Matthew Yglesias, from his perch at the Atlantic, does its reputation a disservice when he creates a straw man argument rather than demonstrate integrity. Either purposely or carelessly, he misstates my argument about the Middle East Studies Associaiton (MESA) and then responds to his own straw man argument.

According to his summary, I criticized MESA “for being worried about Israeli human rights violations but ignoring problems in other countries.” No, Matthew. I criticized MESA for ignoring the case of Salman Rushdie, “not problems in other countries.” And, in my last two postings (here’s the other one ), I cited MESA’s cases from this month only so it’s a bit silly to bring in examples of their criticism of Saudi Arabia in April. How about some honesty and accuracy amidst your polemic?

Indeed, Matthew, let’s have something positive from your mistake: Now that you’ve re-read my piece, don’t you agree that MESA, given how wide it now considers its mandate to highlight academic freedom, should condemn those calling for the murder of writers and with a demonstrated record of being willing to act on their calls? And don’t you agree that consistency in the defense of free speech would benefit MESA’s credibility?