Letters to the Editor
Ben Sen
Published Letters: 541 Editor's Choice: 98
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Sanity In the Middle East
[Read the article: Joe Lieberman, from his indie perch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What is encouraging here are the posts that show sanity is taking hold in blogland around Israel. (see Amity entries esp.) Lieberman was basically the test and the lesson. He is an "Israel right or wong" advocate, and that's how he got into trouble. His loss as a Dem doesn't show there is a voting majority to change direction, but shows a weakening and possibility that hasn't been there before.
It isn't anti-Israel to be against right wing domination of the country, and it doesn't mean abandoning them, which is their greatest fear--but enough is enough. If they have proven anything in the last fourty years, it's that they will try to get away with whatever they can--and the shame is that we have allowed them to do it. "Moderation" in Israel is the realization they cannot exist without American support, and bringing the warmongers to task because of it.
I'd have asked Lieberman what he makes of the new fundamentalist coalition in this country that has said it doesn't support Israel "right or wrong," whether he thinks the talks now scheduled will make any progress given the West Bank/Gaza split--or if he thinks Mr. Blair has an opportunity to make peace.
There is a lot of new stuff on the table, and it needs to be explored now so the presidential candidates will be forced to give some indication of their position, (as much as they dread it with all their might) but the electorate can have a better idea who or what they are voting for. It is unfortunate Mr. Shapiro did not take advantage of that opportunity in this interview.
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Giving Hillary a Fair Shot
[Read the article: Cheerful boos for Hillary]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]That the bloggers rejected third party fantasies is the most important development. If the naivete that led to the disaffection and distrust of Dean's supporters is allowed to take over again, it will prove difficult to correct at a later date. (I suspect Dean himself could have made a difference in this respect, but I haven't seen his speech yet.)
Also, I'm not sure from the reports so far that Clinton made any enemies, at least, than she already has for accepting lobby money. There is a large netroots contingent that's not going to accept her under any circumstances, regardless of whether she wins the nomination--and her not catering to them is in some ways a sign of strength.
That she seems to have been embraced, despite the policy, is what is most encouraging. The gap based on her experience and acumen seems actually to be rising amongst the realists, rather than the cynics who vote based on the polls and for personal reasons instead of in their own best interests. If blogland gives her a fair shot, I think that's all she's asked.
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Rudy, Romney and "The Hillary Letters"
[Read the article: More bad news for Rudy Giuliani]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I live in NYC. Rudy is a bully who left the city in a financial mess at the time he left office due to his own malfeasance. Ask Bloomberg.
The you-tube of Romney with the conservative radio jock was the first time he made sense to me. (I think he's the real contender in the GOP) He's right--the whole fundamentalist "moralist" thing is a crock and he did a good job debunking it for himself--if not defining it as a matter of principle for everybody running.
The other item that past mostly unmentioned in Salon were those letters of Hillary's. I don't see how this refrain that she is a "cold fish" aren't put to rest by them. She has stood on her own two feet from an early age--and those of her gender and class who continue to debunk her are the ones who have some explaining to do.
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The Cultural Divide
[Read the article: Art movies: R.I.P.]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think Jung basically got it right as a thinker--and the movies are a near perfect example. "We" (in the West) are at the end of a "paradigm," yet the "new age," hasn't fully formed. It's actually the simplest explanation for those paying attention. The people at the edges (the subjects of most of the great movies of the last fourty years) are aware of it, and becoming more articulate as time goes by. Yet the rest have had any critical intelligence they might have possessed destroyed by mass media.
It has led to the great cultural divide in this country and makes politics into the circus it has become as well. The 60's, as has been made painfully clear, were a mere blip on the graph, and the forces of reaction have closed in on it. Hence, "small movies" vs "blockbusters" and unquestionable greatness is a thing of the past.
I agree: the sad truth may be that we may not see another Bergman, Antonioni, or Fellini for a long time to come--though Almodovar is in the running in my book, and it is encouraging to see he has found an audience in this country. (I haven't enjoyed an American novel in the last twenty years--but that's another story.)
I think if "we" know anything now, it's that it's going to take time to work this out, especially as regards religion, where it begins. Even here in liberal blogland, where the new literate generation is finding a voice, there is little common ground, not much knowledge, and few signposts. At least, when the great filmmakers were at work, we had that illusion.