Yesterday we gave Newsweek a wet kiss for publishing the Israel Project's sickmaking recommendations on how to sell settlements to the American public–the idea that removing them is "ethnic cleansing." Well I'm having weird feelings the morning after, cause here's Newsweek's article accompanying the scoop, by Dan Ephron. Best thing about it is the title: "Chosen Words," a beautiful play on the Chosen People. After that it's all downhill.
Ephron talked to Jennifer Laszlo-Mizrahi of the Israel Project, and he quoted TIP's pollster, Frank Luntz, a lot, from the document. Luntz wouldn't talk to him. But did he try and talk to an opponent of the Israel lobby? No. The piece refers to how Israel's supporters try to shape debate here; alright, but did he try and talk to John Mearsheimer and Steve Walt, who blew the bridge 3 years ago, so we can be having this conversation now? Makes me wonder, as usual, whether Luntz is Jewish, whether Ephron is Jewish, and how much Jewish-Zionist identity comes into play here. Imagine using kid gloves with the anti-abortion evangelicals.
(P.S. My headline is stolen from my old friend Paula Williamson, in Minnesota, whose grandmother used to use that expression when someone was giving her a pain in the behind.)
First his head and now his hinder. Not Phil's day.
My hinder makes my hinder tied!
Of course the named individuals are Jewish–any street person recognizes Luntz as a jew. Get real, Phil. You aren't street smart, but you're an insider. Why are you playing?
Did a post on the TIP's "Dictionary" here. The booklet flatly lies. It claims that Palestinians have demanded a land that is free from Jews, when the Palestinians have never made such a demand and are in fact on record as accepting that Jews could live in the future Palestinian state.
CORRECTION: My hinder makes my hinder tired! If it isn't one thing then it's another. Sometimes the hinder can be such a hindrance. PS. Of course, now Phil has replaced the hinder reference in the title with the namby-pamby notion. Journalists can be so tempermental!
They aren't lies. They're just 'talking points'. PS. I call it The Israel Project's 2009 Global Language "Fictionary"!
Hasbara buster. How do you distinguish sincere comments that contain some of the language of the TIP dictionary, and passively or actively propagandistic ones? You know that propaganda only appeals if there is some element of truth in the comments. So, to knee-jerk that every use of "Israel is a diverse society", is a paliative rather than a value to encourage, ends up just dismissing, rather than critically assessing.
He left in the parenthetical explanation at the bottom of his post, which is sure to cause confusion. All part of Phil's plan to plant the seeds of Chaos.
It is unsurprising TIP uses Frank Luntz services. There is a wonderful video of Frank on C-SPAN talking about how he wants to retire the term "offshore drilling" for the fuzzier "deep sea energy exploration". He then blatantly lies about the amount of oil spills from offshore drilling platforms during Katrina. It's classic Luntz obfuscation which the media celebrated for about a year while he did the promotion tour of his book "Words that Work".
Luntz is super-talented, and it's shameful to see his talents being used to prettify ethnic cleansing and the worst humanitarian disaster of our times. The Israel Project's Dictionary of Hasbara is a form of propaganda meant to manipulate the American public to continue funding the IDF's landgrab. Dan Ephron is pathetic. If you read the comments following the Newsweak article, you'll see that the readers are not falling for Ephron's own one-sided cheerleading of the Israel Project's nefarious talking points. He's roundly flamed, and deservedly so.
"makes me wonder, as usual, whether Luntz is Jewish, whether Ephron is Jewish, and how much Jewish-Zionist identity comes into play here." Phil's being cute. He knows full well both are Jewish. Or does he also wonder if Mearsheimer is Jewish? No. He knows equally well that Mister Mearsheimer is a German American, as well he knows Walt is married to a Jewish American woman. Anybody care to guess why Phil's being cute in this instance? Often he doesn't bother, and lays it right out.
Why Richard, Goebbels would agree with you completely. Certainly he was at least as internally conflicted as yourself, but like you, he finally shat and got off the pot. The diversity of Israel in hasbara context is a selling point to persuade the ignorant; it relies on the stone age Arab regimes to make its point–but OTH Israel is far removed from the accepted USA diversity values, yet it is sold as an equal, to horrible impact on the US and Palestinians. Your critique lacks honesty.
"Words that Work." By Orwell? BTW, why is it that when US K1-14 Education discusses Orwell it uses the NazI Germany context much more than the Bolshevik context?
Why do you think Luntz is "super-talented"? I don't see that at all. I see a mediocre guy working as a pollster. I've watched him and his programs for a long time. I'd like to know how he got in his current favored slot since he and his questions and facilitation of answers are so very mediocre. Any reader here, do you have a clue?