The Oeuvre of Max Blumenthal

A couple of dozen Goldblog readers have asked me to condemn Max Blumenthal for his video of young drunk Jews saying terrible things about Barack Obama. I can't quite bring myself to issue such a condemnation. Yes, I've studied young Blumenthal's videos, and yes, he wields his camera as a weapon against Jews he doesn't like, but here's the thing: He didn't force these young adults (not "kids," as a couple of letter-writers would have it) in Jerusalem to say the things they said. They did that all by themselves. Several e-mailers complained that the subjects of Blumenthal's film were drunk, and therefore not accountable for the ugliness that came out of their mouths.

Sorry, no dice. No one I know believes that Mel Gibson is anti-Semitic only when drunk. The fools in Jerusalem had these thoughts in their heads; alcohol cannot plant ideas that aren't there. And yes, they are not represenative of anything much, and yes, Blumenthal would be a journalist, rather than a propagandist, if he had noted that American Jews voted for Barack Obama in overwhelming numbers. I understand all the arguments, and I of course understand the argument, as I'm sure Blumenthal does too, that anti-Semitism in the Arab world is expressed by religious leaders while sober.

It is true: Max Blumenthal gets famous by highlighting the behavior of idiotic Jews. It's not a profession I would choose, but it's hard to blame him for the racism of other people.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2009/06/the-oeuvre-of-max-blumenthal/19052/