Friday Thoughts (3)
Strangely enough, on a Sunday…
1. While waiting for the bus the other day, I spoke with the Binge Trader about his CIF latest. While taking his daily stroll to Bat Yam, he came across a couple of magavniks cuffing a young Israeli-Palestinian. After reading the piece, I thought Seth had made much ado about nothing. “He was only slapped around a little bit. I thought it was going to be like Rodney King or something,” I said. “That makes it alright, does it?” was the instant response. “We haven’t broken your bones but we’ve just left you a bit worse for wear.” “No, it’s just that it isn’t much of a story”. Seth went on to challenge this paradigm. He told me about a Hebron orphanage frequently targeted by the IDF. Haaretz would only report on it if there was guaranteed violence. Stuff like this is happening day in day out, he noted, but nobody’s interested. The problem is with the media. Perhaps I’m desensitised, I said, chastened. Or disinterested, was the brute comeback. On reflection, Seth’s right. The kind of incident he witnessed is unacceptable, no matter how low-key, and we should draw attention to it whenever possible.
2. I hear there’s a lot being written about this outside the land, but I thought I’d chip in nonetheless. I caught up with an old friend the other day, now a lawyer in London, and he told me a bit about how things were in London, particularly with the recession etc. Plenty of his friends were being laid off; others were finding it harder to find work. If there was a positive to all this, though, it was the end to the sense of entitlement that’s characterised my generation of North-West London Jews. We were too young to remember the hardships of the 1980s, and then we entered our best years during the boom of the 1990s. At university, we assumed we’d walk into whatever it is we wanted to do straight away, and then take the world by storm accordingly. I have to admit that I even felt this when coming to Israel, that my meagre qualifications in the UK meant I should be running the country by the time I’m 30. Now this sense of entitlement is gone. This is liberating. Thank God I have a job and thank God I can pay the bills and live reasonably comfortably. There’s something more humbling about taking each day as it comes, without the overbearing pressure of massive expectations, each step forward felt like another hurdle climbed. I suppose it’s back to basics, and I hope others are able to feel the way I do.
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Alex – You remind me of mondoweiss.com. Lots of insight shown; lots devoted to your site. Thanks.
Well, my politics are rather different!
Talk about Mondo: he’s linked to your point 2. Your politics are very different???
Alex, thou confuseth me too much…
Yeah, I just went over there and read the comments from the link to this piece, and let’s just say they don’t care for you too much.
Here. He’s a bit heavy handed on the ‘Jewish hubris’, I think…
Madzionist’s imagination’s running riot (Zionists do suffer side-effects from visiting anti-Zionist websites!): the “they” turns out to be one person so far! This is an atypical Mondoweiss post: won’t get much attention, IMHO.
Here’s two of the first three comments:
“Maybe it helps when Jews step back from their focus on fake jobs aka bankers, lawyers etc. and come back to the real world and real work… In a way, we need more Jews to ride the bus, and less Jews flying Gulfstream.”
“Alex Stein seems slightly bemused about the whole episode: Can’s really see what the fuss is all about. Thus the (self) portrait of a Zionist.”
Funny thing about Judeophobes – they almost never will admit they are anti-Semitic.
Madzionist – You’re right, that comment on mondoweiss is clearly anti-Semitic.
Gert – I’m not sure I’m comfortable with the stuff about Jewish hubris. The point I made could easily apply to non-Jews from privileged backgrounds.
Alex: I agree.
This comment is my favorite yet from the “Mondoweiss”:
What’s the name of that novel, “Hillbilly White Trash mutually kiss Jewish Chosen”? Not a nice thing; it does not answer how Jews lost their special status with G-D, and actually relinquished their special status with the Mover Of The Earth.
Maybe Anne Coulter has a point neither the Clintons, nor the Obamas see. So what to expect from
Joe The (fake)Plumber? An American of German extraction yet…
Posted by: Citizen | April 06, 2009 at 04:53 PM
Alex, if your site is now becoming popularly linked by anti-Semitic sites you may want to start rethinking where your politics lead in the end. I think you’re talented and thoughtful, but perhaps it’s time for some introspection about the final destination Peace Now’s natural course?
Well I don’t think Mondoweiss is anti-Semitic, despite the unpleasant comments from some of his readers. Either way, though, I’m not responsible for who links to me.
To characterise Mondoweiss as an anti-Semitic site is ludicrous. There are a few anti-Semitic elements that post (comments) there, in the same way there are some serious Islamophobes there (addressing Palestinians as ‘cameljockeys’ I guess is alright in MZ’s eyes?) It’s a two-way street, pal.
Truth is that Phil and Adam should moderate but they’re too busy for that. They do have a commenting policy but it’s not enforced.
Let’s see Alex’s blog develop into a high traffic site and sit back and enjoy the sort of comments these boxes will attract. Me, I’m only small beer but I can already testify to the sort of trash one can receive when volume starts to flow.
Perhaps MZ should go and have a look at Mad Mel Phlips’ (look it up) Spectator blog to see how even mild critics of Israel get treated there?
Gert – I don’t think I’m sensationalist enough to get a high level of traffic (I’m currently on about 100 a day), but if you’ve got any ideas, let me know!
I think you’re being too modest. Someone who occasionally writes for CiF, only a 100/day? I can’t believe it!
I haven’t written for CIF for ages actually; am more interested in writing for falsedichotomies…
[...] it. Give me a minute, I'll start up about the Israel lobby too! But let's be clear, this link, to Alex Stein, who I believe is a Zionist who emigrated to Israel from England, supports these large themes in a limited, but eloquent, manner: I hear there’s a lot being [...]