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Anti-Semitism Is Not Just Another Opinion. The New York Times Should Know Better.
(Washington Post) Richard Cohen - Over the centuries, anti-Semitism has been many things - an unadorned expression of hate and, in more recent times, evidence of sturdy insanity. Now thanks to a New York Times interview with Alice Walker, it's been reduced to merely a point of view. Walker, a highly praised novelist best known for The Color Purple, was asked in an interview, "What books are on your nightstand?" The second book Walker named was And the Truth Shall Set You Free by British conspiracy theorist David Icke. Icke's book endorses that hoary anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which blames evil Jews for much of the world's ills. The book also suggests that schools ought to balance lessons on the Holocaust with some questioning whether it ever even happened. When Times readers insisted the paper should have flagged the book as an anti-Semitic tome, the Times disagreed. The paper conceded that Icke "has been accused of anti-Semitism," but its book review editor, Pamela Paul, said, "People's answers are a reflection of their opinions, tastes and judgment." In other words, anti-Semitism is just another opinion, taste or judgment. The tone of Paul's response is appalling. She surely does not mean to, but she manages to treat anti-Semitism as just another point of view.