tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29459499.post1132895912562994269..comments2024-01-29T21:39:07.526+02:00Comments on This Ongoing War: A Blog: 29-Oct-14: Could an opinion editor at the NYTimes have blown their cover?Oz_in_Zionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13661581252423495040noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29459499.post-492293792032202242014-10-31T13:52:50.490+02:002014-10-31T13:52:50.490+02:00The NYT, I suspect, is operating according to a se...The NYT, I suspect, is operating according to a set of editorial guidelines that are based on an misinterpretation of the following two principles:<br /><br />1. The role of the public intellectual (e.g. NYT editors) is to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.<br /><br />2. The superior virtue of the oppressed.<br /><br />If they take it as a given that the Palestinians are the afflicted, the oppressed, then everything else flows from there. They will do everything in their power as purveyors of news and opinions to persuade their<br />readers that Israelis, the "comfortable" in their view, needs to be afflicted, badgered, maligned even, in the service of comforting poor Palestinians. <br /><br />Now there is a problem. If the afflicted are, as per definition, superior in virtue, then this needs to be somehow conveyed. But what do you do when the Palestinians are really obviously and declaratively NOT virtuous? There is only one way to continue the charade of this false asymmetry: you have to file reports and opinion pieces that cast Israel in the worst possible light and you keep quiet about Palestinian perfidy, violence, irrationality, deceptiveness, etc. Because to do otherwise is to provide comfort to Israel, the "comfortable" state whose citizens are practically persecuted by the regional Arabs wherever they are, Jebreal's article being part of this general mood of anti-Jewish animus.<br /><br />All this comes from having excess pity for the "underdog". It's the principle that guided Robespierre, according to Hannah Arendt: Because of our pity and to better serve humanity, we must be pity-less. <br /><br />So the NYT has no pity for beleaguered Israelis, only exclusive pity towards Palestinians. This is a perversion of everything that has to do with justice, objectivity, ethics, and peace. Because justice is like light, falling where it falls. When you deliberately deny light to a group of people you are only augmenting the misery of all.<br /><br />You'd think the NYT editors would be aware of such basic journalistic ethics.The Contentious Centristhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07370528817706233156noreply@blogger.com