Re: [lbo-talk] Le Blog Bérubé on the war

[Colin Brace]

On 8/1/06, C. G. Estabrook <galliher at uiuc.edu> wrote:

> Michael J. Smith wrote:
>
> > ...once somebody starts nattering about Israel's "right to defend
> > itself" in the (usual) context of a massive Guernica-style Israeli
> > assault, I figure I've heard it all before, and not just once.
>
> Exactly.  Sadly enough, Paul Krugman began his column today with the
> assertion, "Israel is clearly acting in self defense." Interestingly, he
> found it necessary to re-assert it at the end -- "Israel has the right
> to protect itself."

Indeed, the phrase seems to have become permanent boilerplate in
current Western discourse. The problem is... does anyone believe
otherwise? I have yet to encounter a single assertion that Israel
*does not* have the right to defend itself. More than anything, it
demonstrates who is framing the debate: Israel and its supporters. The
former bombs Lebanon to smithereens, unchaining an enormous
humanitarian crisis, and claims: it is just defending itself. Everyone
in the West thenceforth feels obliged to prepend to every criticism of
Israel's actions the disclaimer that "of course Israel has a right to
defend itself," as a kind of preemptive defense against the charge of
anti-Semitism.


On 8/1/06, Michael J. Smith <mjs at smithbowen.net> wrote:

> But criminy, it's so glacial. And fighting one's way through
> that thicket of introductory exculpations and qualifications
> and reassurances -- it's worse than tedious,

A few years ago there was a thread here on "liberal windbags" (I just
searched the archive but i couldn't find it). I can't recall whether
Bérubé made it to the list, but if not he'd certainly be a worthwhile
candidate. I take a look at his site once in awhile, but he seems to
have fallen prey to an affliction common to many prolix bloggers:
chronic solipsism. Maybe the success of that book about his son went
to his head.

-- 
  Colin Brace
  Amsterdam