August 21, 2006

• Ever want to see a televised social train wreck? Check the Richard Pryor clip out here (bottom of the page).
  The Cripsin Glover clip is also well worth watching. The other three,
  *meh*. Seriously though, the Richard Pryor one is fairly unbelievable
  (and you should pay attention to some of the things that come out of
  his mouth! Wow! In 1980!)

  And now that you’re done wasting your
  time with that, you might find this post by a guest author on
  Sullivan’s Daily Dish interesting:

  Backlashes in Lebanon and Israel
  19 Aug 2006 12:56 pm

  By Michael J. Totten

  Lebanon
  is not yet a mature liberal democracy. Syria still has agents in many
  high places. Iran all but dictates its foreign policy. Lebanon is
  partly, if not mostly, democratic even so. And now that the country has
  been torn apart by the unilateral actions of a warmongering street
  gang, the predictable backlash has begun.

  Abu Kais at From
  Beirut to the Beltway calls Hassan Nasrallah The Decapitator. Raja at
  the Lebanese bloggers says ENOUGH. Rampurple goes further and tells
  Hassan Nasrallah to eff off. Opinion page editor Michael Young at
  Beirut’s Daily Star says Nasrallah is trying to turn Lebanon into a
  “gigantic Hizbullah barracks.” Druze chief Walid Jumblatt darkly
  suggests the civil war may ignite again if Hezbollah does not comply
  with the wishes of Lebanon.

  The mood here in Tel Aviv is pretty
  grim, too. The Olmert government looks like it could collapse under
  pressure at any time. Hardly anyone in this country seems to think the
  air war over Lebanon was a good idea anymore. Hassan Nasrallah’s claim
  of “victory” sounds almost plausible after a month of hard fighting
  failed to produce many of the tangible promised results.

  Yossi
  Klein Halevi at the New Republic says many of the last month’s
  disasters were self-inflicted and that the reckoning is already
  beginning. (Subscription required.) Yoel Marcus says “Never has a new
  government with a line-up of fresh faces and ambitious goals been
  entangled in so many foolish affairs within such a short span of time
  as the government of Ehud Olmert.” Haaretz published an absolutely
  devastating indictment of the government by Ari Shavit who said 2006 is
  “the most embarrassing year of Israeli defense since the establishment
  of the State of Israel.”

  Israelis are far quicker to criticize
  their government during and immediately after a war than Americans are.
  Perhaps this is natural since Israel’s parliamentary system allows the
  people to change the political leadership without having to wait for
  the next scheduled election that could be years away. Maybe George W.
  Bush would no longer be president if Americans were able to pick
  someone else before 2008. It’s also possible that Israelis are just
  more self-critical for cultural reasons.

  An even starker
  contrast is noticeable between Israel-supporters in Israel and
  Israel-supporters in America. Israel’s partisans in the U.S. often talk
  as though Israel rarely makes any mistakes, that because Israel is a
  democracy with a right to defend itself it can do no or little wrong.
  Israelis themselves rarely do this.

  What I wonder is what’s
  the reaction in Israel when an Israeli voices criticisms? Are they
  listened to and their points taken issue with on their own merit or are
  they dismissed as traitors and ingrates?

  I suspect a combination of the two of course, but I’d be interested in really grokking the difference between here and there.

  • 8:19 am
  • Leave a comment