[Peace-discuss] Tragedy & farce in today's media

[C. G. Estabrook]

I think (I'm certainly not sure) that you may be being too harsh with Colbert.

Coming from the peculiar political/media/(improv theatre) culture that he does,
Colbert is daring in what he undertakes. I can't think of any other media people
(including Jon Stewart & SNL) who would.

Whether he's at all successful is another matter.  That's why I wondered what
people would take away from the show. Did Oren come across as the pompous ass &
criminal that he is?


On 6/10/10 7:46 PM, David Green wrote:
> Now that I've seen the Colbert segment, I'll make a comment and add something
> to my comment regarding Judt. Judt has established his reputation for being a
> genuine and courageous critic of Israel. This piece just doesn't reflect the
> imbalance of power and responsibility between Israel and the Palestinians,
> and of course leaves aside the greatest imbalance of all, between the U.S.
> and the Palestinians. Re Colbert, humor doesn't exactly go with someone as
> despicable as Oren. I don't appreciate the familiar Jewish shtick, and of
> course Palestinians disappear as human while jokes are made that
> sentimentalize Jewish culture, on the one hand, and about snack food allowed
> to mal-nourished Palestinians on the other. It's just racist, really. Why
> should it be seen any other way? Goebbels wasn't funny either, from what I
> can tell. DG
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* C. G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu> *To:* peace discuss
> <Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> *Sent:* Thu, June 10, 2010 11:20:54 AM
> *Subject:* [Peace-discuss] Tragedy & farce in today's media
>
> The historian Tony Judt is dying of Lou Gehrig's disease, a terrible fate,
> and that may help to explain the inadequacy of his op-ed in today's NYT
> "Israel Without Clichés"). It's unfortunate but unsurprising that it seems to
> represent the limits of liberal opinion as countenanced by the major media.
>
> First as tragedy, then as farce: a man who pretends to be a historian,
> Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the US, was featured on Stephen
> Colbert's show last night. Colbert employed the same knowing burlesque he's
> used against the White House press and the US army in Iraq - an extremely
> difficult procedure - and the results as usual seemed to me equivocal.
>
> I'd like to know what people are making of both Judt and Oren.
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/opinion/10judt.html?scp=1&sq=tony%20judt&st=cse
>
> <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/opinion/10judt.html?scp=1&sq=tony%20judt&st=cse>
>
>  http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/wed-june-9-2010-sam-nunn

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