Superfans

When I was in high school I got to be something of a political junkie, wanting to know who all the US Senators were and what they were arguing about. So since the school library had many back issues of The New Republic. I found a lot of the articles informative and well-written, and if you want to interpret the latter as "bitchy" go right ahead.

Even then Marty Peretz's fixation on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict weirded me out. Whenever things heated up, you'd see these denunciations of the entire Arab people that made them sound like one was about to burst from John Hurt's chest. I do remember Michael Kinsley being something of a voice of dissent, reminding readers that being Jewish didn't have to translate into rubber-stamping Israel's every move. (Yes, he is. Yes, the surname can confuse the point.) But by and large the "Palestinians as vicious parasites" view held sway.

Which hasn't changed at all, according to Philip Weiss. And the latest berserk button is the Goldstone report.

Another hit at the Goldstone Report in the New Republic, this by the American/ Israeli tribal minder Yossi Klein Halevi. Perverse, flailing, almost incoherent. He argues that Goldstone’s vicious report, by the blame it lays on Israel, will encourage Israel to act next time with much less restraint. (So as to leave NO witnesses behind?) By shining a light on dark deeds, and driving deeper-in the anger and resentment of those who committed the deeds, Goldstone thus becomes a chief bearer of prospective responsibility for the wickedness of all the future
atrocities committed by the state of Israel.

I've said this in so many words before. When you're doing something self-destructive, your real friends will tell you.