From Ron Rosenbaum at Slate:
Paul Berman’s new book exhibits the same dedication to moral clarity on these questions demonstrated in his earlier Terror and Liberalism.
Mais oui, the clarity that he demonstrated when he defended the assault on Gaza’s civilian population under the rubric of fighting anti-Semitism. Though in his defense he had been silent on the siege of Gaza.
Berman’s book will likely provoke bouts of rage, praise, and condemnation in print and online. In doing so, his book will remind us that those old Partisan Review smack-downs raised questions that have evolved and mutated but remain unresolved: Is there a paradox at the heart of Enlightenment values? Should a belief in "tolerance" extend to the intolerant? Must Enlightenment values stop short of challenging multicultural values?
Does this apply to Israel? Should we tolerate an intolerant polity or state? Is there a tribalism that is masked by his high-falutin Enlightenment talk that privileges his tribe over a neighbouring tribe? The answer is once again: mais oui.
J’aime Paul Berman, c’est un pompous windbag who personifies the decline of what passes for intellectual discourse in late imperial America.
