Whenever I write an angry-making G-File the angry constituency takes about a full 24 hours to get in touch. I’ve got a few like this in my email box this morning:
As a Muslim American, I am appalled and astonished, not at the racism and utter disrespect you hold towards Arabs and Muslims in general, but at the fact that the mainstream media has accepted many of National Review’s extremist Neo-cons as legitamate and viable sources of discussion, including yourself(Wolf Blitzer’s pen pal). It is a tragedy that “editors” like yourself can make such inflammatory titles like “Are the Arabs really this stupid?” and pretend to have the answers while voiding an entire people of their self-respect, and right to feel what any of us would feel if 50 of our own would die from a foreign army. Since I know where you are coming from, just imagine if 50+ Jews died in a cafe by a Palestinian “homicide” bomber(as you would prefer calling them), I would love to see your reaction to an article entitled, “Are the Jews really this stupid”, an article which criticized Israeli outcries for their lack of knowledge as to how to stop the bombers(end occupation). But I guess thats the difference between people like you and people like me. You have no ounce of human compassion or bone of objectivity in you. Maybe thats why the National Review hired you.
As I pointed out to this gentleman, Jews killed in such bombings are deliberately killed, i.e. murdered. Indeed, many of the groups which organize such attacks admit that their aim is to massacre as many — if not all — the Jews they can. This is the distinction I was getting at in my column and I’m still flummoxed that for some the distinction is so illusory.