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

[C. G. Estabrook]

I mentioned the cartoons on News from Neptune (7pm this evening ch. 6).

Oren & Colbert each thought he could play the other, and I'm not sure who was 
right.  That why I asked what people would take away from it. The shamelessness 
of Oren's talking points may have come through.

The danger is as you say in "'Jewish humor' ... brought to bear on legitimizing 
Israeli criminals."  That may be what Colbert did.

But he's in a different league from Maher, who's in danger of giving 
self-regarding small-mindedness a bad name.  He even looks like Squealer in 
Animal Farm.  (How do I know ... never mind.)


On 6/11/10 8:51 AM, David Green wrote:
> 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
> <mailto:galliher at illinois.edu>> *To:* peace discuss
>> <Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> <mailto: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.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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