Altercation or Domination? A Response to Eric Alterman
Press Action
Sunday, December 05, 2004
http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/full_article/cummings12052004/
By Jordy Cummings
In my most recent Press Action column, I decided, in the spirit of one of the great Alterman critics, Press Action’s editor Mark Hand, to lay a little ad hominem fun on the arse of Eric Alterman. Little did I realize that “Little Art Schlesinger” (a play on Alterman’s conception of Roy Cohn...Schlesinger in the 50s criticized Cohn, but endorsed the Hollywood blacklist which, was patently Anti-Semitic and destroyed many people’s careers) Eric Alterman would see fit to denounce me and my column in his corporate weblog, Altercation.
To be frank, I found myself complimentarily tickled by Alterman referring to my writing as “inspired lunacy” and comparing my attack skills to one of my great influences, Cockburn.
Though I was quite perturbed that, in response to the comments area of Press Action, where Alterman must have read me write that his work is influential among the more liberal, less “leftist” activist contingent these days—kids my sister’s age. On no information that I know of, Alterman made a comment about my sister’s looks, as opposed to addressing my critique: that he is a moral imperialist, and more dangerous than Peretz, etc. because he has been a “soft” critic of Sharon in the past; he has stated that it is proper and comfortable for Jewish Americans to feel that Palestinians may not be “ready” for a state of their own.
From this I deduced that while Alterman himself may not feel this, the logic of his comments, as per the type of analysis that he himself cribs from Ed Herman, he finds it acceptable that some Jews feel that occupation can be benign, or that Palestinians have to “earn” the right to be considered a nation, going directly against the piece from the New York Review of Books by Henry Siegman to which he links. So my accusation is more complex than Alterman himself having this viewpoint; it is that he fails in his responsibility as a Jewish liberal writer to move his audience to a non-ambiguous, clear-eyed rejection of occupation. Instead, repeatedly over the years, when Israel does the wrong thing, he applauds it.
Alexander Cockburn quoted Alterman celebrating Israel’s targeted assassination policy. Former Shin Bet (Israeli FBI) head Ami Ayalon, among other high-level Israeli military and strategic thinkers, has stated the obvious, that these targeted assassinations do not add to the security of Israel. Ayalon and others, including myself and the late Edward Said, have speculated that they are not intended to provide, in Said’s words, “that fabled unicorn, Israeli security.” In fact, these assassinations, as even my IDF relatives make clear to me, are conscious provocations in order to put Israeli citizens in harm’s way, thus justifying Sharon’s policy. This sort of thing has been par for the Israeli course since the early fifties, and at the very least, was behind Moshe Dayan’s destruction of the USS Liberty.
Among other problems with Alterman not using his responsibility properly (and yes, it is a responsibility, “this ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco, this ain’t no fooling around”) were his statements before the beginnings of the pre-Iraq war antiwar movement, that “protests don’t do anything” and his encouragement of readers not to attend protests. When his readers disagreed with him, he changed his tune. Now he wistfully links stories about us Canadian activists marching against George W. Bush.
My point in demonstrating the above point is that no one, not even Alterman, is beyond redemption. All he needs to do is clarify what he meant about Palestinians “not being ready” for a state of their own? His late “friend” Said would ask no less, nor would millions of Palestinians who know that he is one of the few Jews in the corporate media not to always tow the Sharon line. He can simply state that upon reflection that this was an improper line of inquiry. Otherwise I stick to my accusation that he is, in effect, lobbying against a Palestinian state.
My sister, upon news that Alterman thinks that she may be a looker, found a picture of him online. Her response: “Oooh. What’s up with that gross folksinger beard?” Yes, Alterman looks like a young Peter Yarrow except more squirrelly. My sister thinks you’re too old, and aren’t you married?
Yes, all Eric could think of in response to my argument was to talk about my sister. Shame.
Jordy Cummings, editor of Pure Polemics, lives in Toronto and can be reached at yorgos33ca@yahoo.ca.