Edward Said Quotes (Page 2)

Edward Said Literary Theorist, Critic, and Author

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"In short, Israel is the measure of our failings and our incompetence. We have waited for a great leader for years, but none came; we have waited for a mighty military victory, but we were defeated roundly; we have waited for outside powers (the United States or, in its time, the Soviet Union), but none came to our aid. The one thing we have not tried in all seriousness has been to rely on OURSELVES: until we do that with a full commitment to success there is no chance that we can advance towards self-determination and freedom from aggression."

Determination Military Commitment

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Edward Said Literary Theorist, Critic, and Author

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"Part of the main plan of imperialism... is that we will give you your history, we will write it for you, we will re-order the past...What's more truly frightening is the defacement, the mutilation, and ultimately the eradication of history in order to create... an order that is favorable to the United States."

Writing Past Order

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Edward Said Literary Theorist, Critic, and Author

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"Refuse to allow yourself to become a vegetable that simply absorbs information, pre-packaged, pre-ideologized , because no message.. is anything but an ideological package that has gone through a kind of processing."

Vegetables Gone Information

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Edward Said Literary Theorist, Critic, and Author

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"I have never known what is Arabic or English, or which one was really mine beyond any doubt. What I do know, however, is that the two have always been together in my life, one resonating in the other, sometimes ironically, sometimes nostalgically, most often each correcting, and commenting on, the other. Each can seem like my absolutely first language, but neither is."

Two Doubt Together

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Edward Said Literary Theorist, Critic, and Author

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"They [root causes of terror] come out of a long dialectic of U.S. involvement in the affairs of the Islamic world, the oil-producing world, the Arab world, the Middle East - those areas that are considered to be essential to U.S. interests and security."

Islamic Oil Roots

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Edward Said Literary Theorist, Critic, and Author

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"I am for peace. And I am for a negotiated peace. But this accord is not a just peace."

Accord Global Issues

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Edward Said Literary Theorist, Critic, and Author

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"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."

Brother Men Israel

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Edward Said Literary Theorist, Critic, and Author

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"In the Islamic world, the U.S. is seen in two quite different ways. One view recognizes what an extraordinary country the U.S. is.The other view is of the official United States, the United States of armies and interventions. The United States that in 1953 overthrew the nationalist government of Mossadegh in Iran and brought back the shah. The United States that has been involved first in the Gulf War and then in the tremendously damaging sanctions against Iraqi civilians. The United States that is the supporter of Israel against the Palestinians."

Country War Islamic

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Edward Said Literary Theorist, Critic, and Author

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"There isn't a clear goal in sight. Osama bin Laden's organization has spun out from him and is now probably independent of him. There will be others who will appear and reappear. This is why we need a much more precise, a much more defined, a much more patiently constructed campaign, as well as one that surveys not just the terrorists' presence but the root causes of terrorism, which are ascertainable."

Independent Clear Goals Sight

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Edward Said Literary Theorist, Critic, and Author

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"All knowledge that is about human society, and not about the natural world, is historical knowledge, and therefore rests upon judgment and interpretation. This is not to say that facts or data are nonexistent, but that facts get their importance from what is made of them in interpretation… for interpretations depend very much on who the interpreter is, who he or she is addressing, what his or her purpose is, at what historical moment the interpretation takes place."

Historical Knowledge Data Purpose

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Edward Said Literary Theorist, Critic, and Author

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"... the connection between imperial politics and culture is astonishingly direct. American attitudes to American "greatness", to hierarchies of race, to the perils of "other" revolutions (the American revolution being considered unique and somehow unrepeatable anywhere else in the world) have remained constant, have dictated, have obscured, the realities of empire, while apologists for overseas American interests have insisted on American innocence, doing good, fighting for freedom."

Attitude Fighting Reality

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"Just as none of us is outside or beyond geography, none of us is completely free from the struggle over geography. That struggle is complex and interesting because it is not only about soldiers and cannons but also about ideas, about forms, about images and imaginings."

Struggle Ideas Interesting

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"What is quite worrisome is the absence of analysis and reflection. Take the word "terrorism." It has become synonymous now with anti-Americanism, which, in turn, has become synonymous with being critical of the United States, which, in turn, has become synonymous with being unpatriotic. That's an unacceptable series of equations."

Reflection United States Analysis

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Edward Said Literary Theorist, Critic, and Author

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"I have been unable to live an uncommitted or suspended life. I have not hesitated to declare my affiliation with an extremely unpopular cause."

Causes Affiliation Uncommitted

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Edward Said Literary Theorist, Critic, and Author

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"I don't remember when exactly I read my first comic book, but I do remember exactly how liberated and subversive I felt as a result."

Book Firsts Remember

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Edward Said Literary Theorist, Critic, and Author

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"Look at situations as contingent, not as inevitable, look at them as the result of a series of historical choices made by men and women, as facts of society made by human beings, and not as natural or god-given, therefore unchangeable, permanent, irreversible."

Men Choices Made Historical

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"But I do not know whether the photograph can, or does, say things as they really are. Something has been lost. But the representation is all we have."

Doe Photograph Lost

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"It [9/11 event] was aimed at symbols: the World Trade Center, the heart of American capitalism, and the Pentagon, the headquarters of the American military establishment. But it was not meant to be argued with. It wasn't part of any negotiation. No message was intended with it. It spoke for itself, which is unusual."

Military Heart World

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"In the Islamic world, the U.S. is seen in two quite different ways. One view recognizes what an extraordinary country the U.S. is. Every Arab or Muslim that I know is tremendously interested in the United States. Many of them send their children here for education. Many of them come here for vacations. They do business here or get their training here. The other view is of the official United States, the United States of armies and interventions."

Country Children Islamic

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Edward Said Literary Theorist, Critic, and Author

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"In the Islamic world, the U.S. is seen in two quite different ways. One view recognizes what an extraordinary country the U.S. is."

Country Islamic Views

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Edward Said

Edward Said quotes (page 2 of 5)