Bizarre view of organizational responsibilities

Statement on Kathleen Peratis’ visit to Gaza

 by Lloyd Cotler

J Street strongly regrets the recent meetings by its Board member Kathleen Peratis with members of Hamas and the articles that she has written about her visit to Gaza.

An echo of past traumas

In a post called “The echo of past traumas” Andrew quotes a bit too selectively:

Israeli novelist David Grossman assesses the danger Netanyahu presents for Israel:

[Netanyahu] is so trapped within his paranoid way of seeing reality. Don’t get me wrong: there are dangers to Israel. We are surrounded by countries who are hostile to us, and until today most countries—not most, all Arab countries I can say—have not accepted our right to be here and they absolutely do not understand the deep affinity and belonging that we feel toward this country. So some of our fears are true and concrete. But Netanyahu is unable to distinguish between the real dangers and the echoes of his fears and the echoes of past traumas. This is not a leader who can change reality, who can generate a new reality. If he continues to act like this and to think like this, he can only doom us to repeat our tragedies and bring to life our worst fears.

Perhaps Grossman is right about Netanyahu’s tendencies, but its interesting in this context is that Sullivan wants to get across a certain point through Grossman, not represent his beliefs about the struggle between Netanyahu’s worldview and that of (various) Palestinians.

The interview is not focused on the “echo of past traumas”; it’s about a range of things. And directly attached to the ideas contained in Sullivan’s excerpt is this comment, just a few sentences away:

I must add that the performance of Mahmoud Abbas was not inspiring, to say the least. You saw here two leaders who really advocate anxieties and hostilities. Neither has the vision that would allow their people to transcend to a new way, to a new future.

So this post does seem to indicate the echo of past trauma — not a socio-cultural trauma, but one of a more personal nature.

Bloggerati watch

I don’t think Norm Geras would mind if I quote a brief post of his in its entirety:

November 06, 2011

Sharing your polity

The blogger who blogs at the Economist under the name ‘Democracy in America’ writes:

I find… that this whole issue keeps directing my attention back towards a fundamental problem: I have to share my polity with large numbers of silly people who are not equipped to make reasonable decisions about political issues. Even after Mr Cain loses the nomination, I must live with the awareness that the people who voted for him are out there, waiting to vote for some even more ridiculous clown down the line. I am aware that they feel the same way about me. However, they are wrong, and I am right. As evidence, I present the fact that they say they support Herman Cain for president. (Italics in the original.)

I wonder if he should change his blogging name to ‘Enlightened Oligarchy’ or some such, and then blog about the fecund principle ‘I am right’.

The blogger in question is, I believe, Matt Steinglass, whom the Dish has quoted, in his mode of glib, connate expertise.

Quote of the day

Only in Washington could such a half-baked, narcissistic, know-nothing blowhard be regarded as an intellectual. — Andrew Sullivan, 11/15/11, referring to Newt Gingrich