Oliver Stone - Anti-semitic comments get a pass by the media

Jeff Jacoby, writing in the Boston Globe and on his website compares the reaction to Mel Gibson's tirade against Jews to Oliver Stone's. He asks, "is there a double standard?"

LATE IN JULY, a Hollywood honcho uncorks a blast of anti-Semitic bile, the sort of malignant stereotype about Jews one might expect from David Duke or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Is that newsworthy?

It certainly was in 2006, when Mel Gibson, arrested in Malibu for drunken driving, demanded to know whether the arresting deputy was Jewish, and then launched into an anti-Semitic rant: "F-----g Jews," he raged. "The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world."

Calls went out for folks to boycott Gibson movies and to never work with him again. More than 1,000 news items were filed in the week after the incident.

Now, turn to Oliver Stone, the most recent prominent Hollywood figure to blame Jews for the world's ills and "Jewish domination of the media". One week later, less than 150 items have been posted. "On ABC, CBS, and NBC, the news shows completely ignored the story. The New York Times restricted its coverage to two short items in its "Arts, Briefly" section -- and few other papers ran even that much.

No widespread calls for a boycott of Stone and his work.

So, Jacoby wonders,

Gibson and Stone are both guilty of indulging in rank anti-Semitism (for which both promptly "apologized"), but only Gibson was buried under a newsroom avalanche of outrage and disgust. What explains that glaring difference? Surely the media don't think Jew-baiting is intolerable only when it comes from a right-wing Christian like Gibson. Surely they wouldn't overlook Stone's noxious rant just because he is a pluperfect left-wing activist.

Surely that can't be the explanation for so disgraceful a double standard.

Can it?

I think he's right and that's what I have to say.

Stephen M. Flatow

On-line polls

Did you ever get an e-mail from an acquaintance who says YOU MUST go to such and such a site and answer a poll on this issue or that? Sure you have.

Such an e-mail hit my in-box today for an MSNBC poll on Arizona's new immigration law that allows police officers to ask for identification if they think a person is in the country illegally. Here was the message in the exact type size:

If you don't do anything else today, please answer this MSNBC Poll question and forward it on to as many people as you can. The silent majority must not be silent on this one.

OK, I get it, you want me to look at the poll. So, I did, and voted.

Now, I don't know when this poll was first posted on MSNBC but as of this morning it had more than 1,100,000 respondents. The question is, where are all the people opposed to the Arizona initiative? Why haven't their e-mail alerts clued them to the poll?

Let's be honest, polls don't matter. They don't change political positions but they make you feel good to know that you are not alone with your feelings one way or the other. Keep those polls coming, I love to be one in million or in this case one of 90+% of 1,100,000.

Well, that's what I have to say.

Stephen M. Flatow

Fatal drugs - counterfeit malaria treatment in Southeast Asia

Here's a trivia question for film buffs out there-- Harry Lime was accused of what crime?

Time's up. It was selling counterfeit penicillin. The drug was still relatively knew when Graham Greene wrote his novel and was a potent anti-biotic for many illnesses. When caught by the gendarmes, Harry would have been tried and sentenced to death because he was responsible for the deaths of dozens in a meningitis outbreak.

Today, the problem of counterfeit medicines is still with us. We're not talking about generics or knock-off drugs. No, we're talking about pills being 100% flour, or worse, containing parasites.

Smithsonian Magazine writes about "The Fatal Consequences of Counterfeit Drugs." And the story is scary. Malaria is rampant in southeast Asia, and many people fall prey to the disease each year. Prior drugs are no longer working, but a new one, China's "Artesunate," is very effective but is a little pricey--not for us in the States but for people there.

Crooks have found a way to duplicate the look of the pill, and pharmacists are often without the means of knowing if the drug they are selling is the real thing or not.

In the meantime, read the magazine article, and learn what's happening on the other side of the world. Harry Lime gets his in the end, maybe the new Harrys will get theirs.

Well, that's what I have to say.

Stephen M. Flatow

From the shake of the head department - Gays bash Israel

Queers Against Israeli Apartheid wins battle against censorship proudly

"congratulates Toronto’s LGBT community for successfully reversing censorship at
the 2010 Pride Parade. Pride Toronto announced today that it would not censor
the term ‘Israeli apartheid’ from the parade."

The Queers group is aligned with the Israeli apartheid movement because they believe that Israelis are tolerant of a gay lifestyle only to contrast Israeli practices with those in the Arab and Muslim world where homosexuality is punishable by death. In other words, Israel's liberal attitude towards gays is a ruse to trick liberal countries into supporting their oppression of Palestinians.

I give up.

Well, that's what I have to say.

Stephen M. Flatow

What are we to do with Haiti?

My suggestion? Why not make Haiti a commonwealth partner of the United States along the lines of, say, Puerto Rico.
I think there are three advantages to such a confederation-

• it's obvious that the infrastructure has to be rebuilt. Who can do that better than American contractors employing local labor? This results in profit for American companies, perhaps increased tax revenue from them, and a boost for economic recovery here and there as well since salaries to local workers will be translated into a demand for goods and services. Manufacturing on the island will then follow, again, adding more people to the working class.
  
• it will stabilize the government and streets of Haiti. It's no secret that Haitian politicos have for generations lined their pockets at the great expense of the populace. An American presence will stabilize "law and order" and allow for development of local constabulary. With America becoming the nanny, the need for private organizations and the United Nations to hold hands with Haitians will soon disappear. The only handholding will be as partners in educational and scientific ventures.
  
• the prospect of free passage between the United States and Haiti will result in the construction of American-style resorts to attract dollars from tourists. Again, a boost for the Haitian economy and folks through salary and taxes.
  

If the experiment works, after a number of years, its citizens will become American citizens. Far fetched? Not really, but does anyone have the guts to say it?

And, if it doesn't happen, you can expect to see 10s of thousands of Haitians allowed to emigrate to the United States out of humanitarian compassion resulting in the creation of another lower income strata putting more strain on American social services.

I think the choice is easy. Make them partners, not mendicants. It's worked in the Philippines and it's working in Puerto Rico. Haiti should be next.

Well, that's what I have to say.
Stephen M. Flatow

Nishmat and the Alisa Flatow Program

Just checking my email and up came a Google Alert about Nishmat, a post-high school institution in Jerusalem, and its Alisa Flatow Overseas Students Program that is designed to educate young women from, well, overseas.

The email features a video about the program produced by Shmuel Hoffman in which students and administrators comment about Nishmat and the Alisa Program. Here's the link.

For more information about Nishmat and its programs, go to www.nishmat.net.

Study in Israel - Scholarship fund helps hundreds

The Alisa Flatow Memorial Scholarship Fund has been granting scholarships for post-high school study in Israel since 1996.

While the study must be religious in nature, scholarships are available to men and women whether they be Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist or unsure. More information about the Fund and applications are available through the Fund's website www.alisafund.org.

And now a word from the sponsor:

The Alisa Flatow Memorial Scholarship Fund does gratefully accept contributions. The demand for scholarship assistance is great and the Fund does need partners.

Contributions by check should be made payable and mailed to:

Alisa Flatow Mem. Scholarship Fund
Jewish Community Foundation of MetroWest
901 Route 10
Whippany, NJ 07981

If you care to contribute on line, please go here.

I thank you for your support.

Stephen M. Flatow