Soon after posting Mind Games 1 and promising anon a climactic II (yes, treasured readers, I felt your pent up need), I came to think that the period commonly referred to as “the holidays” might actually be suggestive of something. Rather than continue in my increasing detachment from those recurring, totemic calendar events around which […]
Antisemitism: Let’s get it Right
Just when I’m out gettin’ a tooth drilled, Shrinkwrapped goes and adds (I guess it kinda makes sense) an addendum to his post trying to pin anti-Semitism, historically, on the left, stating “For roughly two centuries now, antisemitism has, throughout the Western world, been principally associated with Leftism.” He even trots out a quote from the […]
Whose Left on the Right of Antisemitism
It has been only the convergence of many demands – including the work of return home to Los Angeles – that has so long delayed the the next installment of “The Open Mind” debates, what The New York Times and Wall Street Journal have called – well, they haven’t actually called them anything yet. But […]
Who Will Watch the Watchers II
Since I posted my first installment of Who Will Watch the Watchers, Richard Landes over at The Augean Stables has very ably pursued the same focus on Human Rights Watch, and more deeply too, emphasizing two issues: the resistance to criticism and the increasing role of postcolonial ideology in driving the agenda, not just of […]
The Refusal II – A Response and Elaboration
I’ve received a comment from a reader (“People Are Talking,” at right), a very fine thinker and a reader I admire, that raises problematic issues with my last post, “The Refusal.” They are significant enough to warrant clarification in a post. I need to start near the end. The reader writes Both current Israeli policy […]