Showing posts with label Words of the Week. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Words of the Week. Show all posts

August 11, 2010

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

"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.

July 28, 2010

Words of the Week: Jacob Weisberg

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)