History Is Written By Those Who Win

Appeals To The Past Are Among The Commonest Of Strategies In Interpretations Of The Present.

Orientalism Can Be Discussed And Analyzed As The Corporate Institution For Dealing With The Orient—dealing With It By Making Statements About It, Authorizing Views Of It, Describing It, By Teaching It, Settling It, Ruling Over It: In Short, Orientalism As A Western Style For Dominating, Restructuring, And Having Authority Over The Orient.

I Emphasize In It [my Orientalism] Accortdingly That Neither The Term Orient Nor The Concept Of The West Has Any Ontological Stability; Each Is Made Up Of Human Effort, Partly Affirmation, Partly Identification Of The Other.

Note That There Was No Claim For These Attacks [on 9/11]. There Were No Demands. There Were No Statements. It Was A Silent Piece Of Terror.

Take A Young Man From Gaza Living In The Most Horrendous Conditions - Most Of It Imposed By Israel - Who Straps Dynamite Around Himself And Then Throws Himself Into A Crowd Of Israelis. I've Never Condoned Or Agreed With It, But At Least It Is Understandable As The Desperate Wish Of A Human Being Who Feels Himself Being Crowded Out Of Life And All Of His Surroundings, Who Sees His Fellow Citizens, Other Palestinians, His Parents, Sisters, And Brothers, Suffering, Being Injured, Or Being Killed. He Wants To Do Something, To Strike Back.