Somebody Didn't Read the Talking Points
Just saw David Baker speak about the Israeli-Palestinian situation. David Baker is great because, among other things, he's an Israeli spokesperson who actually speaks English - which makes him a beautiful, rare thing that must be cherished.
At one point he was talking about why the press paints the Palestinians as miserable and the Israelis as evil oppressors: it's easier to take a picture of a tank rumbling through a refugee camp than to evaluate the grinding psychological pain of not knowing if your 16 year old is going to make it home on a bus every day (he apparently didn't my usual explanation - "because their stringers are terrorist sympathizers who hate Jews"). And he's going on and on, and at one point uses the phrase "security wall," which of course is a strict no-no (mostly because it's really just not a wall, but also because the word "wall" has negative connotations). I assume there was a memo about this.
Then he corrected himself, called it a fence, and pointed out that 95% of the barrier really is a fence. But of course, since we're on a college campus, there were at least 5 or 6 psuedo-academics who "feel really really powerfully" about the "plight of the Palestinians". And those 5 or 6, stayed mostly quiet through the talk - except the one guy who basically accused AIPAC of controlling US foreign policy and caused all the assembled dignitaries to shuffle their feet uncomfortably. But when Baker corrected himself, they openly smirked and embarressed everyone again.
Of course, they got theirs when Swanee Hunt said "I didn't support the Iraq War" but "every time we get an Iraqi woman behind a microphone, they say 'Thank You America!'" I haven't seen a room full of academics that despondent since TV Nation got canceled.
At one point he was talking about why the press paints the Palestinians as miserable and the Israelis as evil oppressors: it's easier to take a picture of a tank rumbling through a refugee camp than to evaluate the grinding psychological pain of not knowing if your 16 year old is going to make it home on a bus every day (he apparently didn't my usual explanation - "because their stringers are terrorist sympathizers who hate Jews"). And he's going on and on, and at one point uses the phrase "security wall," which of course is a strict no-no (mostly because it's really just not a wall, but also because the word "wall" has negative connotations). I assume there was a memo about this.
Then he corrected himself, called it a fence, and pointed out that 95% of the barrier really is a fence. But of course, since we're on a college campus, there were at least 5 or 6 psuedo-academics who "feel really really powerfully" about the "plight of the Palestinians". And those 5 or 6, stayed mostly quiet through the talk - except the one guy who basically accused AIPAC of controlling US foreign policy and caused all the assembled dignitaries to shuffle their feet uncomfortably. But when Baker corrected himself, they openly smirked and embarressed everyone again.
Of course, they got theirs when Swanee Hunt said "I didn't support the Iraq War" but "every time we get an Iraqi woman behind a microphone, they say 'Thank You America!'" I haven't seen a room full of academics that despondent since TV Nation got canceled.
