Comments on: This Is Not A Photograph Tribal Society http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2009/11/29/this-is-not-a-photograph-tribal-society/ Wed, 05 Jan 2011 21:59:36 -0600 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: imc2009 http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2009/11/29/this-is-not-a-photograph-tribal-society/#comment-18083 imc2009 Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:12:41 +0000 http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/?p=5187#comment-18083 To be fair, Mr. Crank does say that he feels the *military* ignored the HTS paper, not the media. We will set aside comments about the military-media-industrial complex for another time. To be fair, Mr. Crank does say that he feels the *military* ignored the HTS paper, not the media. We will set aside comments about the military-media-industrial complex for another time.

]]> By: sean http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2009/11/29/this-is-not-a-photograph-tribal-society/#comment-18078 sean Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:18:51 +0000 http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/?p=5187#comment-18078 Something that is bothering me a lot these days is the question of "expertise" and the very low bar that has been set for knowledge of places like Afghanistan. It seems now that anyone and everyone who has an opinion about the place and has read the country's wikipedia page is suddenly some kind of an expert. (Although this is certainly not limited to Afghanistan, it applies just as much to the Middle east, for starters.) I remember you saying that you were on a panel talking on "the way forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan," but I can't imagine what would qualify you to be on a panel about a country you've visited for a couple of brief stints. And I'm not trying to pick on you here; there are all kinds of people talking a lot (and loudly) about Afghanistan who don't really seem to know much at all about the country. To illustrate my point, how many of the people writing and talking about Afghanistan do you think can speak <i>just one</i> of the country's languages? How many can even read a newspaper in Pashto or Dari? Again, I'm not trying to pick on you here, and I'm not saying that you need to be a specialist in Central Asian anthropology to report on Afghanistan, or at least not on American policy there. But I'm afraid what we're getting here is a complex country that's only being seen through an American military/security prism. We're allowing ourselves to be content with barstool anthropology, and it's going to come back and bite us in the ass. We've convinced ourselves that we have a clear understanding of the country, when the truth is that the average Afghan dirt farmer probably understands American politics and culture better than many of our so-called experts understand Afghanistan. Why aren't we hearing from actual specialists of the country? Why aren't we reading interviews with or commissioned op-eds from people like Olivier Roy or David Edwards? Something that is bothering me a lot these days is the question of “expertise” and the very low bar that has been set for knowledge of places like Afghanistan. It seems now that anyone and everyone who has an opinion about the place and has read the country’s wikipedia page is suddenly some kind of an expert. (Although this is certainly not limited to Afghanistan, it applies just as much to the Middle east, for starters.)

I remember you saying that you were on a panel talking on “the way forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” but I can’t imagine what would qualify you to be on a panel about a country you’ve visited for a couple of brief stints. And I’m not trying to pick on you here; there are all kinds of people talking a lot (and loudly) about Afghanistan who don’t really seem to know much at all about the country. To illustrate my point, how many of the people writing and talking about Afghanistan do you think can speak just one of the country’s languages? How many can even read a newspaper in Pashto or Dari?

Again, I’m not trying to pick on you here, and I’m not saying that you need to be a specialist in Central Asian anthropology to report on Afghanistan, or at least not on American policy there. But I’m afraid what we’re getting here is a complex country that’s only being seen through an American military/security prism. We’re allowing ourselves to be content with barstool anthropology, and it’s going to come back and bite us in the ass. We’ve convinced ourselves that we have a clear understanding of the country, when the truth is that the average Afghan dirt farmer probably understands American politics and culture better than many of our so-called experts understand Afghanistan.

Why aren’t we hearing from actual specialists of the country? Why aren’t we reading interviews with or commissioned op-eds from people like Olivier Roy or David Edwards?

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