High life
Under fire
Taki
he best magazine in America, the National Review, has called it the hot talk of the town. It certainly has occupied the minds of those who know the difference between paronomasia and paralogism, and It has even managed to become the topic of conversation among the social X-rays lun- ching at Mortimer's and the Jockey Club. In brief, it is the charge of Abe Rosenthal, ex-editor of the Big Bagel Times, and now a columnist for the paper, that Pat Bucha- n. an, a syndicated conservative columnist, is an anti-Semite. Abe's charges are serious and stem from Pat's statements about the US intervention in the Gulf. To top it off, Rosenthal claims that the kind of thing Buchanan says can lead to Auschwitz. For his part, all Pat wrote was that it is a disgrace to squander young American lives in defence of cheap oil, and that America was being pressed to go to war against Iraq for the sake of Israeli interests. (`The Kissingers and Rosenthals are braying for blood, but it's the Leroy Browns and the MacDonalds who will do the dying.') As one who has been repeatedly attack- ed by Jews as an anti-Semite, here are my thoughts on the brouhaha. If, as Arthur Hertzberg said, an anti-Semite is one who asserts that, no matter what Jews might believe, their inherent character is fixed and nasty — then Pat Buchanan is the least anti-Semitic person I know. If, however, one can distinguish between the interests of Uncle Sam and those of Israel — or better yet, have the courage to say that John Demjanjuk is not the beast of Treb- linka — it is the Rosenthals of this world that are the bigots. Abe Rosenthal is using an ugly tactic which squelches free speech, and by his quick and injudicious use 6f the anti- Semite label, smears probably the best journalist in the land. Rosenthal is a crude writer, a lachrymose, hysterical and in my opinion ludicrous figure, who sees anti- Semitism everywhere, and who would probably think shooting unarmed Palesti- nians who defend their holy places from radical Jews is as normal as homosexuals attacking a peaceful service at St Patrick's Cathedral.
Given the fact that I, too, have come under fire from the Rosenthals of this world, what is one to do? Stop writing what one perceives to be the truth because of the fear of being labelled an anti-Semite? The answer is of course not. Some of my richest friends are Jews, also some of my nicest ones. If the Rosenthals of this world don't like it, that's just too bad. If they wish to shut me up, well, that's up to the sainted one, who just happens to be Jewish. Mind you, the Abe v. Pat imbroglio is nothing to that of the Lockergate scandal, where some brawny pro football players are alleged to have exposed themselves to Lisa Olson, a female reporter. In Locker- gate II, another female hack was barred from the locker-room, and the coach who barred her was fined 30,000 smackers (the Supreme Court decision of 1985 gave women equal access in the showers, but not men). What I would like to know is what the women were doing there in the first place. A sportswriter's place is in the locker-room, but men are naked in there, and men prefer to have women underneath them when naked. But if we play under such rules, then I expect the sainted one to assign me to Wimbledon next year where I hope to spend the fortnight in the shower with Steffi Graf.
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