Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Dershowitz spanks DePaul's Finkelstein--again, brings up Klocek case

Crossposted on Marathon Pundit.

DePaul University's resident Holocaust-minimizer, Norman G. Finkelstein, gets another well deserved verbal thrashing from Harvard professor and author Alan M. Dershowitz.

From today's FrontPage Magazine:

The level of "academic" discourse on the Middle-East reached a new low—quite a feat considering some of the old lows—when the notorious Jewish anti-Semite and Holocaust-justice denier Norman Finkelstein wrote a screed suggesting that I be targeted "for assassination" because of my views on Israel. The obscene article was accompanied by an obscene cartoon drawn by "Latuff," a frequent accomplice of Finkelstein. The cartoon portrayed me as masturbating in rapturous joy while viewing images of dead Lebanese civilians on a TV set labeled "Israel peep show," with a Jewish Star of David prominently featured. The cartoon aptly represents the content of Finkelstein’s piece, which accuses me of being a "moral pervert" who "missed the climactic scene of his little peep show." He also claims quite absurdly that I "sanction mass murder" and "the extermination of the Lebanese people." (I’m surprised he hasn’t accused me of kicking of puppy dogs, scowling at little children, and parking in handicapped spaces.)

Finkelstein calls me a Nazi not once, but twice, first saying that I subscribe to “Nazi ideology” and then comparing me to Nazi propagandist Julius Streicher, who was prosecuted at Nuremberg by my mentor Telford Taylor.

The peep-show cartoon was even too extreme for the notorious "Counterpunch," a Stalinist website that glorifies Hezbollah, Hamas and other terrorist enemies of the U.S. and Israel. Prior to its decision not to run this particular cartoon, Counterpunch seemed to have no standards, but even for them this one was apparently too much (though they kept in the "peep show" reference that inspired the cartoon).

More...
This academic pornographer, who uses "professor" in his byline even when he is spewing unacademic hate, is now up for tenure at DePaul University, a Catholic school in Chicago that recently fired a teacher named Thomas Klocek for offending Arab students during a discussion of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Finkelstein was fired by several universities at which he previously worked for abusing students who disagreed with his bigoted views. The chairman of one department where he taught said he was fired for "incompetence," "mental instability" and "abuse" of students with politics different from his own. I wonder whether Finkelstein will submit this "assassination" article as part of his tenure portfolio at DePaul. He certainly should, since it is quite representative of his "scholarship." If he submits it, will it be accompanied by the masturbation cartoon? It should, because the cartoon too personifies Finkelstein’s academic standards.

The second anniversary of the beginning of the Thomas Klocek affair is on September 15.

Here is the Finkelstein Counterpunch article Dersh refers to in today's write-up.

Here's a previous Dershowitz spanking of Finkelstein.

Related posts: Norman Finkelstein article: Dershowitz' descent into moral barbarism

CAIR-Chicago recommended that DePaul fire Klocek

Hat tip to Dr. Steven Plaut in Haifa.

13 comments:

pathickey 7:31 AM  

Never cared for the Blue Demons myself, but when did it become such a Stuckey's outlet?

Anonymous,  8:55 AM  

The Finkelstein article should be read and considered by anyone who has an interest in international politics.

I would like to say that from what I know I think that the Thomas Klocek affair is complete bullshit. I hope that someday DePaul will at the very least issue a formal apology on the matter.

Marathon Pundit 10:06 AM  

To Klocek, yes they should apologize to him.

Anonymous,  10:48 AM  

Quoting:

New Ruberry posting rule: Anonymous comments, the "other anonymous" excepted, will be deleted.


Asking:

When will Anonymous 8:55 a.m. be deleted?

Anonymous,  11:02 AM  

That rule only applies to people who call him out on his unhealthy, and rather sad, fixation on fringe faculty members and his cheerleading for retailers who think the rest of us are responsible for footing the healthcare bills for their low- paid employees.

Marathon Pundit 2:17 PM  

We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of the dreams.

Marathon Pundit 2:17 PM  

Actually, it's hard to delete these sometimes

Marathon Pundit 2:20 PM  

Dershowitz doensn't view Klocek as "fringe."

Anonymous,  2:41 PM  

Klocek also isn't who I describe as "fringe." Fringe refers to the two or three professors like Finkelstein who spout crazy ideas on every campus in the country, and who "sky is falling" thought- police types such as you and the delusional Horowitz try to paint as representative of all academia.

I actually agree with Dershowitz about Finkelstein, I just don't agree with heavy-handed attempts to silence him. That sort of behavior is standard operating procedure for people like you and Horowitz, Dershowitz ought to know better.

Anonymous,  10:54 PM  

Is there a connection to Illinois politics here that I'm missing? And hasn't John Ruberry covered this at great length already?

B-O-R-I-N-G.

And just because the limit is two posts per day doesn't mean you have to post this often. Feel free to do whatever you want on Marathon Pundit, but try to stay relevant here Mr. Ruberry.

pathickey 9:03 AM  

Gee Whiz 47th Ward, can't the guy have little fun? Depaul is news. It's in Illinois. It's political. It's Academic! - Hey Allan Funt's ghost hovering over the fighting 47th.

Hey, get a blog. Post up a storm about Billboards and such - political loyalty and personal integrity. Then wait for the yamheads to snipe.

Better yet, don't read the posters you don't particularly care for and maintain that well-rounded and sharp point of view so evident by the anonymity and short-britches logic of your comments.

Jeepers, I should have had Farina this morning that old Quaker Oats makes me intolerant of blockages.

Anonymous,  1:32 PM  

Nothing more interesting than an update on Hickey's colon.

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