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

[David Green]

I appreciate Colbert's brilliance, most of the time that I watch it, which I don't anymore, because I've lost part of my sense of humor in relation with what is basically liberal entertainment (see Bill Maher). Colbert's basic MO does go beyond liberal satire. But when it comes to "Jewish humor", such as it is, that particularly annoys me, particularly when its brought to bear on legitimizing Israeli criminals. That includes Michael Chabon's self-absorbed nonsense earlier this week in the NYT. But even he didn't stoop to "two Jews, three opinions." Yeah, right. And juxtapose all this to the racist cartoons that have appeared almost everyday this week in the N-G, including this morning. Not that political cartoons are even supposed to be funny anymore.

As for Oren, it's the banality of evil. Given his shameless talking points, I wonder how "Hamas is sworn to the destruction of Israel" plays with those who are inclined toward "balance" in relation to this issue. Does it expose him to them for what he is and what Israel is?

DG




________________________________
From: C. G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu>
To: David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>
Cc: Peace Discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
Sent: Thu, June 10, 2010 8:53:06 PM
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Tragedy & farce in today's media

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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