"Readers could learn about other cultures without making their values our own." Alan, you just summed up the opposite of this moment in history, where so many embrace other cultures as their own and adopt their jihadism as both a moral necessity and cultural norm. That Mamdani just won the Dem vote in NYC while protesters march in support of Iran while condemning Israel and Jews feels historic to me and this article helped me understand some of why I feel this way. Love your storytelling even if the moral of this story describes today's moral compass spinning wildly out of control. And the part about the meerkats in the Hitler video just killed! I could not stop laughing. Brilliant and funny. Thanks for another gem and for fighting the good fight and outing the NGS. So well done!
Thanks so much, Chana. I think there's a certain kind of multiculturalism that's attractive to people who don't have a strong sense of their own identity. "If I don't really know who I am, then I'm everyone and everything," which introduces a whole set of new problems. ...
Re: Mamdani -- his primary victory makes me feel queasy. Anyone who says that "globalize the intifada" is simply a call for the liberation of all people -- well, the question then becomes "liberate who from what"? >> The beauty of the Jewish Story is that liberation from slavery, Pharaoh, and Egypt wasn't the ending but the beginning. Next comes Sinai, where the gift of liberation is paired with a set of responsibilities. "You can't have one without the other," sayeth the Lord. Except if your a progressive, I guess. >> So many liberation movements are about freedom without any responsibility. And as Dara Horn points out, that's what fuels a lot of anti-Semitism: a lust for freedom without personal responsibility.
Re: meerkats & the Hitler video -- I don't usually make myself laugh with my own material, but that video still brings a smile to my face. Thanks for the generous review!
You really make a valid point about identity(or lack of it) and multiculturalism, Alan. It might be worth exploring in an entire post. Along with responsibility. These people wouldn't last fifteen minutes in Gaza, even less in Iran. They have just created the most antisemitic zeitgeist in American history, far as I am aware. It's just hard to swallow that Israel is now the defining issue in practically everything! I watched a comic from Canada on YouTube who is usually very funny, never political except one with Trudeau. Yesterday she posted an entire sketch based on Israel as not deserving to exist. I was shocked because this was so unlike her comedy. The day before was our local paper's headlines about students at a local high school trying to kill a student for being Jewish and all the threats and harassment that had gone on for months without any accountability from Seattle Public Schools. So I cannot go anywhere or look at anything now where it doesn't feel like an indictment on Jews and Israel, as if antisemism is now a prerequisite characteristic of Western society. And that's not even mentioning NYC and Schumer and Nadler's endorsement. When Jews perpetuate this I feel kind of broken inside. Thanks for listening to my rant. Because everything you've written is so true. And, P.S. thanks again for the meerkats. That was pure comedic genius! I'm still smiling inside.
This was very educational! I had no idea. When I was a kid in the 70s and 80s my mom subscribed to the magazine. By the 90s my mom had died but dad kept renewing it in her name. At one point he cancelled. I think now I know why….
Your Dad was not alone. When I was on staff, the Society got tons of mail from members who submitted their "resignations" because they didn't like what was happening to the Magazine's content. Most people didn't notice the change because it happened so gradually. Funny story: Back in the early to mid-1900s, the cover of NGM was edged with black-and-white oak leaves. But by the 1960s and 70s, the Society wanted to remove them -- but not too quickly! They didn't want to upset anyone with sudden, radical changes. So the oak leaf border was removed each month a few leaves at a time. After 15 years or so, the oak leaves had vanished. ... Same sort of thing happened with the editorial content.
we still love the OLD Nat'l Geo an' have many pre-90's issues saved...some as old as the 1930s! What truly opened our eyes (bein' a mama!) wuz THIS issue:
no more gender binary 'er science...just PSY-ants from PUND-itz an' my girls seein' that issue in some waitin' room were FREAKED OUT an' thus ended our affection for a once amazin' journal that took us all around the world. I wanted ta see discoveries, far away places, an' instead they went where no man has gone before--inta girls undies. YUK.
"Readers could learn about other cultures without making their values our own." Alan, you just summed up the opposite of this moment in history, where so many embrace other cultures as their own and adopt their jihadism as both a moral necessity and cultural norm. That Mamdani just won the Dem vote in NYC while protesters march in support of Iran while condemning Israel and Jews feels historic to me and this article helped me understand some of why I feel this way. Love your storytelling even if the moral of this story describes today's moral compass spinning wildly out of control. And the part about the meerkats in the Hitler video just killed! I could not stop laughing. Brilliant and funny. Thanks for another gem and for fighting the good fight and outing the NGS. So well done!
Thanks so much, Chana. I think there's a certain kind of multiculturalism that's attractive to people who don't have a strong sense of their own identity. "If I don't really know who I am, then I'm everyone and everything," which introduces a whole set of new problems. ...
Re: Mamdani -- his primary victory makes me feel queasy. Anyone who says that "globalize the intifada" is simply a call for the liberation of all people -- well, the question then becomes "liberate who from what"? >> The beauty of the Jewish Story is that liberation from slavery, Pharaoh, and Egypt wasn't the ending but the beginning. Next comes Sinai, where the gift of liberation is paired with a set of responsibilities. "You can't have one without the other," sayeth the Lord. Except if your a progressive, I guess. >> So many liberation movements are about freedom without any responsibility. And as Dara Horn points out, that's what fuels a lot of anti-Semitism: a lust for freedom without personal responsibility.
Re: meerkats & the Hitler video -- I don't usually make myself laugh with my own material, but that video still brings a smile to my face. Thanks for the generous review!
You really make a valid point about identity(or lack of it) and multiculturalism, Alan. It might be worth exploring in an entire post. Along with responsibility. These people wouldn't last fifteen minutes in Gaza, even less in Iran. They have just created the most antisemitic zeitgeist in American history, far as I am aware. It's just hard to swallow that Israel is now the defining issue in practically everything! I watched a comic from Canada on YouTube who is usually very funny, never political except one with Trudeau. Yesterday she posted an entire sketch based on Israel as not deserving to exist. I was shocked because this was so unlike her comedy. The day before was our local paper's headlines about students at a local high school trying to kill a student for being Jewish and all the threats and harassment that had gone on for months without any accountability from Seattle Public Schools. So I cannot go anywhere or look at anything now where it doesn't feel like an indictment on Jews and Israel, as if antisemism is now a prerequisite characteristic of Western society. And that's not even mentioning NYC and Schumer and Nadler's endorsement. When Jews perpetuate this I feel kind of broken inside. Thanks for listening to my rant. Because everything you've written is so true. And, P.S. thanks again for the meerkats. That was pure comedic genius! I'm still smiling inside.
This was very educational! I had no idea. When I was a kid in the 70s and 80s my mom subscribed to the magazine. By the 90s my mom had died but dad kept renewing it in her name. At one point he cancelled. I think now I know why….
Your Dad was not alone. When I was on staff, the Society got tons of mail from members who submitted their "resignations" because they didn't like what was happening to the Magazine's content. Most people didn't notice the change because it happened so gradually. Funny story: Back in the early to mid-1900s, the cover of NGM was edged with black-and-white oak leaves. But by the 1960s and 70s, the Society wanted to remove them -- but not too quickly! They didn't want to upset anyone with sudden, radical changes. So the oak leaf border was removed each month a few leaves at a time. After 15 years or so, the oak leaves had vanished. ... Same sort of thing happened with the editorial content.
Interesting bunch of whackos.
we still love the OLD Nat'l Geo an' have many pre-90's issues saved...some as old as the 1930s! What truly opened our eyes (bein' a mama!) wuz THIS issue:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/issue/january-2017
no more gender binary 'er science...just PSY-ants from PUND-itz an' my girls seein' that issue in some waitin' room were FREAKED OUT an' thus ended our affection for a once amazin' journal that took us all around the world. I wanted ta see discoveries, far away places, an' instead they went where no man has gone before--inta girls undies. YUK.
Glad ya got out 'fore it went ta pot.