Deepa Kumar is an associate professor of Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University. She is relatively well known in the world of academic leftism, having given speeches, penned numerous articles and essays, and written two books – Outside the Box: Corporate Media, Globalization, and the UPS Strike, and Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire.
As her writings and Twitter timeline suggest, Kumar holds views that are anti-American, anti-Israel, and also Marxist in nature.
For starters, she claimed that the United States is more brutal than ISIS. Why? Because we have killed more people in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan:
Well Professor Kumar, that’s like saying a person who accidentally killed two people in a car crash is more “brutal” than someone who violently murdered an innocent to death. Civilian causalities are not intentional, and the acts of genocide, burning alive, and be-heading people on purpose are far more brutal than the actions of our military.
The only thing keeping the ISIS body-count down is a lack of ability, not of will. Thankfully, they lack the same technology and man power that our military has.
Continuing, in an article from December 2014, which was written in response to another activist’s critique of her ideas, Professor Kumar went after what she calls “imperial feminism” in Afghanistan.
Essentially, she is suggesting that pointing out the oppression of Afghani women helps the West’s ‘imperial’ efforts. Specifically, she says that it helps to “enable empire.” Hence, what appears to be true feminism – trying to advance oppressed women in the world – is done with imperialist motives. Here’s the excerpt:
"...A wikileaks exposé of a CIA red cell propaganda memo shows the spy agency advising European governments on how the suffering of Afghan women might bolster flagging public support for NATO occupation of Afghanistan. They state that “initiatives that create media opportunities for Afghan women to share their stories with French, German, and other European women could help to overcome pervasive skepticism among women in Western Europe.” This is not new. Colonialism has historically relied on native spokespersons and native collaborators to ideologically secure the colonial mission.
This is not to suggest that Afghan women who speak of the atrocities faced by the Taliban are automatically “native informants” or collaborators with empire. Women have a right to speak out about their oppression no matter where they are located. However, there are those who either consciously or inadvertently enable empire...”
Yup. Pointing out that the United States and allied forces may actually be helping women escape a horrible fate under the Taliban is wrong, since it could lead to people agreeing with the philosophical underpinnings of Western involvement overseas.
But why let her passive attitude towards Islamic-fascism end there. In a tweet from last summer, she suggested that Hamas doesn’t hold blame for the conflict that erupted between Israel and the terrorist organization:
What’s wrong with blaming Hamas? What rational person would possibly disagree with assigning at least some blame to them? Why is it “sad” that liberals place blame on a terrorist organization?
If this weren’t enough, Professor Kumar is also an environmental-Marxist:
And to top it all off, this “academic” actively opposes the free exchange of ideas on college campuses. She was one of the organizers of the campaign that pressured Condoleezza Rice out of her commencement speech at Rutgers last year.
Secretary Rice is a brilliant and accomplished woman who could have shared her wisdom with students. However, the good Professor couldn’t let that happen, since it would have gone against her own world view, and potentially expose students to a different perspective:
As a side note, it’s hilarious that Ms. anti-empire would go on Russia Today, the direct propaganda arm of a mad man with true imperial ambitions.
These attitudes are sadly common among contemporary university faculty. Be aware, because this is what your tax dollars and tuition are paying for.