, "because Arabic-language instruction is inevitably laden with pan-Arabist and Islamist baggage." Excuse me? "Inevitably?" Does the Alef have some hypnotic power, which will turn me into a mindless lackey of Nasser and Sayyid Qutb?

Pipes then lists ways in which other Arabic instruction has had "pan-Arabist and Islamist baggage." Well, fine. I'm sure it has happened. But that's no reason to oppose this school. In fact, that's all the more reason to support its creation -- and make sure that it acts as a counterweight to the current situation. If pan-Arabists control Arabic language instruction, their grip needs to be broken somewhere. And, because Pipes praises the theoretical creation of an Arabic language school, surely he thinks that Islamic culture has more to offer the world than Islamist ideology and tired pan-Arabist slogans.