Michael Kimmelman
A1, A18Now to the misstatements, distortions, and poor word choice:
Although the article is about Gazans, each time Israel appears, it is cast in a negative light. Kimmelman writes that the people of Gaza are “penned in by Israel.” Is the author implying that Gazans are like livestock? The intent, I am sure, was to de-legitimize Israel’s blockade of Gaza, but the effect is to de-humanize Gazans. Later on, the author accuses Israel of providing little gasoline, submitting to a typical Hamas talking point.
Music, TV, and the internet provide Gazans with an escape from the “armored checkpoints.” To my knowledge, there are no checkpoints in Gaza. The author appears to confuse Gaza with the Jordan’s west bank. This is just sloppy.
Kimmelman endeavors to present Gazan society, and the larger Muslim world, as a population seething to break out of the grip of violent extremism. At one point, he slips into a comparison between Gaza and the Pakistan-Afghan frontier. “Most Muslims,” we learn, are against the anti-Western agenda of Islamists. How does this assertion reconcile with evidence that Islamist groups are often the government’s strongest opposition group in Muslim countries?
At another point, the author mocks the impact of fatwas, stating that most Gazans are unfazed by them. “Naturally, nobody pays attention [to them],” he writes. Pointing out an exceptional case in which fatwas are dismissed is not enough; Kimmelman must create the appearance that fatwas hold no sway whatsoever over Gazans.
A final point: By now, readers know that the NY Times is intent on casting Fatah as “moderate;” but the implication is not drawn that if Fatah is moderate, then Hamas must be extreme. Instead, the NY Times consistently avoids this apt description.
Abes
Posts
Good points. I was nauseated reading the article...not because it was a slice of Palestinian life, but for Kimmelman's verbosity and poeticizing everything, from the color of the nearby sea, to someone speaking.
ReplyDeleteOne criticism. Israel supplies little gasoline to the Gaza strip. Yes, it's a Hamas talking point, but we shouldn't criticize Kimmelman for that...but for providing zero context on the hardships Gazans face.
Excellent analysis.
ReplyDeleteI do not disbelieve the phenomenon that the author is recounting, as I know acquaintances that can confirm this.
What is troubling, and almost comical, is that he believes that the Palestinian consumption of American pop culture demonstrates their willingness to dialogue with the West and perhaps even Israel.
This may be true for certain individuals but what it is probably more representative of is Arab hypocrisy. The fact that Arabs can be such loyal consumers of Western culture while lambasting each and everyone of its policies.
Just because they watch "Friends" doesn't mean they engage in rational, scientific analysis.
I guess the most we can hope for is that Western consumer culture will paralyze them into apathy.