Amazon Vs. CiF.
I simply couldn’t resist this, as Seismic said, “Mercifully, the moderators at amazon are less “hands-on”: http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/0745328873“
From an Amazon review of Ben White’s book:
” 1.0 out of 5 stars Dreadful, unbalanced, and ultimately unhelpful, 10 Jul 2009
By Entrepreneur (London) – See all my reviews
Ben White is known to be a very biased writer. He approaches the situation in Israel from a highly prejudice point of view, and makes no effort to be balanced or even handed. So if you’re an unthinking Israel hater, you might like this book, as it’ll add fuel to your fire of hatred. But if you are looking for an intelligent assessment of the complex and terrible situation in the Middle East, and it’s causes, look elsewhere. While White claims to be dealing with the origins of the situation, he does everything but. He prefers not to mention terrorism, and successful measures to stop it.
This author prefers everything to be black and white, good or bad, right or wrong. And for him, Israel can only do wrong. Having gone on the record as ‘understanding why’ people are antisemitic, one might question his reasons for this. No serious author on this topic should be this blinkered, limited, and prejudice. Such an approach is part of the problem, not the solution.
White neglects to mention vital events, such as Israel disengaging completely from Gaza in 2005. He ends many of his quotations just a bit too early, thus bending their meaning to his needs, but totally misrepresenting the original sense of the original source. And his sources all turn out to be form totally anti Israel writers. No serious author limits themselves in this way, and thus this reader can only conclude that White wasn’t aiming for balance, but for dogma and and bile. On that score, he succeeds (hence the 1 star I have awarded him), but as a wannabe author and peace activist, he needs to try much harder.
A dreadful little book. “
And War on Want did a recent event with White and then called the cops when a lone demonstrator leafleted in protest outside Conway Hall London
http://www.hurryupharry.org/2009/07/10/ben-white-at-war-on-want/
Hugh
11/07/2009 at 20:46
My response to Dan Judelson’s apartheid claim at Z Word – his comment first, then my response:
“Regarding the analogy of Israel with apartheid I made it pretty clear in my comment above that it is not a comparison I would draw or think should be drawn by others – except with respect to the West Bank. My source for that is not Ben White’s book, but a report from the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa.”
Dan you cite the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa as though it were a dictionary or some sort of infallible authority. Why should we accept this appeal to authority without any additional reasoning or evidence? Furthermore, does the Council’s view on the matter represent a consensus among ALL social scientists which therefore rules out the very possibility of contesting its findings?
Come on Dan, you shouldn’t insult our intelligence – “It’s true cause such and such Council said so!” Please.
ganselmi
11/07/2009 at 22:08
I shall await his reply🙂
modernityblog
11/07/2009 at 23:46
He won’t answer. It’s strange to see him attempt to project this disinterested, objective attitude when it’s clear he’s just as dogmatic about I/P as White is. Why the false appearance?
ganselmi
12/07/2009 at 02:58
Not sure, but let’s assume the best until evidence suggests otherwise!
modernityblog
12/07/2009 at 03:32
[…] my own blog includes a few short pieces, not forgetting Liberal Conspiracy and […]
Ben White’s questionable book « Engage – the anti-racist campaign against antisemitism
19/07/2009 at 10:35