What Am I? A Fact-Checker for US Media? I have other things to do, you know. It is tempting these days to subscribe--at least to a degree--to conspiracy theory, provided it is not of the kooky kind that sometimes appeals to people on the left and on the Islamic Fundamentalist bank. Lee Smith (who is always identified as somebody who is writing a "a book on Arab culture") is now writing for the New York Times. Mark my words: Michael Young will soon be writing for the New York Times. And the right-wing team will be complete, and they all know one another, and only interview one another: Lee Smith interviews Michael Young, and Hassan Fattah interviews Michael Young, and Young cites Fattah and Ajami, and Smith cites and interviews Michael Doran, and on and on and on. I once asked Lee Smith, who writes for Slate and who--I am not making this up--states categorically that the racist and unscholarly Raphael Patai (in his book the Savage Mind, I mean, The Arab Mind) is in fact quite "sympathetic" to Arab society in his book, whether he knows Arabic. He said that he took classes, or is taking classes, I do not remember, but that he does not read it. Is this not like me writing a book on Chinese culture? Today, he writes in the Times. It took him only a few sentences to make his first MAJOR mistake: he tells readers that Imam Husayn was killed in 656 AD, when anybody who reads the page on the Middle East in any world history book in high school knows that it was in 680AD. You may wonder why I bother? I do so only to urge you readers to shake your confidence in the reliability of what you read in this "respected" newspaper, the New York Times. People on the left should really read the book by right-wing reporter Bernard Golberg (Arrogance--his second book against the media). He makes an important point about the socio-economic elitism on the part of US mainstream media. He is right. There is an incestuous network in the media, they know one another, they travel together, and attend the same parties, and send their kids to the same school. Goldberg also makes that point. Today, Fareed Zakaria reviews Thomas Friedman's new book. These people are friends. What do you expect him to say about his friend? Friedman's book, in other news, is on the NYT best-seller list today. Also, notice in the aforementioned article by Smith that the Saudi King of Jordan, `Abdullah, is described as "progressive." Progressive? The king who designs electoral districts in order to strengthen the rule of the traditional clans and tribes to defeat progressive bonds and identities, and to stay in power? Progressive when he does not dare to go against the traditional misogynist traditions and practices because he wants to preserve his alliance with the "clans" to use against his opposition, as his father used it against Palestinians? Notice that Smith (who--in case you forgot--is writing a book on Arab culture) refers to Shi`ites in Lebanon as a special "ethnic" group perhaps not knowing that all Lebanese, regardless of sectarian affiliation, are all part of the same ethnic group. He also falsely says that most Lebanese are not willing to negotiate with Hizbullah, when even `Awn and Lebanese Forces are in favor of negotiation with Hizbullah. He also inflates the size of the Shi`ite in the population in Bahrain.