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4,000 Jews, 1 Lie


Posted Monday, Sept. 30, 2002, at 6:47 PM ET

On Friday, New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey demanded the resignation of Amiri Baraka, the state's poet laureate, for writing a poem called "Somebody Blew Up America." In it, Baraka repeats an urban myth about Sept. 11: "Who told 4000 Israeli workers at the Twin Towers/ To stay home that day/ Why did Sharon stay away?" Baraka later said that "everything said about Israel in the poem is easily researched." Last October, Bryan Curtis debunked the "4,000 Israelis" claim, tracing its origin to Lebanon-based TV stations and a U.S. Web site.

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Remarks From The Fray:

If you make Amiri Baraka poet laureate you can't act astonished when he spews anti-Semitic bile - it's been his stock in trade for several decades now. Either accept him as he is, or appoint someone else to the post.
And what does it say about NJ's illustrious governor that the only thing he objected to in the entire poem was the one line about Israeli workers? I found the idea that white Americans are responsible for virtually ALL the ills of the world over the last 500 years (the Holocaust?) offensive.
Sorry Gov. but you or someone close to you appointed this particular court jester - you may as well get used to his lame act.

-- Bob Baraka (no relation)

(To reply, click here.)

The bigger issue here is that this is a classic example of the Cornell West Syndrome. That is the fact that the devolution into postmodern relativism has intellectually decapitated the civil rights movement by reducing what should be the intellectual leadership of the minority community into a bunch of blithering idiots.

The key line "Who define science?" is a dead give away. It reflects the absurd but widespread assertion by postmodern intellectuals that scientific facts are not discovered but are rather constructed in line with the dominant power structure.

Similarly, Baraka doesn't believe that the 4000 Jews myth is "true". He probably doesn't believe there is any such thing s truth just different "discourses" on 9/11. And since the arabs who propagate the 4000 jews myth are less white and less wealthy than the average American, they necessarily represent the "oppressed other" and their discourse is to be preferred over the "privileged" discourse of the West."

The really sad thing is that that an idiot like Baraka probably really thinks the way to address such a problem is to write really, really bad poetry at it. Of course that's just me imposing my white western definition of art on his poor little oppressed head.

-- Philo

(To reply, click here.)

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Washington Post