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You are here: Home / Breaking the Camel’s Back

Breaking the Camel’s Back

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The esteemed James Fallows lays into Marty Peretz, and no, it is not piling on. Every bit of scorn was earned.

What I don’t understand, though, is why this seems to have been the tipping point. Peretz has been saying horrifying things for years, and has been a member of the Avigdor Lieberman wing of Israeli politics for as long as I can remember. There was nothing new or unusual in his sentiments, only the construction of the words may have been a little more direct. But other than that, Peretz has been spewing hateful rhetoric for years and no one (of any importance) seemed to care.

I’m glad that prominent people are calling him out, finally, but why now?

Reader Interactions

41Comments

  2. 2.

    Mark S.

    The best way to read Peretz (or Andy McCarthy, or any one of these assholes) is to substitute “blacks” or “the Jews” every time they say “Muslims” and see how awful it sounds.

  4. 4.

    Comrade Jake

    Not sure what the delay has been, but I’m glad it’s Fallows who is taking him out to the woodshed for the beating he so rightly deserves.

  5. 5.

    GregB

    It appears that the worm is turning and folks like Peretz can no longer get away with talking about Muslim’s the way the Klan used to talk about Blacks and the way…….well you know….Godwin…yadda…yadda..yadda….

    I do wonder if Peretz ever reads what he writes?

  6. 6.

    JGabriel

    John Cole: … why now?

    Can’t say for sure, but maybe because there are more people lashing out in public the way Peretz does in his columns – which makes Peretz’s latest hatespew a good hook for discussing and repudiating the more anonymous and widespread Islamophobia in the country.

    .

  7. 7.

    Athenae

    Oh, they’re making a fairly good bet that there will be few consequences for speaking up, which is the only time people really ever call out one of their own.

    A.

  8. 8.

    Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther

    I think it’s the sheer mass of the ugly that has filled our airwaves and newspapers lately — people just can’t help but really hear it at this point.

    And, not for nothing, but “Muslim life is cheap” is awfully fucking stark. If he had spun that sentiment into a longer sentence, it wouldn’t have been such a gut punch.

  9. 9.

    Ash Can

    Maybe it’s coming now because of a combination of sensitivity engendered by another anniversary of 9/11 (real sensitivity — not the bullhorns and $200-a-head commemorations, but the quiet, private skin-crawly feeling one gets from looking at the calendar page) with the ongoing carnival of bigotry over Cordoba House. In other words, it’s just topical.

  10. 10.

    Keith G

    ….but why now?

    Perhaps because the “mainstream” crazies have reached a critical mass, so that the sensible professionals are actually feeling the need to exit their zone of comfort and confront these assholes.

    A boy can dream.

  11. 11.

    PeakVT

    Because Peretz’s latest comment is about a domestic issue. I’m interested to see if he gets called on his bigoted comments about Muslims and Arabs made in the context of the I/P conflict.

  12. 12.

    Suffern ACE

    @Keith G: “Even the New Republic says…” He Peretz wrote was horrible, but he didn’t say it on Fox or Clear Channel and his media empire is very small and still somehow considered to be mainstream. Talk to me when the national media actually goes after the looney right on the Radio and the TV. Or when some right wing politician who seems to agree with these statements is actually asked “what policy do you propose to deal with the hate you just spewed”…

  13. 13.

    patrick II

    Fallows was defending the Jeffrey Goldberg Iran hit job just a few weeks ago. Perhaps Fallows wanted to make his feelings clear now on a target not writing for his own magazine.

  14. 14.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Ash Can #9:

    the quiet, private skin-crawly feeling one gets from looking at the calendar page

    This is a beautiful, perfect phrase.

  16. 16.

    qwerty42

    I tend to think Peretz has coasted on his former reputation. I also think he is a bitter old man and suspect (and possibly others do as well), that he has simply been losing it. You probably don’t want to suggest a writer is showing signs of senility, but …

  17. 17.

    Jay

    An interesting side-story of this will be to see if someone like Jon Chait plays company man or decides that an old hand such as Fallows has given him cover to let loose. But then, if Chait and his TNR colleagues have stayed silent this long, I don’t know if they’ll step up now.

  19. 19.

    Ethan Hoddes

    I think one reason why this time might be different (and it’s worth pointing that at this point that’s still a ‘might’ Sullivan, Yglesias, Ackerman and Klein have been saying that Peretz is a racist for years, the test will be if there’s a serious push for the New Republic to ditch him) is the atmosphere. In ordinary circumstances then it may seem ok to treat Marty as the crazy racist uncle in the corner to be politely ignored, but with 75% of Republicans in full on bigot mode and 50% of Democrats in bigot-appeaser mode I think he seems more dangerous.

  20. 20.

    D-Chance.

    Why now? Because Fallows looked down the line, and realized the train leaving the station without him was the last one.

    Besides, it’s easier to pile on when you weren’t the first one… fewer people crushing you from above and all.

  21. 21.

    salacious crumb

    i think honestly no one wanted to be called anti semite. I know it seems to be a trivial reasoning but once the Gaza and Lebanon war was unleashed by Israel and once the destruction by Israeli forces witnessed, I think people really began questioning why we in the US are supporting such policies adopted by the right wing racist Israeli governments. Those 2 wars, the books by Walt and Mersheimer questioning the value of our relationship with Israel, brave journalists like Seymour Hersh and others exposing Israeli misdeeds have all in the past 5-6 yrs or so bought a more awareness of Israel’s policies in the West Bank and Gaza and have also put once untouchable leaders, politicians, and academics and their ideas in a new light.

  22. 22.

    BDeevDad

    What’s crazy, listening to NPR yesterday about the peace talks, Netanyahu sounds a 1000x more reasonable than the Avigdor Lieberman wing.

  23. 23.

    salacious crumb

    also lets face it the biggest proponent for war with Iran are Israelis and pro Israel supporters here in the US. After the US went to war with Iraq for all the wrong reasons, a lot us here in the US are unwilling to put up with any more false shenanigans. Lets look at Hillary. She was screaming at the top of her lungs during the primaries that she was more than willing to bomb Iran out of existence. Why was she doing that? to make the pro-Israel supporters happy. Most people werent willing to up with that nonsense after having seen 2 ruinous wars and that really put Hillary and the likes in a new light. Before no one would dare link the Iraq war with Israel but now most people agree that one of the reasons Saddam was taken out was to ensure Israel was kept safe. That is why people are less willing to hear what Jeff Goldberg has to say vis-a-vis Iran. Eveyrone knows it bull.

    Thats why Obama wont go to war with Iran. He knows what happened to Hillary. She pissed off the Democrats who were opposed to war with Iraq and refused to apologize. Obama’s undoing could be the economy but if he is goes to war with Iran on thin non convincing evidence I think most Democrats will sit this coming presidential election out. Obama knows that.

  24. 24.

    Rathskeller

    @salacious crumb: I think Obama will be consistently unwilling to go to war with Iran because he is a technocrat. He will listen to the professionals instead of AIPAC, and he will make a reasoned judgment. I think your view on the politics of it is true, yet irrelevant.

    Also, Peretz can go fuck himself sideways. I unsubscribed to TNR back in the late 80s based on exactly these kinds of comments about cheap muslim life. His blind hatred infused all coverage of the middle east, and I just couldn’t take it anymore. No credit to anyone for figuring this out in 2010. It’s like, “Waiiiit a minute! I think Pat Buchanan is uncomfortable with black people!!”

  25. 25.

    Ed Marshall

    @salacious crumb:

    I think Bibi is trying to trade some sort of bullshit, semi-autonomy in the West Bank as a quid pro quo for an assent or assist on an attack on Iran. I really hope that trade doesn’t go down, but there would be plenty of people in the democratic national security orbit that would bite on that.

  26. 26.

    Jay

    Also, it’s worth noting that, unfortunately, TNR can’t really hold Peretz accountable in any meaningful sense because he owns the magazine (Fallows says M.P. should “step down” but seems unaware that he is not in a position to do so.). I guess Frank Foer can keep Peretz’s writing out of the magazine, or perhaps TNR’s web-master can remove Peretz’s site, but they’d probably both be fired then. Foer would have to threaten his resignation, or the staff would have to threaten widespread resignations to make a real difference.

    Finally, between Yglesias, Ackerman, and Sullivan, Sullivan has given Peretz a pass for a long time, and he still does, politely disagreeing with his comments without calling them bigoted. I think Sully still has a soft spot after the “Bell Curve” nonsense. I will say that the “Bell Curve” thing is illuminating in one respect: given that Peretz had no problem with that running, I can imagine him writing the same things about blacks and other racial minorities that he does about Muslims, and T. Coates once provided a link (http://bit.ly/ccDaKe) that caught Peretz on that.

  27. 27.

    sparky

    is it not possible to take Fallows at his word on this (that is, something he should have said before)? he explains it pretty clearly: he thought this before but didn’t say anything until the Kristof column that y’all were arguing about yesterday:

    Thus a prominent American commentator, in a magazine long associated with tolerance, ponders whether Muslims should be afforded constitutional freedoms. Is it possible to imagine the same kind of casual slur tossed off about blacks or Jews? How do America’s nearly seven million American Muslims feel when their faith is denounced as barbaric?

    i mean, this was printed in the NYT already. it’s not a big stretch to climb on at this point.

  28. 28.

    Nemo_N

    One theory: he hasn’t scored any points for the team, so he has no value.

    You only keep the players that, even in their loathsomeness, somehow rally the troops, maintain some reputation as “intellectuals”, win the news cycle, etc.

  29. 29.

    Sly

    The “why now” question is somewhat easy to answer. From Peretz column:

    But, frankly, Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims. And among those Muslims led by the Imam Rauf there is hardly one who has raised a fuss about the routine and random bloodshed that defines their brotherhood. So, yes, I wonder whether I need honor these people and pretend that they are worthy of the privileges of the First Amendment which I have in my gut the sense that they will abuse.

    That’s pretty much a Juror 10 Moment, right there.

  31. 31.

    Jay C

    @PeakVT:

    I think PeakVT is on the right track on the “why now?” question: It’s no surprise that Marty Peretz is a committed Israel-Firster; but against the background of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, his “Arabs are animals!” rants don’t sound any better, but at least have somewhat of a different context to be viewed in.

    However, this latest screed is directed at Americans; Mr. Peretz’s fellow citizens, whose Constitutional rights he seems all to eager to envision curtailing out of bigotry; big difference.

  35. 35.

    Batocchio

    Because blood is in the water and he seems vulnerable now? I dunno. Similarly, if Karl Rove ever loses power and influence, more stories will finally be revealed about him. (It’s a bit different, because Rove’s worst moments have been in the shadows, while Peretz’ ugliness has been right out there in the open – but in both cases, people want gigs and fear retribution.)

  36. 36.

    Mnemosyne

    I agree with PeakVT and Jay C — it was one thing for Peretz to attack Palestinians and other foreigners, but it’s something else entirely for him to attack Americans, even Americans who share a religion with those foreigners.

    In a way, it’s like how Bush’s non-response to Katrina enraged a whole lot of conservatives. Whoever was advising Bush (Rove? Cheney?) thought that no one would care if they let New Orleans drown, because it was a bunch of black people. But a lot of otherwise conservative Republicans went ballistic because those were Americans being left to drown.

  37. 37.

    Tehanu

    What really infuriates me is the bit about the “privileges” of the First Amendment. It’s a goddam right, not a privilege. What makes Marty Pissant think HE’s so “worthy” of anything except being scorned and ostracized by any decent American?

  38. 38.

    NonyNony

    @shep:

    I think that’s right. Joe Klein threw Newty under the bus on Friday. I didn’t think it was possible but I think this rising, naked xenophobia actually offends Village sensibilities. Or it’s just plain scaring the crap out of them.

    In 21st century America it’s hard to pretend that there are “two sides” to an issue when one side is spouting racism designed to incite people to riot.

    That’s what’s offensive to Villager sensibilities. It’s not the racism, it’s that it’s being expressed in such an ugly manner and so clearly and blatantly designed to incite outrage and division. If there’s one thing that the Village collectively hates it’s destroying their illusions. And the illusion that there are always exactly two legitimate political sides to take in any conflict is one of their most cherished illusions. The open, ugly and blatant racism immediately disqualifies one side from being legitimate in their eyes and it makes them queasy. I think that’s all this is.

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