Tuesday, August 19, 2008

The Idiocy of an Israel Hater

Diane Mason prides herself on knowing Hebrew, but I see very little indication she uses it. In this post she deduces from some quotation marks in a caption on the English side of Haaretz that... oh, I'm not even going to give her the respect of repeating her thesis. Suffice it to say that had she looked at the Hebrew version (and remember, Haaretz is a Hebrew newspaper, with some translators added on) she'd know that there were no such quotation marks, because that whole pernicious method isn't used in Hebrew.

But even if there were: she has taken decades of Israeli social history, contrasted it with one caption in a newspaper, and found her interpretation of the caption more convincing than the entire story of a society. I have no better description for her method and reasoning than idiocy.

The question remains, however: how is it that an educated young woman is willing to broadcast such idiocy?

2 comments:

Ibrahim Ibn Yusuf said...

I agree she sometimes overdoes it. But it's the same method you'll find in Zionist blogs, including yours -- clinging to some minor fault on the part of a newspaper, or, in this case, a translator, to make a petty point. (That said, Haaretzniks are not to be thought to be dumbasses who are unaware of the effect quotation marks will have on their English-language readers.)

However, she was right about Samson Blinded. Haaretz has stopped publishing ads for the hate-site. Ynet hasn't, however. One down, one to go.

Anonymous said...

FROM CAROL HERMAN

Ah, me. In a different world, leading up to, and following WW2, there were plenty of Jews who made the limelight. And, whose books were read.

As a kid, I can remember (TV was black & white), my mother pointing at the screen and telling me: "He's Jew. "She's a Jews." And, then Elizabeth Taylor became one, too.

Now? Where has all the talent gone? Why are we so bereft of a voice that belongs to a Jew? (Okay, I happen to know that Matt Drudge's father is Jewish. But Drudge had real problems with him. And, it doesn't count. Because these days Drudge a convert.) But the talent?

Where's the rest of the talent?

The other thing I'd be willing to bet is that the Ha'Ha'aretz has an audience (separately). Some in Hebrew. Some others in English. And, their readership is probably to the left of liberal.

I just wish there were more voices out there.

There was a time a Jew coming to New York, saw 7 newspapers. Dailies. Afternoon editions. The Forward's. Everybody, it seemed, read. Everybody had a penny for a paper. And, everybody talked. Loudly.

Sure. The world changed. The "glories" of labor turned into something else. And, labor actually got left in the dust. Can't fix that, now.

As a matter of fact, when the world moves on you can't replace "yesterday" by tree-hugging symbolism.

Personally, I don't think today's youth even see the anti-Semitism that once was, when the Catholics shouted it out from their pulpits. And, other Christian faiths based their faiths on Jews being Christ killers.

Up ahead? Myths will tear off the old chazer. And, while there's plenty of competition to go around, there's only so much when it comes to success stories.

The golden age is gone, now.