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May 22, 2013

John Thorne: They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman

John Rosemond: 'Disciplinary math' adds up to parental successl

Warren Richey: Are prayers before public meetings OK? Supreme Court to decide
Rick Montgomery: Use of ADHD drugs as study aid raises concern on campuses

Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D.: 6 convincing reasons you should keep carbs in your diet

Eoin O'Carroll: Scientists examine nothing, find something

The Kosher Gourmet by Carole Kotkin: This soup is made from one of the great pleasures of spring: A wonderful pairing of rosy color and earthy tang

May 20, 2013

Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?

Hannan Adely: Town raises Palestinian flag at City Hall

Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Morgan Housel: When smart investors do stupid things

Sharon Saloman, M.S., R.D.: Hunger games: Eat more, weigh less, without starving

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting

May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel


Jewish World Review Oct. 23, 2003 / 27 Tishrei, 5764

When bad ideas happen to good writers

By Andrew Silow-Carroll


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http://www.jewishworldreview.com | You'd think that the biggest anti-Semitism story of the week would be that of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who got a standing ovation at the Islamic Conference in Kuala Lumpur for declaring that "the Jews rule this world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them."


But giving Mahathir a run for his money was New Republic writer Gregg Easterbrook, whose questionable remarks came in a scathing review of the ultra-violent film Kill Bill in his Web diary, or blog. Easterbrook wrote, apropos of very little, that the studio execs behind the Disney/Miramax film, Michael Eisner and Harvey Weinstein, are Jewish, and went on to condemn "Jewish executives [who] worship money above all else, by promoting for profit the adulation of violence…."


The paragraph in question raised a storm of protest, apologies from Easterbrook and The New Republic, and a statement from the Anti-Defamation League that Easterbrook's apology was "insufficient." Easterbrook reportedly was sacked from his job as an on-line football analyst for ESPN (owned by Disney, we should point out).

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Easterbrook's apology was indeed lacking, as poorly thought out as his original essay. In the essay, the references to Eisner's and Weinstein's religion come in a final "corporate sidelight" to his criticism of the movie. He writes, "Disney's CEO, Michael Eisner, is Jewish; the chief of Miramax, Harvey Weinstein, is Jewish. Yes, there are plenty of Christian and other Hollywood executives who worship money above all else, promoting for profit the adulation of violence. Does that make it right for Jewish executives to worship money above all else, by promoting for profit the adulation of violence? Recent European history alone ought to cause Jewish executives to experience second thoughts about glorifying the killing of the helpless as a fun lifestyle choice."


In his apology, Easterbrook blames the speed of Web writing for a "terrible job through poor wording." But Easterbrook, who writes frequently about his own Presbyterian church, also has this to say: "I think it's fair to raise faith in this context: In fact I did exactly that one week earlier, when I wrote a column about the movie The Passion asking how we could take Mel Gibson seriously as a professed Christian, when he has participated in numerous movies that glorify violence."


Yet Gibson is directing a self-financed movie about Jesus in what he himself calls an expression of his own Catholic theology; unless Miramax commissioned Kill Bill director Quentin Tarantino to create a midrash on the Sixth Commandment, I don't see how it is at all fair to raise the faith of Eisner and Weinstein (neither of whom, by the way, is particularly active in Jewish causes or communal life). And if you are going to raise someone's Jewishness, you might want to experience second thoughts before using a phrase like "worship money." As The New Republic, a famously unshakeable supporter of Israel, put it in its much more satisfying apology, "The phrase was right out of the classical vocabulary of modern anti-Semitism."


If, however, Easterbrook's point was that Jewish moguls should not be immune from charges of money worship - well, maybe, but who brought up their Jewishness in the first place? My father, who was once called a "lying Jew" by a playmate when he claimed to be safe at second, puts it this way: "You can call me a liar, but what does my being Jewish have to do with it?"


Perhaps a Jewish writer could have gotten away with an essay like Easterbrook's; I can imagine a rabbi writing that Jewish moguls have a particular responsibility to limit the glorification of violence in the media. But even that would be at the very least presumptuous. Eisner and Weinstein have never presented themselves as anything other than executives charged with making money for their corporations; it's not their fault that folks like Easterbrook can't see past their last names.


Between Easterbrook and Mahathir, the latter's remarks were infinitely more dangerous, considering his audience, his reputation as a "moderate" Muslim leader, and his heretofore close relationship with the White House. (It took the president four days to protest the remarks, and he did so only in a private conversation with the prime minister at this week's Asian summit in Bangkok.) The Muslim world has become fertile ground for classic anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, and Islamic extremists have displaced neo-Nazis as the number one threat to the physical safety of the world's Jews. As for the Muslim people, blaming the Jews is what their leaders do instead of undertaking the very reforms Mahathir proposed in the bulk of his speech: rooting out corruption, embracing technological and industrial advances, and resisting the pull of theocracy.


In that regard, the Malaysian's cynical remarks were a felony, while Easterbrook's Web musings were closer to a misdemeanor. Mahathir has a history of Jew-baiting, once blaming the 1997 Asian market crisis on the Jews, while Easterbrook, based on his previous writings and the testimony of his many Jewish friends, is no anti-Semite.


But there is a connection between the casual remarks of a liberal pundit and the calculated spewings of a world leader, which is why it was important that both men's statements were denounced swiftly and mercilessly. The Web is not only too fast for the world's own good, it is too widespread. Rumors fly around the globe at the speed of light, and the stuff formerly reserved for poorly printed leaflets now regularly gets clipped and pasted into articles in the mainstream.


In the non-digital past, Easterbrook might have shared his remarks with friends, been shouted down by a few of them, and left his thoughts on Jewish movie execs in the discard pile where they belong.


In the Internet age, his unfortunate scribblings may be excoriated, yet they move quickly into a Web of approving links and citations, where the words of an American magazine writer are included as "proof" that a Malaysian prime minister's anti-Jewish speech was on the money.

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JWR contributor Andrew Silow-Carroll is Editor-in-Chief of New Jersey Jewish News Send your comments to him by clicking here.

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