I've gotten a lot of response to the post taking on Ezra Klein on whether you pay a career price for criticizing Israel. Here are two responses.
1. A hip young friend:
latching on to a deep emotional offense in their responses, but
consider for a moment the cultural and political ramifications of
training ourselves to think this way. If there is a no man behind the curtain, imagine the possibilities.
Personally, I think there is such a man, but he's way less powerful
than everyone thinks. We could do ourselves a service by starting to
act like he's just not as powerful. I.E., let's just claim victory all
over the place!"
I take this man's point. You have to visualize your own reality. You can't give too much power to your adversaries. Then you change the world. Be nimble, because the world is changing. All true. (And yet also true: I'm an experienced journalist, I've done this blog for nearly 3 years and made virtually nothing doing it, been asked to leave a few parties because of my ideas, strained my marriage because of lack of income.)
2. M.J. Rosenberg:
But only because Bill Moyers is huge and his show is independently
financed. They went after Steve Walt big time because of the book and
his new FP gig does not mean he has come out unscathed. Even President Carter is
a pariah within the Democratic party for one reason — he criticizes
Israel. The label "anti-semite" is a bomb and it is used to damage
anyone who deviates from the line.
You mention the Jewish leaders who are bold on other
human rights issues but timid on Israel. But even they don't
necessarily believe the line they put out but are constrained by fear
of losing
their jobs. They
are afraid of offending the lobby and its friends (and the boards that
pay their salaries).
I shoot my mouth off pretty much without fear. But I am 60. My kids
are grown and I am not poor. If I was 40, I' might keep my mouth shut.
When I was under 40, William Safire called to threaten me (he said he'd expose me in the Times as an enemy of Israel) at the behest of AIPAC and Bibi Netanyahu. That was because my boss, Sen. Carl Levin,
had mildly criticized Israel and I had authored his words. Safire was
vicious and I was plenty scared. I didn't back down but there
is something horrifying when the top columnist of the New York Times threatens to destroy a rather insignificant Congressional aide for insufficient devotion to the Likud party. I am certainly not the only one he tried to shut down that way.
Safire is old and out of the business but his successors smear on. (Marty Peretz, Alan Dershowitz, and Ed Koch
remain hard at work suppressing dissent and dissenters on this issue.
And then there is the official lobby itself to keep Congress in line).
Ezra is young. And his career will, I predict, take him to heights
where he may be untouchable. But, if he wants to be absolutely sure
that he will reach those heights, he may want to play ball.
Caveat:
The good news is that the Gaza war changed the terrain for the
better, not to mention the election of a President whose supporters are
not exactly AIPAC.
The caveat is accepted. (Phil Weiss)
Good for you, Mr. Rosenberg! Did you read the post further down on Phil's homepage about the Swedish company that just killed a 10-year 3.5 billion contract with a French company that is also doing business with Israel?
Other countries are taking note. When I call my young nieces in another country and hear them expressing utter disgust at what Israel did, that is a sea-change. These kids dont know from anything but clothes. There was real vitriol in their voices and statements. I've never heard them say a single word about politics or world events before. But they get to watch Al-Jazeera and the BBC and and Channel 4 (better than BBC) on satellite.
What about the health risks? And risks to loved ones?
From Niqnaq, another vignette of Israeli society. (File this alongside the picnickers on the hills overlooking the Gazan killing fields.)
Israeli celebrities are, naturally, mounting a benefit concert for the people they just bombed. One of them ("Noa") sent the following letter to the people she claims to care about–
"Today, I know that deep in your hearts you wish for the demise of this beast called Hamas who has terrorized and murdered you, who has turned Gaza into a trash heap of poverty, disease and misery. Who in the name of “Allah” has sacrificed you on the bloody alter of pride and greed. I can only wish for you that Israel will do the job we all know needs to be done, and finally rid you of this cancer, this virus, this monster called fanaticism, today, called Hamas. And that these killers will find what little compassion may still exist in their hearts and STOP using you and your children as human shields for their cowardice and crimes."
The Israelis are now as stupid as the Americans were jingoistically calling for Iraqi heads.
One wonders how long a society can survive whose denizens are so out of touch with reality. Blaming the victims has of course been the Israeli specialty for a long time but this letter takes it to a new height.
It could have been written by, let us say, the UFA star Marika Roeck to the few survivors of Lidice, Putten or Oradour.
It could but it wasn't because even the Germans hadn't lost their head to such a frightening extent.
********************************************
San Francisco Chronicle Fires Reporter For Attending Peace Protest
by Amy Goodman and Henry Norr – Published on April 24, 2003 by Democracy Now!
…..Amy Goodman: Were you also active on Israel/Palestine issues and what has been the response of the paper? Do you think that has weighed in at all?
Henry Norr: …..there was another thing last summer I wrote in my technology column. I wrote a column about a $2 billion dollar, state of the art, high-tech factory that Intel owns in Israel. I wrote about the history of the land that that factory is on and about the Palestinian villagers that were there before…..
……Needless to say – actually I got a tremendous amount of support. I was amazed. Most of the email I got about the column was supportive and appreciative. But the local pro-Israeli Zionist lobby was outraged and the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco, which is kind of the cheerleader coordinator for those forces apparently, was outraged and, I found out later because nobody at the Chronicle told me, but apparently they came and demanded an immediate meeting to object to my column…….
…….And that of course infuriated the Likkud lobby and so on. And eventually I was told this was an inappropriate topic and I wasn’t supposed to write such things anymore……"
ENTIRE TRANSCRIPT OF 'DEMOCRACY NOW' INTERVIEW – link to commondreams.org
I am a writer. My major free lance work was rejected in the late '70s. I was told point blank by my jewish agent that, although it was great, nobody will publish it as it has no sacred cows. "Before your book will be published the Ayatollah Kommeni (sic) and Menachim Begin (sic) will sit down and have tea together." It was a novel about growing up in America. It dealt with jewish characters the same as other characters. This has been going on a long time.
I can paper my walls with the rejection slips to this effect.
It dealt with jewish characters the same as other characters. This has been going on a long time.
In effect, then, non-Jewish Americans have suffered for decades what Jews suffered for seven years before WWII.
Israel Has Fewer Friends Than Ever, Even In America
By Rod Nordland | NEWSWEEK (International Edition)
Published Jan 24, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Feb 2, 2009
http://www.newsweek.com/id/181329
It's scary just posting here.
Roundtable Discussion With Bernard Madoff
It's scary just posting here.
Posted by: anonymous | January 24, 2009 at 10:38 PM
—–
I often wonder if it wouldn't have been better to do all my posting anonymously (after it was too late).
I've experienced a small amount of harassment by persistent sayan but have always been willing to stand by my words. I've developed a record of continuity that I think is more important than giving in to Zionist thugs and bullies. At least no one's bombing me with white phosphorous or high explosives or bulldozing me in my home (yet).
Their very purpose is to create a climate of fear and second-guessing for one's safety and security. To give in to that ensures that they win. They still might, but it won't be because people did not make attempts to collectively make a stand.
Thoughtful and courageous individuals have allowed others to find their voice as well. There's no backing down now.
Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.
~
Here is a remark from MJ that I think perfectly illustrates the continuing delusions of grandeur uf the jewish-american middle class :
Ezra is young. And his career will, I predict, take him to heights where he may be untouchable.
"Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.
Posted by: LanceThruster ">>>>>>>>>>>>
Damn right.
"The good news is that the Gaza war changed the terrain for the better … "
I get the point of this argument, but I hate the smug way it's expressed. As if the horror of Gaza can be construed as "good news" in any manner. Terrible phrasing.
To put it another way, name for me the the multitude of critics of Israel that now work in the economic/academic/political etc. power structure in any of the lapdog nations.
p.s. why am I being persecuted, why have you taken away my rpeview button? :-)
Is Bill Moyers really trying to shed light on things and help the Palestinians when he writes:
"Every nation has the right to defend its people. Israel is no exception, all the more so because Hamas would like to see every Jew in Israel dead."
That is an outrageous lie, and it was printed prominently in the New York Times op-ed. This comes directly from the Zionist playbook: Even those who seem to "support" the Palestinian cause end up reinforcing Zionist stereotypes and lies about them.
Does Moyers really believe that Hamas "would like to see every Jew in Israel dead?" Why would he write something like that? Is he really trying to disseminate truth about this issue, or is he just one more "agent of the cause" secretly at work in the press?
I would like to give Moyers the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps he's just misinformed about Hamas. That could certainly be the case, being that virtually no truthful information gets through the Western media in regards to them (although that is beginning to change, albeit slowly).
I cringed when I heard that sentence out of Moyers mouth, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt, that he needed that armor against the inevitable smears.
To MJ.
Its not just Israel that rationally causes 40 year-olds to not shoot their mouths off.
There are a thousand potential topics of irritation to one's higher ups and peers.
God! are you still here, Witty? Why don't you go off and find something useful to do?
Yeah, like read this guide to the perplexed on the Madoff affair:
http://www.rense.com/general84/madof.htm
(Madoff: "There's a natural tug to get the best deal for yourself, which naturally comes at the expense of the one on the other side of the deal or business transaction. So I just took the human equation out of my transactions by using computer logarithms."
The poetry of the Madoff Affair:
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/12/the-madoff-victims-they-richly-deserved-it/
As a fan of Ezra Klien (and 'the Juicebox Mafia'), I wondered about his optimism when he posted a couple of days ago. I thought most people's experiences were very, very different from the position he is in. After all, academics like Norman Finklestein get kicked out of their tenure track careers because of the efforts of Alan Dershowitz and his ilk. NPR ran a mildly sympathetic piece about Palestinians a couple of years ago–I think it was a Boston affiliate–and a number of their donors/underwriters threatened to pull funding (they didn't want to fund 'anti-semitic rants).
But things may be changing. Klein & Co. are part of new media and are speaking in the time of projects like J Street. They're also less likely to feel the impact of such name calling considering how the MSM and traditional print outlets are losing control of the messages. If you add the emergence of international media like Al-Jazeera English (which had a 600% rise in its viewership during the Gaza war) becoming an alternative for both consumers and journalists, these voices will be heard with less fear of retribution.
well, neither J Street nor al Jazeera could exactly be described as 'radical'.
Great lecture on C-Span2 BookTV available to watch here:
Palestine Inside and Out: An Everyday Occupation by Saree Makdisi
This is a professor from UCLA who happens to be on the list of "radical" professors (surprise, surprise!).
He talks about all the red tape hurdles a typical Palestinian goes through (and these are the peaceful ones Israel says don't exist) and how it is used for further land theft.
Ex. You have to get endless permits to farm the land, individual permits for each worker, each tractor, each mule, and endless barriers trying to go through the process to even get to the govt office to get the permits (often denied for no reason, or told to come back later via checkpoints that are permanently closed to you out of spite), and the policy of taking the land if it is not 'worked' (gee, maybe someone spends all his time trying to get the proper permits?), or taken away if it is worked anyway w/o said permits (they do the same thing with building permits).
This show really ticked me off because I am a mess with the regular permit and paperwork process. I'd be catatonic if I had to go through this at all, let alone on a continuous basis.
~
"…So I just took the human equation out of my transactions by using computer logarithms."
A logarithm is another way of writing a number, any number.
You can multiply or divide numbers by adding or subtracting the logarithms of the numbers.
The logarithm of a number is the power that ten has to be raised to in order to obtain the said number.
e.g the log of 100 is 2, that is, ten raised to the power of 2 (ten squared) equals 100.
An algorithm, well that is sort of like a recipe, you know, do this, then do that, then do something else.
I think I see now one of the reasons why Bernie went broke.