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The Jews of Primetime and A Leap of Faith
Feb. 1st, 2004 01:09 pmI'm reading a book right now called The Jews of Primetime by David Zurawik, about how Jews have been represented, by Jews (since there is a huge Jewish presence on the executives of network TV) and how they employed self-censorship either to supress Jewish themes or simplify them to easy jokes based on stereotypes. The secondary theme of this is the "self-hating Jew"--are the Jews of TV self-hating because they can mine their culture for humor turned inward, or is this healthy? So far I've read through the sections on Rhoda, Friends, Will and Grace and Seinfeld, the latter of which was originally passed on by Brandon Tarkitoff (Jewish) who thought the show was "too New York, too Jewish." The whole book is very interesting.
Last week I skipped through Queen Noor's autobiography, A Leap of Faith. Interesting but really one-sided re: the Arab-Israeli conflict. She just keeps hammering home this theme of Israeli aggression and ignoring or trivializing Arab on Jewish violence--suicide bombers aren't mentioned at all, Munich '72 rates a barely passing reference. The constant putdowns of Israeli media are annoying and unnecessary--eg., she's talking about a heart incident her husband had--"typically, Israeli radio kept saying he'd had a heart attack." Whatthefuckever, LISA. (She talks about her giving her mother "license" to mistakenly call her "Lisa" after she'd been renamed "Noor" in the wake of her marriage, conversion to Islam, and ascension to the throne. But after awhile she demanded to be called "Noor." Jeez--that woman carried you for nine months and bore you. I think she can call you pretty much whatever she wants.) The most interesting part is when she talks about the Palestinian uprising in the early '70s, when Palestinian terrorists tried to overthrow the government. Very very interesting account, and she wasn't even there yet--she heard the story from other members of the royal family.
One part that annoyed me especially was when she's talking about the Six Day War, and how Israel won because of their superior arms buildup and equipment, but really, Jordan had the better soldiers--better-trained, "more courageous." Wow, LISA. Israel must have tanks capable of driving themselves and planes capable of flying themselves if one tiny country can beat THREE others, SURROUNDING them. Get over it, LISA--you lost. Israel played you and Syria and Egypt and won. And yes, sorry, they did indeed have much better soldiers. They kicked your asses up and down the Arabian peninsula.
There's a line in Florence King's book Southern Ladies and Gentlemen where she talks about the impact the Six-Day War had on Southern good ol' boy sensibilities--"I doubt if the world has ever seen such a rapid cease-fire in anti-Semitism. I heard boy after good ol' boy say things like 'By dern, them Jew boys shore can fight!' One man I knew seriously recommended Congress pass a law giving Moshe Dayan US citizenship, and make him Secretary of Defense. His reasoning: 'That one-eyed bastid would wipe anyone off the map whut gave us trouble.'"
Last week I skipped through Queen Noor's autobiography, A Leap of Faith. Interesting but really one-sided re: the Arab-Israeli conflict. She just keeps hammering home this theme of Israeli aggression and ignoring or trivializing Arab on Jewish violence--suicide bombers aren't mentioned at all, Munich '72 rates a barely passing reference. The constant putdowns of Israeli media are annoying and unnecessary--eg., she's talking about a heart incident her husband had--"typically, Israeli radio kept saying he'd had a heart attack." Whatthefuckever, LISA. (She talks about her giving her mother "license" to mistakenly call her "Lisa" after she'd been renamed "Noor" in the wake of her marriage, conversion to Islam, and ascension to the throne. But after awhile she demanded to be called "Noor." Jeez--that woman carried you for nine months and bore you. I think she can call you pretty much whatever she wants.) The most interesting part is when she talks about the Palestinian uprising in the early '70s, when Palestinian terrorists tried to overthrow the government. Very very interesting account, and she wasn't even there yet--she heard the story from other members of the royal family.
One part that annoyed me especially was when she's talking about the Six Day War, and how Israel won because of their superior arms buildup and equipment, but really, Jordan had the better soldiers--better-trained, "more courageous." Wow, LISA. Israel must have tanks capable of driving themselves and planes capable of flying themselves if one tiny country can beat THREE others, SURROUNDING them. Get over it, LISA--you lost. Israel played you and Syria and Egypt and won. And yes, sorry, they did indeed have much better soldiers. They kicked your asses up and down the Arabian peninsula.
There's a line in Florence King's book Southern Ladies and Gentlemen where she talks about the impact the Six-Day War had on Southern good ol' boy sensibilities--"I doubt if the world has ever seen such a rapid cease-fire in anti-Semitism. I heard boy after good ol' boy say things like 'By dern, them Jew boys shore can fight!' One man I knew seriously recommended Congress pass a law giving Moshe Dayan US citizenship, and make him Secretary of Defense. His reasoning: 'That one-eyed bastid would wipe anyone off the map whut gave us trouble.'"
