The New Centrist explains why Michael Lerner is an ass

This is a passage from a recent, dreadful article by "Rabbi" Michael Lerner of Tikkun:
"That media was outraged at the attempt by some North Korean allied group to scare people away from watching a movie ridiculing and then planning to assassinate the current (immoral) ruler of Korea, never wondering how we'd respond if a similar movie had been made ridiculing and planning the assassination of an American president."
In an email, my buddy The New Centrist has an answer to Lerner's question:
They responded with awards.
Actually, there are plenty of reasons that Lerner is an ass, but that's a good one to start with.

Comments

Rebecca said…
Lerner is a complete ass. I encountered him in 1988 in Israel, in the middle of the first intifada. He had come to speak with Israeli leftists who were protesting the occupation. He showed up at a meeting at Kol Haneshama, the Reform synagogue in Jerusalem, and people were excited to hear him. He proceeded to tell the Israeli peace activists how they should protest against the occupation - out of the great wisdom that he had gathered through his week-long visit to Israel. After that I always thought he was a blowhard and a fool. And, by the way, not a rabbi.
damon said…
You might not like his views, but this line is quite crucial I think:

''When right-wing "pro-Israel" fanatics frequently sent me death threats, physically attacked my house and painted on the gates statements about me being "a Nazi" or "a self-hating Jew," and called in bomb threats to Tikkun, the magazine I edit....''

That's where criticism becomes illegitimate.

Being Eustonites or neo-cons or whatever, you might not get his wishy washy ''give peace a chance'' hippy sounding stuff, but those people have a right to be heard too imo.

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