Discussion over the war in the Middle East and the situation in Gaza is a complicated and emotionally charged topic, but retired sociology professor Fred Pincus is working to bring a conversation about the war’s impacts on the U.S. to the minds of Baltimore community members with a new course at Towson University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.
Pincus’ course, “The Impact of the Gaza War on the United States,” is set to begin over Zoom on Oct. 13 and will consist of four 75-minute discussion sessions centered around key questions on the role of the U.S. in the war, Zionism, antisemitism and more.
The idea to teach a course about the war came to Pincus, a founding member of the Baltimore Jewish Cultural Chavurah, several months ago.
He began collecting materials, public opinion polls and more to create his course and provide people with accurate information while trying to remove as much bias as possible.
“This is an incredibly controversial topic, and it’s almost impossible to be totally objective in people’s minds, even about the history. And so I thought what I would try to do is outline some of the controversies that exist and try to be as accurate as possible in presenting various sides,” Pincus said.
Pincus said he tells his students where he stands on issues before class begins and lets them determine at the end of his class how he did at fairly presenting opposing viewpoints.
Pincus said that his goal with this course is to give people a greater understanding of the current societal situation around the war in Gaza within the U.S. borders with the hope that people will walk away more willing to listen to each other.
“This [war] is a pretty controversial thing, particularly among us Jews. And I guess what I found is that a lot of people don’t listen to and understand where people they disagree with are coming from. I wanted people to be clearer about different sides of the various issues,” Pincus said. “That’s why I steered clear of talking about Israeli politics, because that’s not my area of expertise, but I could talk about how, in the U.S., Democrats and Republicans differ and Jews and non-Jews differ.”
Pincus said that he wants to show the controversies around the war that exist within the American public and the Jewish community, as well as discuss political parties and their overlapping but shifting support of Israel, and more.
“[I’ll] try to show the pro-Israeli side and the pro-Palestinian side, and talk about, particularly about the pro-Palestinian side, what does it mean? Is anti-Zionism really antisemitism? Or are they critical of Israeli policy, but not Jews? Or are all Jews in the United States responsible for what is going on in Israel? [The answer is] No. And I’ll explore some of the arguments that different sides have made,” Pincus said.
This class is far from Pincus’ first at Osher. He said that all the classes that he’s taught over the years have been controversial, with that experience coming in handy for this upcoming course.
Pincus also has 44 years of experience as a sociology professor at UMBC and said that he feels comfortable teaching these controversial courses.
Pincus said that an important part of the course will be a 20-minute discussion period at the end of every session in which people can work through some of the concepts they covered during the lesson.
He added that he typically pauses his lessons after speaking about a topic for a short while and asks people if they have any questions, but this style allows for a more interactive and engaged class.
“I have my notes that I consult so I don’t wander off on tangents, but I really dislike courses where people just read to me. I find it boring and hard to maintain attention,” Pincus said.
Pincus also spoke about how he plans to keep the class focused and respectful as they cover a topic with so much history and emotion behind it.
“I will cut people off if they start using rhetoric and hurling insults at people. I just say that’s just not acceptable. Try to reformulate your theories in one way or another,” Pincus said. “[And] if people are straying and [start talking about] ‘in the sixth century, this happens,’ I say that’s not what we’re talking about here; let’s keep the focus on how it impacts the United States. Usually that kind of approach works well, and I expect it to work this time.”
bhamelin@midatlanticmedia.com
