The Unholy Trinity

The Duisburger Institut für Sprach- und Sozialforschung (DISS) (Duisburg Institute for Language- and Social Studies), which is affiliated to Duisburg university and thus a recipient of public funds, is considered a vanguard for and paragon of politically correct discourse and stands for everything that is considered good and valiant in Germany: Fighting right wing extremism, fighting racism, fighting antisemitism, fighting right wing extremism oh yes, and did I mention fighting right wing extremism?

Such an unholy trinity suggests smokescreening per se and, to be blunt, to me it seems as if DISS is broaching the issue of right-wing antisemitism to deflect from the antisemitism of the Left.

Why do I think that? First, because anti-Zionist Moshe Zuckermann seems to blend in seamlessly with the otherwise laudable criticism of antisemitic clichés about Israel in the German media, but hey, maybe it's just intellectual sluttery.

What I find more conclusive (and, frankly, well nigh incredible) is the fact that one of the members of the DISS' advisory board is Irmgard Pinn.

Irmgard Pinn (born 1946) is a German sociologist who teaches in Germany and in Iran. She converted to Islam in 1981 and made herself known (or is it notorious?) as a fighter for the politically correct, anti-racist cause by defending the right of Muslim parents to keep their children away from school out of religious consideration. Pinn, too, denies any discrimination against women in Muslim countries. As sociologist and anti-racism researcher (whatever that is) she is fighting "resentment and prejudices" against Islam in Germany and the fact that it is still seen mainly as a Gastarbeiter ("guest worker") religion.

Her main point is that Germans who are wary of Islam "do not know nearly enough" about it, as if it weren't exactly that knowledge that makes them wary in the first place.

Here is the video of a German chat show that shows Pinn ("There is no Islam-problem, just a "money" problem." -- Hello Osama bin Laden!) debating Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

That Pinn woman has not just an attitude problem, she is, moreover, so inept and ham-fisted in expressing her views that, to me, it remains a miracle how she ever graded from a German university. (But then, did she? Her Wikipedia entry doesn't state any educational details.) I specifically liked the bit about her traumatic experiences as a student, when poor little she had to visit breweries and wineries where they forced alcohol down her throat at school trips, which serves as an excuse for her defending Muslim parents not letting their children attend such sinful happenings.

Searching the Internet for additional Pinn-isms, I happened to find this little gem at Qantara.de "Dialogue with the Islamic World":

An effective and, in my opinion, promising way of combating anti-Semitism and, indeed, any type of racism would be one that involves Muslims living in Germany and gives them an important role to play, e.g. as cultural interpreters.

Of course, Pinn is a sociologist and anti-racism researcher (whatever that is), not a historian. But oughtn't she explain how a bunch of backward Middle Easterners are supposed to culturally "interpret" between the Jews in Germany, who were present in the Teutonic realms, and busy contributing to and improving what little culture there was, already while most of the Teutons were still residing in mud huts, and same Teutons?

This sort of "antisemitism" (not "anti-Semitism" - there is no "Semitism") is about Ashkenazim, European, Jews, stupid! They had their last encounters with the children of Ishmael in biblical times. Oh and by the way ... antisemitism and racism are by far not the same. Oughtn't an "anti-racism researcher" know? But maybe the DISS-orientated institute from Duisburg is too busy interpreting the wondrous phenomenon Islam to an increasingly suspicious German audience to care for such mundane details.