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| Fifth Column |
| Edward Said diagnosed with rigor mortis |
| 2003-09-25 |
| Edward W. Said, a Columbia University professor and leading spokesman in the United States for the Palestinian cause, has died, his editor at Knopf publishers said Thursday. He was 67. Said died at a New York hospital, said editor Shelly Wanger. He had suffered from leukemia at least since the early 1990s. Don’t remember the leukemia being mentioned in the press before now. Born in 1935 in Jerusalem — then part of British-ruled Palestine — Said spent almost all his adult life in the United States. He wrote passionately about the Palestinian cause [and threw rocks at Israel] but also on a variety of other subjects — from English literature, his academic specialty, to music and culture. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #15 This guy will be revered, short-term, by the left. But give it a few years. His writing and his philosophy is bankrupt and based on a fantasy world that he himself has acknowledged does not exist. He'll be forgotten in a year. |
| Posted by: R. McLeod 2003-9-26 2:30:23 AM |
| #14 Said discussed his cancer on Charlie Rose about a year ago, and I recall Rose mentioning that Said had been afflicted with cancer for some years, so Rose clearly had known about it for some time prior. |
| Posted by: beckett 2003-9-26 1:00:24 AM |
| #13 Somebiody pull my finger so that I can honor his passing with some passing of my own. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-9-25 10:44:04 PM |
| #12 Like Arafat, Said claimed to have been born in Jerusalem, but in fact both were Egyptians. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-9-25 9:31:27 PM |
| #11 Fred: Jeez, Didn't even know he was sick... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-9-25 9:30:09 PM |
| #10 tu - Rigor mortis is your body's little way of telling you you're dead. |
| Posted by: Fred 2003-9-25 9:19:46 PM |
| #9 headline : 9.8 |
| Posted by: eyeyeye 2003-9-25 9:00:31 PM |
| #8 Rigor mortis? That's not good, right? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-9-25 7:54:56 PM |
| #7 Re: Turki's comments, they've still got Fouad Ajami & Makiya haven't they? Or are they both persona non grata now, Ajami for supporting the invasion of Iraq & Makiya for the heinous crime of contrasting Arab outrage over Israeli behaviour in the OTs with Arab silence over Saddam's persecution of the Kurds? Arik may not be the most pleasant human being around, but I don't recall him using nerve agents on civilians, but maybe I'm just being forgetful? |
| Posted by: Dave 2003-9-25 4:50:03 PM |
| #6 He had suffered from leukemia at least since the early 1990s. That's the official story anyway..... |
| Posted by: Charles 2003-9-25 3:52:42 PM |
| #5 What the obits haven't mentioned is that Said was the President of the Modern Language Association during a period when they adopted a mind bogglingly complicated and absurd system delineating exactly how and why footnotes, endnotes, references, etc should be cited. Even if he wasn't an apologist for terrorism, I would hate him. |
| Posted by: mhw 2003-9-25 2:30:31 PM |
| #4 From the longer wire-service version of this report: Turki al-Hamad, a prominent Saudi intellectual and writer, called [Said's] death a great loss. "We need intellectuals like Edward Said, especially at this stage we are going through," al-Hamad said. "We Arabs are not rich in such kind of intellectual thinking. He leaves a huge gap in our intellectual life." Emphasis added. No comment necessary. |
| Posted by: Mike 2003-9-25 12:50:36 PM |
| #3 Fred's headline is better than my original. Brace yourselves--the hagiography is about to start on the left: St. Edward of Said, the tireless freedom fighter, champion of his people, friend to children, brilliant avante garde jazz composer, inventor of the automatic dishwasher, who never met a man he didn't like (except for Jews, of course), . . . . |
| Posted by: Mike 2003-9-25 12:29:29 PM |
| #2 Ditto, Frank. One of the original self-haters, he lived in a TFBS* romanticized Arabian phantasy of his own design and provided the current crop of phools and apologists with much of the raw material for their screed. Glad to hear the bubble finally burst. * TFBS - Total Fucking BullShit |
| Posted by: .com 2003-9-25 12:19:05 PM |
| #1 Good riddance, and no, I don't feel the least bit bad for saying so. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-9-25 11:50:29 AM |