15 Sep 2010 3:02 PM By MJ Rosenberg
Here is Jeff Goldberg citing with approval a defense of Martin Peretz by Andrew Sullivan.
Sullivan basically argues that Peretz is a well-intentioned man who is nuts on the subject of Arabs and Muslims but is decent nonetheless.
Sullivan writes, "Marty is a man of deep passion and such passion, especially on a subject like the Middle East, sometimes leads to irrationality.
And, for that, Goldberg calls him "big-hearted" (Sullivan seems "big-hearted" to me too, but I don't know him).
But here's the thing.
Peretz didn't slip up once or twice and spout bigotry against Muslims and Arabs. He does it several times a week. Hating Arabs and Muslims is primarily what he is about. How can that be forgivable?
Now, I don't know if Sullivan defended Helen Thomas who once, once, made an offensive statement about Israel and Zionism and that one statement cost her a job, a career and a reputation.
This despite the fact that no one has ever accused Helen Thomas of having personal animus to Jews.
She just doesn't like Israel, a foreign country,and she gave voice to that feeling. She did not attack American Jews as Peretz attacked American Muslims.
Here is Goldberg on Thomas. Suffice it to say, he did not defend her in any way, shape or form.
So what's the difference? It is this. Some expressions of bigotry are permissible in this country and some aren't.
One had best keep your anti-black racism to yourself -- or pretend it's just about Obama as the Limbaughs and right-wingers do.
Same with Jews, where, as the Thomas case demonstrates, expressing disdain for Israel, let alone Jews,( can be) a career killer.
(ask Paul Findlay, charles Percy, Pete Mcclosky, Cyn McKinney, and a zillion others..msa )
And that is why a very few people -- so far just his friends -- are defending Peretz. He picked the right group to hate.
--
Being happy–is it good for the Jews? "Before Professor Dershowitz accused me of being an anti-Semite (news to me), I was a happy person. Since then, I'm still a happy person". –Michael Santomauro
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