A black liberal academic discovers cosmopolitanism "light"
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[update monday: For all the glibness in tone of my own comments below, the tone of the Appiah's writing is worse. It's hard to define: a sort of credulous goodness of intention.
Some comments concerning intention on this post @ Balkinization.]


An old friend was staying with me over the holidays. She spent most of the 90's around the Gulf and has a lot of stories: Dubai and Bahrain; deserts and beaches; souks and the art of bargaining -"You both come away happy". She yells at her children -and at me- in Danish, Greek and Arabic. She's from Katonah. She talks about Riyadh during the scud attacks in the first Gulf war, and about running into one of the dozen or so call-girls flown in to entertain Schwarzkopf's boys @ CentCom.

We had a laugh over this, this morning in Arab News

One of the bad habits that our students take with them when they go abroad is the culture of sexual harassment. They cannot take this culture to America. American woman can easily report sexual harassment to authorities. Saudis that engage in sexual harassment can end up arrested, charged, jailed, and deported. In this system that often sides with the woman in sexual harassment cases, what do you think happens when the accused is an Arab?

Furthermore, Saudi students will face a justice system that doesn’t recognize the Saudi practice of “wasta” (connections with higher ups that can get you out of trouble with the law).

Read the whole thing. It's hilarious