[lbo-talk] Double Standard: Israel and Saudi Arabia

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Sat Jul 10 08:06:34 PDT 2004


Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:


>Some left-wing viewers of Fahrenheit 9/11 -- perhaps out of wishful
>thinking? -- believe that the film makes an argument that Riyadh and
>Washington "have collaborated for decades in a violent project of
>repression" (Doug Henwood, LBO-talk, July 9, 2004)

You're reaching the point where I'm wondering about you the same thing I wonder about the Sparts - do you have a reading comprehension problem, or do you consciously twist things for your own purposes?

I never said anything like what you attribute to me. Here's the full exchange:

At 4:26 PM -0400 7/9/04, Doug Henwood wrote:
>Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
>>If Michael Moore or anyone else made a film similar to Fahrenheit
>>9/11 about Tel Aviv and Washington, employing the same techniques
>>of suggestions and insinuations he employed regarding Riyadh and
>>Washington, I'm sure that there will be a loud chorus of boos and
>>hisses against Moore, including from you.
>
>What in god's name are you talking about? I'd hiss if Moore or
>anyone said that a Zionist cabal controlled U.S. policy. But if
>someone made the point that the U.S. and Israel have collaborated
>for decades in a violent project of repression, I'd applaud in
>agreement. And what "insinuations" about Riyadh and Washington? The
>film took the position that there was a deep collaborative pursuit
>of oil-based accumulation that joined the U.S. and Saudi ruling
>classes. Are you somehow claiming there's something anti-Arab about
>criticizing the Saudi regime as the corrupt and reactionary thing it
>is?

"If." You know, the subjunctive mood. Offered as a possibility or a counterfactual, the range of my reactions to films someone might have made, not as a description of F911.

Doug



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