self-referential
Over at Atlantic, Jeff Goldberg is whining because New York Times blogger/columnist, Robert Wright not only demolished Goldberg's Iran war manifesto but indicated he just plain doesn't like Goldberg. In his next post, he writes about a vicious Islamophobe called Pam Gellar, who he aptly calls, a "lunatic racist" but begins by noting that the crazed Gellar once called him a nasty name. (This is like writing a piece on Jeffrey Dahlmer but pegging it to the fact he once called you fat).
Almost all of Jeff's columns are self-referential and address people Jeff thinks don't like him. But then a lot of people (especially his professional colleagues) don't like him much and it hurts him. That is understandable but ultimately irrelevant. Jeff is like a film actor who looks great on screen but not so good in person. ugg .Since hardly anyone sees him in person, as compared to the screen, it doesn't matter how he looks on the street.
Jeffrey should write for his readers (like me) who. having never met him, have not yet had the opportunity to develop a personal dislike for him. I'd love to have his readership and, if I did, I would not waste valuable space on the people who hurt my feelings, talked behind my back, or called me a mean name. I am afraid that Jeff is on the Norman Podhoretz road; Norm actually wrote a book about people who couldn't stand him. buy ugg .It was 3000 pages long I think.
Anyway, in his attack on Wright for being mean to him, Jeff is mad because Wright alluded to Goldberg's stint in the Israeli army. Goldberg hates it when anyone uses his Israeli vet status to discredit his writing. He writes "it is true that I served in the Israeli army. It is also true that my service in the army soured me on the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza...."
Yeah, so what?
Why should Wright care how Goldberg's experience in the Israeli army affected him?
The point is that Goldberg, an American, is one of the very few American Jews who ever served in the Israeli army. That is because Americans do not serve in foreign armies unless they have an allegiance to a foreign country. (Two exceptions the Spanish Civil War and joining the Canadian army before Pearl Harbor. In both cases, Americans enlisted to fight in a war they knew America would ultimately join as well, not because they intended to emigrate to Canada or Spain).
Goldberg joined the IDF out of devotion to Israel, pure and simple. After all, if one is willing to die for a cause, it is safe to assume that he is loyal to that cause. (Goldberg's loyalty to Israel also led him to be one of the key advocates of the Iraq war which, he thought, would benefit Israel. He would never be so cavalier about committing Israeli troops).
Goldberg's allegiance to Israel should disqualify Goldberg from writing on the Middle East. Period. Or he should be published, as an Israeli is published,ugg boots sale , with the clear understanding that the writer's loyalties are to Israel.
Let pro-Israel Americans, who would not have dreamed of joining the IDF (because they are Americans) write the Israel-is-always-right columns. That is about 99.9% of pro-Israel American Jews and plenty of them are writers.
Goldberg's writings about Israel are about as objective as columns by me about my kids. He should stick to his other favorite subject: people who have hurt his feelings and why they are so mean and so, cheap ugg boots ,so wrong.
And here is a great column by Larry Derfner, a former American who is now an Israeli and does not pretend to be anything else, about why an attack on Iran could mark the beginning of the end for Israel.
Almost all of Jeff's columns are self-referential and address people Jeff thinks don't like him. But then a lot of people (especially his professional colleagues) don't like him much and it hurts him. That is understandable but ultimately irrelevant. Jeff is like a film actor who looks great on screen but not so good in person. ugg .Since hardly anyone sees him in person, as compared to the screen, it doesn't matter how he looks on the street.
Jeffrey should write for his readers (like me) who. having never met him, have not yet had the opportunity to develop a personal dislike for him. I'd love to have his readership and, if I did, I would not waste valuable space on the people who hurt my feelings, talked behind my back, or called me a mean name. I am afraid that Jeff is on the Norman Podhoretz road; Norm actually wrote a book about people who couldn't stand him. buy ugg .It was 3000 pages long I think.
Anyway, in his attack on Wright for being mean to him, Jeff is mad because Wright alluded to Goldberg's stint in the Israeli army. Goldberg hates it when anyone uses his Israeli vet status to discredit his writing. He writes "it is true that I served in the Israeli army. It is also true that my service in the army soured me on the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza...."
Yeah, so what?
Why should Wright care how Goldberg's experience in the Israeli army affected him?
The point is that Goldberg, an American, is one of the very few American Jews who ever served in the Israeli army. That is because Americans do not serve in foreign armies unless they have an allegiance to a foreign country. (Two exceptions the Spanish Civil War and joining the Canadian army before Pearl Harbor. In both cases, Americans enlisted to fight in a war they knew America would ultimately join as well, not because they intended to emigrate to Canada or Spain).
Goldberg joined the IDF out of devotion to Israel, pure and simple. After all, if one is willing to die for a cause, it is safe to assume that he is loyal to that cause. (Goldberg's loyalty to Israel also led him to be one of the key advocates of the Iraq war which, he thought, would benefit Israel. He would never be so cavalier about committing Israeli troops).
Goldberg's allegiance to Israel should disqualify Goldberg from writing on the Middle East. Period. Or he should be published, as an Israeli is published,ugg boots sale , with the clear understanding that the writer's loyalties are to Israel.
Let pro-Israel Americans, who would not have dreamed of joining the IDF (because they are Americans) write the Israel-is-always-right columns. That is about 99.9% of pro-Israel American Jews and plenty of them are writers.
Goldberg's writings about Israel are about as objective as columns by me about my kids. He should stick to his other favorite subject: people who have hurt his feelings and why they are so mean and so, cheap ugg boots ,so wrong.
And here is a great column by Larry Derfner, a former American who is now an Israeli and does not pretend to be anything else, about why an attack on Iran could mark the beginning of the end for Israel.