"STEWART: I thought Al Sharpton was very impressive.
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: I enjoyed his way of speaking."
-- that Crossfire episode with Jon Stewart that is getting like way too much attention.
The thing that concerns me here is...am I crazy for hating Al Sharpton? Like, didn't this man say some pretty nasty things about Jewish people? Am I wrong to be bothered by those comments still? Is it OK for me to be upset that this man refuses to apologize for the disaster that was the Tawana Brawley case? The same man who went to Gaza in 2001 to meet with Yasser Arafat?
I just feel like everybody really likes him and I need to just "chill."
Whatever. I am currently chilling and I still think Al Sharpton is really awful.
You're not crazy. Some people just don't know about his past (although Jews seem to be more informed than others in this respect), and others tolerate him because they know that criticizing him will lead to significant political repercussions.
ReplyDeleteAlex, this should give you some idea:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=2411
And yet you would, if you wanted to win as a Democrat.
ReplyDeleteWhy not Colin Powell and Condi Rice? Because they're Uncle Toms / race traitors / "oreos" / blah blah [insert other racist terms used to describe African-Americans who don't share Al Sharpton's worldview]. but seriously, a lot of African-Americans think that African-American Republicans are sell-outs (similar to how a lot of Jews think Jewish Republicans are idiots ... well, at least that's what the Jews in my family think).
ReplyDeletep.s. i'm pretty sure you're the same Molly I met at a CFI dinner for the "What is Zionism?" panel a long, long time ago, and i haven't seen you since then, but i just wanted to let you know that i like what you have to say and think that you should post more on phoebe's blog.