Liza
> From: Jon Johanning <jjohanning at igc.org>
> Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2004 14:15:38 -0400
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Double Standard: Israel and Saudi Arabia
>
> On Jul 11, 2004, at 4:47 PM, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
>> 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)
>
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