DO NOT RESPOND: Thomas Friedman (NYT) & Israel.

[Ari Davidow <ari...>]

This is entirely off-topic. I have several times requested
that this be taken off-list.

I am asking again.

There is neither any way to resolve this to everyone's need
to have a last word, nor is THIS a subject for a thrash
on this list.

I will not ask again. DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS SUBJECT TO THIS
LIST. Do not continue to trivialize a subject about which you
feel so strongly, that you MUST prove either your illiteracy,
bad manners, or boorishness by choosing to write a list where 
everyone who =is= literate, or =is= polite, or is not a boor,
cannot respond to you.

Thank you,
ari

At 11:51 AM 6/3/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>
>I agree that it is off the music topic, but having been
>accused (in non-music-related postings) of not reading 
>carefully, I must defend myself.  In some circles, not
>reading carefully is a sin worse than violence (See, for
>example, the academic world's tolerance of Edward Said's 
>stone throwing).  Given more time, perhaps, I could have 
>written a satirical song from this material.
>
>My criticism in passing of Tom Friedman's view of settlements
>was generalized so as not to require elaboration, I thought.  
>My point, jokingly,  was about including references for context. 
>
>Many people are fond of Tom Friedman. He has received prizes 
>for his Middle East coverage, but there have also been many 
>who've disagreed with his opinions these many years, and we 
>all need to be reminded that his articles, though usually 
>informative, aren't "torah min shomayim" (there's my liturgical
>quote). I've winced every time he mentioned "settlements" as a 
>main impediment to peace. 
> 
>I disagree that they are "shameful acts of colonial coercion" (Tom
>Friedman's 
>still current words). Should Jews be subject to vetos about where they
>may 
>live? By implication, no Jew has any right to live anywhere except on
>someone
>else's sufferance. As an American living in safety, Tom is still "asleep"
>with 
>regard to this.
>
>Tom's apparent new realization that these settlements he wrote so much 
>about are just irrelevant to the Arab hatred of Jews could constitute a 
>"sudden awakening to the situation." Which word in that sentence can be 
>disputed?  
>
>Yours in careful reading,
>Lee
>
>
>
>On Sun, 27 May 2001 17:50:37 "Robert Cohen" <rlcm17 (at) hotmail(dot)com> 
>writes:
>> I don't mean to start a (clearly off-Jewish Music topic) thread on 
>> this, and 
>> won't at all mind if there are no further postings on it, but as Lee 
>> 
>> Friedman slipped a reference to Tom Friedman into his recent post, I 
>> feel 
>> impelled to add that, imhonsho, Friedman did not in *any* way 
>> "suddenly" 
>> awaken to the situation in Israel.  To assert so is, I suspect, to 
>> reveal, 
>> or convey, that one hasn't been carefully reading and following 
>> Friedman's 
>> articles (and, for that matter, TV and radio appearances) in re 
>> Israel over 
>> the last several years or more--which reflect a consistent, steady, 
>> 
>> grounded, and in my view, both ethical and perceptive understanding 
>> of 
>> what's (tragically) going on.
>> 
>> --Robert Cohen
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> >Only later did I find out that your reference was
>> >to the correspondence regarding THOMAS Friedman's
>> >(no relation) sudden awakening to the situation in Israel.
>> 
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