> You are completely missing my point here. I'm saying that, *just as
> it is not acceptable to speaks of "Jewish money,"* it is *not*
> acceptable to speak of "Saudi money," and that, while leftists
> *correctly* recognize and criticize the former problem, many of them
> are evidently *incapable of recognizing the latter problem,* let alone
> criticizing it, as your replies to me demonstrate.
Well, I'm glad to hear that you do not think that "Jewish money" is an acceptable term, and I agree that "Saudi money" would not be either. (I think that when people do use that term, they use it as a sort of sloppy short-hand for "money from the Saudi royal family and other wealthy Saudis," who presumably could be specified as individuals, so it is not a calumny on the whole country.)
I have another theory, different from yours, about why Moore put so
much about Saudis and not about Israel in his film. But I still think
that the question of why he put certain things in his film and not
others is not one that we can profitably speculate about without any
input from the man himself. What people who are curious about that need
to do is to ask Moore himself, or an authorized representative of him.
But I imagine they are a bit too busy these days to answer promptly.
:-)
If anyone wants to put out a hard-hitting doc on Israel's role in world affairs, and I think the subject is important enough to justify a film on that specific topic, they are quite free to do so. There have been any number of them produced and distributed in this country over the years, as well as numerous books,'zine articles, web sites, etc., etc. I don't think there is any Jewish cabal, monied or not, that has the power to prevent the U.S. public from hearing about the faults of the Israeli government. Indeed, as many people have pointed out, there are quite a few Jewish individuals, or persons of Jewish heritage, who are strongly critical of the Israeli government, starting with the Chomster himself. So where is the censorship?
Of course, it's always been true that people with money, whatever their ethnic background, have been able to influence what the public sees and reads to an inordinate extent: "the press is free to those who can afford to buy one," as the old saying goes. But this saying is less and less true these days. The article in yesterday's NY Times Magazine, "How to Make a Guerrilla Documentary," discusses Robert Greenwald's upcoming "Outfoxed," as well as his film "Uncovered" about Iraq. The latter is coming out next month in theaters, in an expanded version, according to the Times story, so it will provide the 2nd punch of a "1-2 punch," after F911. The method Greenwald has been using -- distributing films as DVDs through left-wing periodicals and orgs like MoveOn, and then in theaters if the demand builds enough -- is one way of getting around the "press is free if you can buy one" obstacle which will probably be used more and more in the future.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ When I was a little boy, I had but a little wit, 'Tis a long time ago, and I have no more yet; Nor ever ever shall, until that I die, For the longer I live the more fool am I. -- Wit and Mirth, an Antidote against Melancholy (1684)