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Ben Gurion UniversityDaniel Bar-Tal (Tel Aviv University - Dept. of Political Psychology) and David Newman’s (Ben Gurion University – Dept of Political Science) use of “McCarthyism” is “absurd, intellectually dishonest and immoral” according to NGO-Monitor.org Executive Director Prof. Gerald Steinberg
Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:56:32 +0300 This exchange reminds me of the days when Israeli theaters (or cinemas) would get movies from the US and Europe months or even years after they had been playing over there. Or, to use a totally different metaphor, the splits in the kibbutz movement. In this case, the ideological wars of Israeli academics continue decades after they have stopped being relevant. So for those of you on this list who missed the past 20 years, here is the bottom line: Ideology is a one-dimensional filter that diverts attention away from the real world. In trying to force complex situations to fit simplistic ideologies, adherents to political religions and false gods on both fringes Left and Right have more in common than they care to admit. Fascism and Communism sought to box human behavior into one-dimensional models, and both failed, but only after their impassioned adherents did considerable damage. And ideologues, like other fanatics, tend to be intolerant of outsiders and skeptics, perhaps explaining why antisemitism is found at both ends of the spectrum. What surprises and depresses me is that so many Israeli academics seem to take such rhetoric seriously, when the feuds between the so-called Left and Right are entirely anachronistic. Does anyone really think that university professors such as Bar Tal, David Newman, etc., journalists writing for Haaretz, -- or powerful NGO officials from IDI, B'tslem, ACRI, Adallah, Gisha, and dozens of other groups with very large budgets and direct access to the media -- are an endangered species whose survival requires suppression of critical analyses? Is the right to criticize restricted to this elite, while its members have divine immunity from being criticized when they fail to live up to the universal moral principles that they exploit? Furthermore, I find ideological claims of "attempts to restrict free speech" and the absurd use of the term "McCarthyism", intellectually dishonest and immoral. By screaming "McCarthyism" whenever critical analyses of their claims or activities are published, these critics can themselves be accused of trying to suppress and discredit free speech. The same would be true of fringe Right groups labeling criticism and public debate from the Left as "Finkelsteinism". So, my suggestion to Profs. Bar Tal and Newman, and others is to use your considerable energies for useful academic research, and drop the fruitless ideological warfare. If you criticize, you should expect to be criticized -- get over it. Prof. Gerald M. Steinberg
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