Posts Tagged‘Words of the Week’

Home » Words of the Week » Page 83

Words of the Week: Phyllis Chesler

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

You know how some people threaten to cancel magazine subscriptions because of the covers that greet them (and their families) when they take the new issue out from the mailbox? Well, right now I’m seriously considering canceling my TIME subscription. Not because the cover (issue date: September 13, 2010) was lewd or inappropriate for young eyes. But rather, because the cover was coyly outrageous, unfair, offensive, and inappropriate for any eyes.

And so I share with you some wise words from Phyllis Chesler, motivated by this cover story.

I hope that people more fully understand that TIME Magazine as well as countless other media in the Western world, can no longer be trusted to tell the truth.

So sad. But so true.

Words of the Week (Or, Why Nicholas Kristof Has Lost Credibility With Me)

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

“In his recent columns, [Nicholas] Kristof discusses the occupation as if it came about through Israeli avarice and greed alone. He manages to write about the situation in Gaza with hardly a reference to the rocket attacks that led to the Israeli blockade; he writes about the security barrier as if it wasn’t built to stop a flood of suicide bombers from the West Bank. Kristof is a smart columnist but he undermines himself by refusing to acknowledge what [Thomas] Friedman understands, that the Middle East is maddeningly complicated, and that what appears to be easy-to-understand often isn’t.”

Source: Jeffrey Goldberg

My only disagreement here with the greatness that is Goldblog is in the use of the word “comically” elsewhere in the post, as in: “Read Friedman’s column carefully; it seems to me he’s talking directly to Kristof, whose writing on the Middle East has become a bit comically one-sided.” Emphasis is mine. I find nothing comical about Kristof’s columns about Israel. I find them shameful and infuriating.

Words of the Week: Jacob Weisberg

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

Over on my other blog, I routinely publish a “Quotation of the Week,” something about writing (which is the focus of said other blog).

I’m beginning to think I should launch a “quotatation of the week” feature here, too. Below, you’ll find this week’s entry, taken from a discussion about boycotts of Israel (mainly, a current entertainment industry-fueled boycott).

“When people are trying to murder you because of your religion, it is difficult to credit the bona fides of those who merely want to shun you because of your nationality.”

—Jacob Weisberg (via Jeffrey Goldberg)