'The Arab Mind'

I have long found it amusing how the people most likely to denounce Edward Said's thesis in Orientalism routinely confirm that very thesis with their constant opining and alleged understanding of the "Arab" or the "Muslim."

The Patai stuff is just the most obvious marker here; examples abound in the neocon-o-sphere, not atypically in the reverence given to Bernard "22 August" Lewis.

ps - Said torched Lewis' critical style in this old Harper's essay. Well worth the read.