I’m reading Dennis Prager’s new book. It’s filled with shoddy writing. Dennis keeps using the word “predicated” as in “It [the welfare state] is predicated on collecting money from today’s workers…”
“Predicated” is a pompous word. “Based” is simpler and more effective.
I loathe the way Dennis Prager can’t stop praising himself and his book on the cover. Here’s the intro on the inside flap: “In this visionary book, Dennis Prager, one of America’s most original thinkers…”
Instead of describing your own book as “visionary,” you’d be better served by simply sharing your vision.
“One of the most” is a cliche. It shows you don’t want to think. And yet here it is again in Dennis Prager’s self description: “Dennis Prager is one of the most listened to and respected media personalities in America.” Respected by whom? Rachel Maddow is highly respected by those who agree with her and by nobody else. “Most listened to”? No more than hundreds of other people. Rush Limbaugh is much more “listened to” according to the ratings, but that doesn’t make him necessarily more worthy of our attention. None of Rush’s books are important.
Prager’s self-description continues: “A true Renaissance man…” Oy, give it a rest, Dennis. Let other people praise you. If you feel convinced that you’re a Renaissance man, embody such values rather than explicitly pat yourself on the back for having them.
All of Dennis Prager’s books exhibit these cringe-inducing self-descriptions on the cover.
Out of curiosity, I surfed to DennisPrager.com and found this self-description: “Dennis Prager is one of America’s most respected radio talk show hosts. He has been broadcasting on radio in Los Angeles since 1982. His popular show became nationally syndicated in 1999 and airs live, Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to Noon (Pacific Time) from his home station, KRLA. Widely sought after by television shows for his opinions, he’s appeared on Larry King Live, Hardball, Hannity & Colmes, CBS Evening News, The Today Show and many others.”
Once more with the shoddy “one of the most” constructions. He has been “broadcasting” since 1982. “Broadcasting” is a pompous ten-dollar word. Simpler words would be more effective. He’s widely sought after on television shows for his opinions? Well, that’s important to know. Thank God for that insight! Getting booked on TV is a true measure of moral depth.
Another thing I find annoying about Prager’s new book is the way he keeps quoting himself.
Other than these two minor objections, I love this important new book.
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On his radio show April 16, Dennis Prager said: “The Secret Service has a wonderful reputation for protecting the president and going after counterfeiters… I think every high school kid, if they read, picks a crime that fascinates them. For most, it’s murder. Not for me. I read book after book about counterfeiters.”
“My wife was into crime. She definitely read the crime books, the murder books. She still is.”
“The poor Secret Service… For myriad reasons, I want this president healthy, well.”
“Do you know why this all came out? It’s like a comedy routine. Because this guy haggled about price. Everything is going smoothly and then he thinks he’s being over-charged.”
“I can’t say I lost a great deal of sleep over it.”
On his show April 23, Dennis said: “I tend to be of the opinion that if people do a great job, we shouldn’t bother to find out about their private lives. However, in this case, when you’re on duty on behalf of the United States government and especially to protect the president of the United States, you have to realize that you are representing America.”
“I spoke about this at my synagogue this past Saturday, the concept of representing something higher and therefore being held to a higher standard. I used this as one example.”
“When you wear the symbols of something higher, you are expected to do better because you bring down what you are representing. You don’t only bring down yourself. It’s a bad thing.”
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In the fall of 1986, I took an introductory class in American government from professor Larry Wight at Sierra Community College. I loved the class and I loved the teacher.
And then a funny thing happened.
During each class, I found myself talking more and more. Then my questions turned into statements and I began trying to take control of the room. Once, I even dressed down the teacher for presenting an unfair perspective.
That’s when Larry Wight blew up at me in front of the whole room and said he found me increasingly hard to take.
I felt shocked and never repeated my arrogance with him. Even though I think I deserved an A grade that term, Mr. Wight gave me a B.
I loved Mr. Wight and took two more classes from him (even though I didn’t need the credits). We had no more dust-ups. I had learned my lesson.
In my final semester, in his role as the chair of the Political Science department, he gave me and another bloke an award for Student of the Year in Poli Sci.
When I transferred to UCLA, I wrote him a letter thanking him for his teaching. He wrote me back a short note to the effect that I had a good brain but that I should be careful how I used it or people would hurt me.
Ever since then, I’ve found that when given an inch in the classroom, I feel an irresistible urge to try to take over.
This never ends well.
My self-destructive tendency probably has something to do with my father being a college professor and having to spend thousands of hours of my childhood listening to him and often thinking I could do better.
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It’s not uncommon for me to pour my heart out on Torah Talk (though most of the time I hide behind my cynicism). Tonight was particularly painful. I told the truth about a letch who hit on girls during kiddish and groped them — against their will! — in the kitchen while a guest at Shabbat tables (during 1994, 1995) and made them cry.
On the one hand, I feel I am oh so noble to confess my sins publicly. On the other hand, I know that by spreading word of my cruelty far and wide, I’m recreating the painful ejections of my past.
We train people on how to treat us and I keep training people to reject me.
I am driven to recreate painful dramas from my furthest childhood, no matter what the harm to my present. I feel in the grip of certain self-destructive compulsions.
No matter where I go, there I am.
The one good thing about the frequent moves of my childhood was that they kept giving me a chance to get it right. I’d move to a new country and before the internet, nobody there knew I was a loser. For a few weeks, I could even be a curiosity. I had an accent after all.
Then the ugly truth about me would inevitably reveal itself and I’d be back in the unpopular crowd (or, at best, I’d be the least popular of the popular crowd).
Occasionally good people would adopt me and shlep me along for weeks or months or even years (the Muths at Pacific Union College, the late Lane Van Howd in ninth grade, Shannon Anderson in twelfth grade, Cathy Seipp 2001-2007, rabbis), I had the illusion that I had changed for the good and could now live on a higher plane. But this borrowed functioning always ran its course, leaving me in that familiar slough of isolation and despair.
At age 12, I thought that running marathons would get me lots of attention and transform my social status. I envisioned myself setting world records. I’d be the next Derek Clayton (the Australian world record holder for the marathon).
I finished five marathons in seventh grade, but my fastest time was four hours and fifteen minutes.
Discouraged, I started training twice a day, averaging more than 60 miles a week.
At a race in San Francisco, I met Derek Clayton. “I’m going to break your world record,” I told him. “I’m training twice a day. Ten miles a day.”
“At your age,” he said, “you should be running track. Run the mile. Don’t run long distances yet. Your body can’t handle it.”
In my next race, I was on track for a 3:30 marathon at the 18 mile mark but felt wretched. I dropped out. Knee trouble over the next few years (Osgood-Schlatters disease) ended my running career.
I took away from my 18-months of running long distances an unshakable belief in my ability to discipline myself to achieve anything I wanted.
Running hadn’t led me to prestige or to records or to fame, but I’d gained some friends (one is still my Facebook friend, David Nieman), some focus, and some taste of achieving goals through hard work.
In high school, I thought that by displaying my journalistic talent, I could get lots of attention and transform my social status. It did not work.
I envisioned myself becoming the next Dan Rather but vocal trouble limited my radio career (from 16-21) and I never made the next step to TV.
The more I worked on my voice during these years, the worse it got. I quit in utter humiliation and felt a quiet burn over the next two decades until I started studying the Alexander Technique in 2008. By 2011, my voice troubles were gone and I’d love to get back into radio and give it another shot.
A few years ago, I sent a Facebook friend request to my former news director at KAHI/KHYL radio, Pete DuFour. He’s yet to respond. I find it frustrating that I haven’t stayed in touch with anyone from these years.
I never earned more than minimum wage at KAHI/KHYL. I didn’t get any dates from radio and little fame, but I always had the sense I could be huge if I just conquered my vocal trouble. I was unshaken in my belief about my potential greatness as a journalist and as a scholar.
In college, I thought that by achieving straight As and preaching Marxism, I could get lots of attention and transform my social status. It did not work.
I envisioned that being a Marxist would make me chic on campus and get me laid. It did not happen. Not even a little bit.
Marxism was the greatest acting exercise of my life. For about two years, I acted as though the opposite of what I truly believed was true. I read dozens of books on Marxism and learned to talk the talk (OK, at times I really believed there was something to Marxism).
I was terribly amused when I told people from 1987-1989 that I was an “atheistic communist.”
This ability to enter the thinking of those inimical to me served me well as a blogger when I ventured into hostile territory and spoke to people I hated in their own language and allowed them to feel I was on their side.
After discovering Dennis Prager, I thought that by converting to Judaism, I could jettison an unwanted self and recreate myself as a righteous man who received lots of attention and transformed his social status. It did not work.
I envisioned that converting to Judaism would allow me to let go of my lifelong habit of using people, that I would become righteous and normal and that I would marry and have kids and be a respectable part of a holy community and a blessing to those around me.
I thought that by moving to Los Angeles in 1994 and getting close to Dennis Prager, I could transform my life. It did not work. I just perpetuated my lifelong habit of first idealizing and then devaluing.
Dennis Prager is the most significant of all the substitute father figures I’ve adopted. I’m not quite sure why I do this. My relationship with my own father is perfectly fine. Still, in high school, I noticed myself at times wanting to spend more time with the fathers of my friends (such as Robert McKee, Joe Hamelin) than with my friends (Kevin and Scott).
Dennis was just the ultimate father figure. He was wise and good. A great role model. I wanted to be close to him. I wanted to work for him. I wanted to take his values to the world.
My break with Dennis was the most significant rupture of my life. I lost all the friends we had in common. Distraught, I entered psycho-therapy (and have been in it ever since). I wanted to understand why I was destroying my most important relationships.
One day my therapist explained that I had learned so much from Dennis, that I wanted to show him what I could do. From that day on, I stopped wasting my therapy time talking about Dennis and the friends we’d had in common.
By leaving Dennis, I was able to do my own thing, and, at times, to do it brilliantly. I wrote what I wanted without worrying about how my work reflected on Prager.
From now on, my writing would come first for me. That had become clear. I’d sacrificed all my friends to write on Dennis. From now on, I would sacrifice everything to write what I wanted. I would not let anyone or anything hold me back from pursuing my life purpose. All loss would be bearable if I could just craft a true sentence.
I envisioned that working for Dennis Prager would be my path to meaning, to excellence, and to normality.
When that part of me died, other parts of me came alive.
From 1994-1998, I thought that by attending Aish HaTorah, I could remake myself like many of its baalei teshuva (penitents), and transform myself. It did not work.
I envisioned that I might marry and have kids and be a part of the warm, loving Aish community. I dreamed that I would leave my compulsions behind and be 613 all the way.
I didn’t quite make it, but the sweetness of what I tasted was not forgotten, and even though Reform Judaism was easier, I soon made my way back permanently to Orthodoxy because that was where I knew the best people.
And in the various Orthodox shuls of Pico-Robertson, I met many people who like myself had been m’kareved (brought closer) by Aish but had since moved on.
In 1995, I thought that by writing on the porn industry, I could get lots of attention and transform my social status. It did not work.
I envisioned that I would become a best-selling author and quickly move on to other more socially acceptable topics. Instead, I got stuck in the salt mines of porn for most of 1995-2007.
While it was not the topic I wished for myself, and while it was the only way I found to make a living writing, I found many compelling stories during my time in XXX. There was rarely a dull day. Porners may not be polite but they are hilarious.
In 1998, I began years of psycho-therapy. I thought I could transform myself. It did not work.
For years, my therapy was largely crisis management. It helped to stop me from completely destroying myself by holding me accountable. Every week I had to check in and share what I was doing and we would talk about how that compared to what I wanted for my life. How did my deeds compare to my stated ideals? I had converted to Judaism. What did that mean for my choices?
For years, I used therapy as another forum for showing off. Eventually, however, I reduced the acting out in my sessions, reduced the boasting about the details of my sex life, and began to talk about my true feelings of shame and loneliness.
In 1999, I began homeopathy. I thought I could transform myself. It did not work.
For the first couple of months, I felt like I was leaving Chronic Fatigue Syndrome behind but then it returned with a vengeance. I kept consulting my homeopathic doctor until about 2003, when I gave up.
In 2000, I began attending Young Israel of Century City and was befriended by a prestigious man. I thought I could transform myself. It did not work.
I envisioned myself becoming like those around me at YICC — successful in Torah and successful in the world. But I had taken the easy route to infamy and confused it with lasting success. I was not in the same league as these guys.
Booted from Young Israel of Century City in June of 2001, I began attending Beth Jacob. I thought I could transform myself. It did not work.
In August of 2001, I began attending Chabad Bais Bezalel. I thought I could transform myself. It did not work.
In August of 2001, I quit writing on the porn industry. I thought I could transform myself. It did not work.
I envisioned myself making the same impact on Hollywood with my writing as I had made on the porn industry with my blogging. That didn’t happen.
In October of 2001, I began attending Bnai David-Judea. I thought I could transform myself. It did not work.
By this point, I was so shell-shocked by this point by my multiple shul ejections and from feeling like a pariah around my community of Pico-Robertson, that I retreated from most of those around me and became increasingly isolated in the shul.
In September of 2002, I quietly began writing on the porn industry again. This time I had no illusions and only wanted to get out.
I did not use my full name of “Luke Ford”. I was just “Luke” or “Deep Under Cover” or some other such name.
In October of 2007, I stopped writing on the porn industry. I thought I could transform myself. It did not work.
In July of 2008, I took up the Alexander Technique. I thought I could transform myself. I thought I could become more successful with women. It did not work.
In January of 2009, I took up Kundalini Yoga. I thought I could transform myself. It did not work.
In May of 2011, I began 12-stepping for sex addiction. I thought I could transform myself. It did not work.
In December of 2011, I began teaching Alexander Technique. I thought I could transform myself. It did not work.
How come complete strangers can read my thoughts and know that I am no good?
A doctor emails: “You do realize that from the outside, it appears over the last few days that you had a hypomanic episode followed by today’s depressive appearing posts? Might you require attention for some bordeline bipolar issues? I mean this seriously.”
I wear the uniform of the Alexander teacher. I wear the little hat and the fringes. I have the Alexander name. I abstain from the forbidden foods and observe the sacred holidays.
Despite my joy in playing dress-up, when the rubber hits the road, I’m pretty slovenly in upholding the sacred precepts of observation, inhibition and direction.
When I didn’t have a job, it was easy for me to lie on my back in active rest and to listen to learned Robert Rickover discourses and to imagine that I was pretty much the epitome of the F.M. Alexander way.
Then I took a job. A real job. Not an Alexander job. A job in the real world doing worldly things with worldly people. And then how quickly did I forget to inhibit. How quickly and unthinkingly did I respond to stimuli and soon I was regaling people with tales of my life in the industry and how I worked with all the legends and the time the director told me to give him a FIP and instead I gave him the real thing.
I had a teacher who said I was just looking for a way to identify myself in the universe. I wasn’t the real deal. I didn’t walk the talk. Sure, I took days off commemorating the Work’s birth, death and resurrection, but in my day to day behavior, I did not exhibit the grace that goes with the uniform.
I don’t have much of a core, so I grasp for traditions to steady myself and in the process despoil everything good I touch.
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A 30-year-old mother of four, aspiring model, and former member of Brooklyn’s Hasidic community is fighting for a divorce from her allegedly abusive husband and for custody of her children. “It was an arranged marriage,” Pearlperry Reich tells the Post, referring to her wedding to Sinai Susholz when she was 18-years-old. “We got married and right away we had issues.” Reich claims that Susholz “cut up her $4,000 wig and told her mother in front of their children that she was a “slut.” Susholz apparently has taken to Facebook to accuse her of “promiscuous sexual activities.”
Reich has moved away from Borough Park to New Jersey, but still keeps an Orthodox home for her children. “My dressing in pants and being openly non-conforming to their standards is NEVER in front of my children,” she wrote in an email to the Daily Mail. Shusholz’s attorney is arguing that because she is no longer personally observant, the couple’s children, ages 5 to 9, are at risk. “It’s not in the best interest of the children to raise them other than how they’ve been brought up,” the attorney says.
Nikki emails: Dear Luke,
I am modern Orthodox women from New Jersey who has over the years met the now fairly famous, or maybe rather infamous PearlPerry Reich from Lakewood a couple times and have friends in Lakewood who actually know her quite well. Honestly the first thing that struck me about the whole story was- How can she do this to her kids? I don’t give a damn how miserable she was, is that a reason to permanently scar and ruin her kids lives??
Rumors have been pouring forth. I have has no question that she is very troubled women. All you need to do is hear her say shes an x-hasid actress and a model even though shes in her 30’s, is married with four hasidic kids and has an open relationship with her boyfriend that looks like hes in 12th grade, watch her interview, and hear the horror stories about how shes been neglecting her kids, and you’ll start wondering if the rumors about her are only rumors or maybe there’s allot of truth to them.
In any case this women or I should say this story has been the butt of many jokes and articles on blogs over the last few months. The the daily texts jokes that’s being passed around are endless. Some made me laugh so hard I almost started crying, others made just plain cry. The following is gem someone emailed me that that they found on line:
**The following transcript is a work of fiction inspired by true events.
Names have been changed to protect the identity of the pure and innocent helpless children.**
Selfish and Abusive Mom’s Magazine [SAM MAG.]
recently sat down with Miss PPP Reich to hear her thoughts about her recent rise to fame.
S.M: Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to speak with us. It’s really a privilege.
P: You’re welcome. It is a privilege, you have no idea how busy I am.
S.M: So let’s get started. I know this sounds ridicules but what’s your
real name? Is it Perry or Penina or Pairaleh or Porn…? Please
clarify.
P: I guess any of the above.
S.M: Which do you prefer?
P: It depends, I don’t like to commit to one, I have a problem with commitment.
S.M: So tell us about your background. You were brought up in Boro Park?
P: Yes. I grew up in Boro Park and had a great childhood. I went to a
Chasidiser Bais Yaakov, I’m not going to say the name because I think
they’re embarrassed.
S.M: Were you always into men growing up?
P: Yes and no. I was always into men, but lately as I grow older I have been more into boys.
S.M.: Like Shauly? Is it true that he’s 8 years younger than you?
P: This is an absolute lie that the frum community has invented. He is only 7 years younger than me.
S.M: So what happened after high school?
P: I went to seminary, dated a few guys and got married to my husband.
S.M: What happened to your marriage? You’re obviously very bitter…
P: From the beginning my husband was very abusive. He once even
sent me a text stating that I’m “playing with fire”. And one time after I
came home very late at night and he was watching the kids, he accused me of being a “slut” cus I was at a club with some friends.
S.M: So did you try working your marriage out?
P: Yes. Very much. The problem is he’s so full of hate, and he’s
bitter. We lived in Lakewood, then in Brooklyn, then in Lakewood again. I have been through so much. None of the neighbors wanted to let they’re kids play with my kids for ridicules reason’s like, gasp, failure to wear a wig, and wearing pants outside the house, and having many male friends. Some married some not Jewish. Back then, I did this at night and only when I went to clubs. Not in the frum stores. It was a secret. Obviously not a very well kept secret I admit. After everyone started calling me a slut, thats when I came out in the open. I mean Its sickening that people would be so closed minded. My children have been in and out of many schools. I have gone through hell, and why? All because the community is concerned about the fact that I don’t keep the rules. I refuse to give in to this pressure.
S.M: Many have claimed…
S.M.Um, excuse me I’m sure your texts are important, but could that hold off until after we finish this interview?
P. Sorry, go ahead.
S.M. Many have claimed that your failure to follow the rules is selfish
since after all your children are paying the bitter price. I mean is it all
worth it for a pair of jeans?
P: This is not all about a pair of jeans. Those are ridicules claims. It’s about pants, and shirts, and bikinis, and not wearing clothing at all. This is America, a free country. It’s not “only jeans”.
S.M: You’re a model and an actress, where have you acted and where have you modeled?
P: I took upon myself to come here today to speak with all of you,
which is a really really hard task for me to do, because I kept my
divorce secret due to trying to preserve the dignity of my children,…
S.M: What does have to do with the question?
P:… the fact that I came on here today was to represent millions and
billions of women going through what am going through today. Now: I…
S.M: You say you kept this a secret to protect the kids dignity. Do you still care about they’re dignity?
P: Yes. But I also need dignity. Telling me that I cant wear jeans,
that I cant get undressed and have my pictures online, that I cant live a life of variety when it comes to men, is taking away my dignity. That
is not a religion that’s a cult. What is written in the scripture is
completely negated. It’s like chocolate cake. They have one agenda, to
keep people in the system. In order to be in the system it’s impossible
to follow the recipe of the bible. The bible is humane. In the system,
if a women wants be married and sleep with other men she will have all
her tools taken away, she looses her job, she loses her kids…
S.M: Well…sort of. So both you and your son went on Dr., excuse me, both you and your friend went on Dr. Phil right?
P: Yes.
S.M: Both of you did not do too bad considering that you can’t really speak English. What country are you from and when did you migrate?
P: I was born in the state of New York in the Boro of Brooklyn, which for you information is one of the 48 states of America.
S.M: You have claimed your sub community is very closed minded and unaccepting, can you explain?
P: I find that most people in general are closed minded and very not understanding. It sickens me how most people out there cant accept other peoples views and are so not understanding. I simple don’t understand it. The frum community is the worst, If you don’t agree with them your automaticly labeled a title. They’re like the Taliban.
S.M: You say you like to follow the Bible only. Are you referring to the new testament or the old testament?
P: Um, The one that says “Ais La’sos Lashem”. I’m not sure if that’s in the newer edition or the older one. In any case the frummies, who claim to be frum have no respect for they’re own Torah. The part of Eis la’sos
Lashem they totally ignore, and negate. They don’t realize the
importance of this.
Making other people happy is also part of the Torah. But nooooo, that part they ignore. Yes, very often Eis La’sos Lashem and happiness, simcha, is ignored.
S.M: Many have claimed that children growing up in frum schools with a
mother like you will ultimately lead them to catastrophic consequences. What’s your response?
P: I would tell them they should try to think out of the system and realize that I am a good mother. I only want the best for my children. It’s none of anyone’s business how frum I am.
S.M: There have been people coming forward recently claiming that you
have been leaving your kids at other peoples houses so you can go party. Recently the Department of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) of New Jersey had gotten involved. Can you address this?
P: I think that the fact that I have been putting my children in others people houses just comes to show actually how responsible I have been with they’re welfare. An irresponsible mother wouldn’t put her kids in a safe environment, Another thing is, these people are a bunch of turn coats all these years they claimed they were helping me, and now they are coming to testify against me. It’s disgusting.
S.M: They say they felt bad for you since they thought you were having marital issues, so they took your kids. They didn’t know
you were going to clubs and Rock concerts with various men.
P: It’s none of they’re business about what I do with my life! Why can’t these frum people understand that it’s none of they’re damn business what other people do.
S.M. Why do you post so many pictures of yourself all over?
P. (Laughing) You know of a better person to post pictures of?
S.M. There are so many pictures of you partying. How do you have so much time?
P. I don’t. I am actually very busy and a single mother of four. But I think everyone can find time for things that are important to them.
S.M: Why do you live in Lakewood, most of the people there are frum?
P:That is another lie the frum people want you to believe. Most of the people there are NOT frum. There are also Mexicans, and other’s too.
Also by living there I am making a statement. This is a free country, I can live where I want. I also like taking pictures together with my kids
by the lake.
S.M: Can you tell us about your new boyfriend?
P: Which one? Shaoly? We have an open relationship. He is a doll. He is a songwriter, composer and rock star. Unlike me, he is an atheist.
S.M: What do the two of you have in common.
P: Well he’s a composer and Rock star, I’m a model and actress. It’s like a perfect Hollywood match.
S.M: Like Madonna and Justin Bieber, accept Madonna looks younger than you?
P: Exactly. We hope to be on the cover of People Magazine.
S.M: What does it feel like to become famous like this so fast?
P: It’s amazing! It’s like a dream come true. We will actually soon be debuting in our very own reality show. There will be three people, we are looking for a fourth.
S.M. Oh, how nice. Good luck with trying to find that fourth person to watch. I’m a little surprised you already have three people willing to watch.
P. Come on, you don’t think its gonna be a huge hit?
S.M: We noticed you have sort of a fan club that is mostly male. Can you explain that.
P: I could… but I won’t (laughing), Seriously, I don’t want my kids to
read this one day and find out. They think I’m frum (laughing). Also men
are perverts sometimes. But I cant live without them (laughing).
S.M. We are almost finished could you please stop texting just until we finish?
P. Sorry. Texting is my second love. The first is Shaoly.
S.M: Can you talk to us about your physical appearance…
P: Sure! My favorite subject.
S.M: How much do you weigh without the makeup?
P: That’s a hard question… I never had that happen.
S.M: How about your hair. What’s your natural color.
P: Contrary to what my husband and my family want you to think, I’m
naturally blond (smiles). All my life since I was born I dyed it brown.
S.M: A couple of current events questions. Rush Limbaugh has recently
come under criticism for calling a women a slut and a prostitute in
public. Do you take offense to that?
P: I don’t think he was talking to me. So the answer no. Although I think that women probably learned
her trick on how to get some free publicity from me. Seriously.
S.M: Who are you endorsing for president? And Why?
P: I’m endorsing President Obama because he is the most pro Palestinian. And I have something for black men.
S.M: Any plans for yourself about running in the future?
P: Yes. I think I have a lot to offer this great country. But right now I have business to tend to at home, Shaoly and my career come first.
S.M. And the kids?
P. They would be fine whatever I do. I’m not worried about them too much.
S.M: One last question. Why do you think there is so much negativity towards you?
P: The answer is obvious: They are all jealous of me. Every one of them.
S.M: Thank you for sitting down with us. We hope you come back.
P: Bye.
Obviously, Ken Jacobson makes his living by goading Jews to feel “overwhelmed demographically” by white gentiles. But the reality is that typical American Jews don’t feel all that overwhelmed. Their view tends to be that America has been very, very good to them and that they’ve been good to America. They tend to identify with their neighbors, their fellow American citizens, their fellow whites, their fellow “historic Americans,” white and black (e.g., Willie Mays is a hero to a lot of older Jewish guys), and so forth and so on. But, this healthy state of affairs is bad for the balance sheets of a few powerful organizations.
All this suggests that that fundamentalist frenzy of Ellis Island kitsch ethnocentrism that currently dominates acceptable thought about immigration has less to do with average Jewish-American citizens than it has to do with the déformation professionnelle of the leaders of explicitly Jewish organizations, of organizations such as the SPLC that are implicitly Jewish because, as Willie Sutton said about why he robbed banks, that’s where the money is; and the media types who interact with them.
Posted inImmigration, Jews|Comments Off on American Jews Support Tough Immigration Laws
John Derbyshire says: “Here we are, we’re 50 years later, and we’ve still got these tremendous disparities in crime rates, educational attainment, and so on. And I think, although they’re still mouthing the platitudes, Americans in their hearts feel a kind of cold despair about it. They feel that Thomas Jefferson was probably right and we can’t live together in harmony. I think that’s why you see this slow ethnic disaggregation. We have a very segregated school system now. There are schools within 10 miles of where I’m sitting that are 98 percent minority. In residential housing too, it’s the same thing. So I think there is a cold, dark despair lurking in America’s collective heart about the whole thing. That’s one factor. Another factor is the Internet, especially YouTube. Now, you can log on any morning to the Drudge Report and see videos of crowds of black Americans misbehaving. Maybe there should be some videos of white Americans misbehaving, but there just aren’t that many. People are seeing these things and it’s fortifying that despair.”
Posted inBlacks, John Derbyshire, Race|Comments Off on Do Americans Despair About Black-White Relations?
"This guy knows all the gossip, the ins and outs, the lashon hara of the Orthodox world. He’s an [expert] in... all the inner workings of the Orthodox world." (Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff)
