Monday, October 1, 2007

Adolescent Invulnerability

When I started college, I represented a typical 18 year old high school graduate; which means that I was depressed, so ready to get out of my parents' house, invulnerable and idealistic, and of course, knew everything and was ready to conquer the world and save it from itself.

Now I know better.

All truth has 1,000 facets, and we as news consumers and citizens of the planet will never reveal the full story. Sadly, the Jerusalem Post lags behind the times.

In response to the Iranian President's speech at Columbia, they featured several op ed pieces, including a "recent high school graduate," who in his infinite wisdom and life experience, declared the lecture a victory for Democracy; Lee Bollinger, in his infantile and CYA* introduction, hurt the feelings of the anti-Semite Holocaust denying Jihadist politician. Score one for the good guys, said the man-child in his superficial piece, Bush's Axis of Evil is really smarting from having the opportunity to use the very gifts that Freedom of Speech offers, in order to further his own agenda. The author of this editorial did not actually attend the speech, nor was he even standing on American soil at the time it occurred.

I omit this Jewish boy's name - and I use the term "boy" in the kindest sense of the word - to spare him the embarrassment of coming off as a naive patsy.

In truth, the Jerusalem Post - a supposedly objective internationally circulated yellow rag - should be embarrassed for providing a forum which expresses under-researched "news," and then claims the moral high ground while they regularly align themselves with the Israeli political right.

The medium is the message, and this message reaffirms that we Israelis don't know how to protect ourselves, from ourselves.

*CYA = Cover Your Ass. He couldn't un-invite the man, so he insulted him instead.

1 comment:

Sarah said...

Reminds me of the old Jewish religious joke of whether you could take the Jewish press into the bathroom. The question was whether you could take it out. Same for the Jerusalem Post. Shame. It would be nice to have a decent non-leftist English paper in Israel.