Medium Cool is a weekly series related to popular culture, mostly film, TV, and books, with some music and games thrown in. We hope it’s a welcome break from the anger, hate, and idiocy we see almost daily from the other side in the political sphere.
Arguments welcomed, opinions respected, fools un-suffered. We’re here every Sunday at 7 pm.
The books Five Smooth Stones and The Autobiography of Malcom X had an enormous impact on me and my life, and on how I view the world. Probably in ways that I’m not even aware of!
Tonight let’s talk about films, books, and stories that helped shape many of our views on the history and politics of the modern Eastern Mediterranean and influenced our perceptions of the Jewish faith, the creation of Israel, the plight of the Palestinians, and the current conflict in Israel and Palestine.
Let’s talk about how some of the media that influenced so many people historically may or may not hold up today. Lawrence of Arabia or Exodus are obvious question marks.
And more modern takes: Waltz with Bashir, an animated documentary film told from the perspective of an Israeli solder in the 1982 Lebanon War, for example. Or maybe films that depict daily life in the region, like Gaza Mon Amour. Perhaps Pulitzer Prize winner David Shipler’s Arab and Jew. Jimmy Carter’s Peace Not Apartheid. Or the Chaim Potok series that began with The Chosen. Or books or essays by Edward Said or Etgar Keret? Just examples to jumpstart the conversation – not endorsements!
What books or essays or films or stories have been most helpful as you try to wrap your head around the ongoing conflict in the Middle East? Which ones raised more questions than answers?
We are all living in a world that is on fire. You don’t need to be an expert to participate in the conversation about what is going on around us. Dialogue is power. There is not one correct answer to this enormously complicated issue, and we all benefit from hearing a diversity of voices.
What in popular culture – books, music, films, or videos – has enlightened your view of the conflict? Are there any sources you distrust? Propaganda abounds, in all forms.
MattF
Not popcult, but I read Hannah Arendt’s ‘Origins of Totalitarianism’ many years ago. Wrong about a few things, but it gives a clear view of how a no-kidding intellectual dealt with the rise and fall of Hitler and Stalin. Her point was always that there had to be an explanation, and it had to be in the history of that era and what preceded it.
Didn’t realize at the time I read it that she was something of a bête noir for nationalist intellectuals, but that’s a different story.
Cameron
I saw Golda a couple of weeks ago. I thought it was a very good movie, but I’ll admit I’m a Helen Mirren fan and I only know the most basic history of the war. So I’ll just say I liked the film.
thruppence
Not an analysis, but Tom Waits’ “Road to Peace” is a cry from the heart about the endless reciprocal violence between Israel and Palestine, from an artist who rarely speaks of political issues. Listen if you can.
eclare
Strangely, I don’t think I’ve read or seen anything in pop culture related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Almost Retired
@Cameron: I remember the Golda TV movie with Ingrid Bergman (1982- ish) – I was quite young. It was very good- at least so I thought at the time. I wonder it if holds up?
Cameron
@Almost Retired: I’ve heard of it but never seen it. Would be interesting to compare and contrast. The current movie is centered around the Yom Kippur War and its aftermath.
WaterGirl
@thruppence: Is it a podcast? An Album? Is it him talking or him performing?
WaterGirl
I must have read at least 7 of the Chaim Potok books. I found them fascinating.
thruppence
@WaterGirl: It’s a song from a few years back, probably available on YouTube
Princess
Some favourites over the years (don’t know if I’d still like all of them tbh): Michener The Source; Uris, Exodus; Gruber , Raquela Woman of Israel; Spark, The Mandelbaum Gate; Tolin, The Lemon Tree; Diamant, The Red Tent. Nothing taught me as much as being there and the book that’s most like being there is the Mandelbaum Gate. David Grossman is on my list to read. I’d also recommend Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf.
billcinsd
A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin — It’s about the post-WW1 splitting of the Middle East after the fall of the Ottoman Empire
WaterGirl
@thruppence: Thanks! I like Tom Waits, but I haven’t listened to any of his stuff for awhile. I will try to find that.
Sure Lurkalot
I read Michener’s The Source decades ago, I’m thinking I should check out my stacks downstairs to see if I still have it for a re-read. Since it was written in the 60’s, that perspective may be interesting.
MomSense
I recommend the poet Sharif Elmusa’s book Flawed Landscape. He and his wife spend part of their summers in Maine. Poets are highly regarded in Palestinian culture and he is wonderful. I feel very lucky to have attended a few of his readings and shared lovely dinners with his family.
WaterGirl
@billcinsd: Sounds interesting. Is that a book or an article?
HinTN
@Princess: The Source opened my eyes to a world outside my already complicated southern experience. Michener at his best!
WaterGirl
This seems like a good place to share this poem that phdesmond sent me. He wrote it two weeks after 9/11, when the New York Times was discussing what possible military steps the US was about to take in Central Asia.
Brachiator
@eclare:
Same here to a large degree. I saw the TV movie “A Woman Called Golda” with Ingrid Bergman. And the 1977 film “Raid on Entebbe,” about the rescue of hostages in Uganda. And I suppose “Lawrence of Arabia” may count as background. But mainly I have read essays and news articles about the conflict, not nonfiction or fiction books.
I have known some Egyptian-American co-workers who had strong opinions about the issue, and felt frustrated about what they felt was a one-sided perspective that many Americans held. But one person in particular also clearly believed stuff that was nonsensical or a mishmash of conspiracy theories about the Middle East and the West.
Before he became a right wing nutjob, Dennis Prager had a long running talk show on KABC radio in Los Angeles. He would not only talk about the Israel-Palestinian conflict, but also have on Muslim guests who did not necessarily share his views, who would participate in respectful discussion. This was fairly interesting, although hosts and guests clearly had their biases.
Almost Retired
This is sort of embarrassing, but I remember thinking I learned a lot about a subject I lacked much of a background in at the time from Thomas Friedman’s “From Beirut to Jerusalem.” This was the late 80’s before the Friedman Unit or his obsession with the wisdom of cab drivers who picked him up at the airport. I remember at this time that Edward Said criticized it for its orientalism. But as an introductory text it seemed good at the time. I doubt I would feel the same if I read it now.
WaterGirl
@Almost Retired: I wonder what Jimmy Carter thinks about what’s going on in Israel and Gaza right now.
HinTN
@thruppence:
Absolutely stunning!
youtu.be/pnw-Eob4GYY?si=81P9ALa1C4Q0u-K0
Maybe God himself / needs our help / and he’s lost on the road to peace.
HinTN
@WaterGirl: I guarantee you it hurts him.
WaterGirl
@Sure Lurkalot: If you do re-read that, I imagine I am not the only one who would be interested to hear your take on it now.
Same for everyone!
WaterGirl
@HinTN: I was thinking maybe heartbreaking.
WaterGirl
@thruppence:
Lyrics
Young Abdel Mahdi Shahmay was only 18 years old,
He was the youngest of nine children
He never spent a night away from home.
And his mother held his photograph up in the New York Times
To see the killing has intensified along the road to peace
He was a tall, thin boy with a whispy moustache
Disguised as an orthodox Jew
On a crowded bus in Jerusalem, some had survived World War Two
And the thunderous explosion blew out windows two hundred yards away
With more retribution and seventeen dead along the road to peace
Now at King George Ave and Jaffa Road passengers boarded bus 14A
In the aisle next to the driver Abdel Mahdi Shahmay
And the last thing that he said on
Earth is, “God is great and God is good”
And he blew them all to kingdom come upon the road to peace
Now in response to this another kiss of death was visited upon
Yasser Taha, Israel says is an Hamas senior militant
And Israel sent four choppers in, flames engulfed his white Opel
And it killed his wife and his three year old child
Leaving only blackened skeletons
They found his toddler’s bottle and a pair of small shoes
And they waved them in front of the cameras
But Israel says they did not know
That his wife and child were in the car
There are roadblocks everywhere and only suffering on TV
Neither side will ever give up their smallest right
Along the road to peace
Israel launched its latest campaign against Hamas on Tuesday
Two days later Hamas shot back and killed five Israeli soldiers
So thousands dead and wounded on both
Sides most of them middle eastern civilians
They fill their children full of hate to fight an old man’s war
And die upon the road to peace
“And this is our land we will fight with all
Our force” say the Palastinians and the Jews
Each side will cut off the hand of
Anyone who tries to stop the resistance
If the right eye offends thee then you must pluck it out
And Mahmoud Abbas said Sharon had been lost
Out along the road to peace
Once Kissinger said “we have no friends, America only has interests”
Now our president wants to be seen as a hero
And he’s hungry for a re-election
But Bush is reluctant to risk his future
In the fear of his political failures
So he plays chess at his desk and poses for the press
Ten thousand miles from the road to peace
In the video that they found at the home of Abdel Mahdi Shahmay
He held a Kalashnikov rifle and he spoke with a voice like a boy
He was an excellent student,
He studied so hard, it was as if he had a future
He told his mother that he had a test that day
Out along the road to peace
The fundamentalist killing on both
Sides is standing in the path of peace
But tell me why are we arming the
Israeli army with guns and tanks and bullets?
And if God is great and God is good
Why can’t he change the hearts of men?
Well maybe God himself is lost and needs help
Maybe God himself he needs all of our help
Maybe God himself is lost and needs help
He’s out upon the road to peace
Well maybe God himself is lost and needs help
Maybe God himself he needs all of our help
And he’s lost upon the road to peace
And he’s lost upon the road to peace
Out upon the road to peace.
Almost Retired
@eclare: Spielberg’s “Munich.” Definitely popular culture. My best friend’s wife was one of several film editors on the project. There were lots of consultants for period authenticity and political balance. I thought it was well done (and super well edited), but I’m hardly objective!!
eclare
@Brachiator:
I saw The Battle of Algiers, but I think that is the closest I’ve come to seeing anything pop culturish set in the Middle East. I’ve seen a couple of Iranian films, if that counts.
Like you, I just read news.
WaterGirl
@Brachiator: I really wonder what happens to these people.
Almost Retired
@eclare: I totally forgot about “The Battle of Algiers.” It was extraordinary. Imagine that level of nuance in 1960 or so. Great reminder.
eclare
@Almost Retired:
Sounds good, but I just read that it’s rated R due to strong graphic violence. I just can’t watch that anymore, unfortunately.
raven
Not mad enough? Watch the Ken Burns “The American Buffalo”.
raven
The Little Drummer Girl
“An American actress with a penchant for lying is forcibly recruited by Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, to trap a Palestinian bomber, by pretending to be the girlfriend of his dead brother.”
WaterGirl
@raven: That’s a bit cryptic.:-) Can you say more?
WaterGirl
@raven: A film, not a book?
raven
@WaterGirl: Just another glimpse at what white folks do.
raven
@WaterGirl: I guess I didn’t read the instructions. I saw other references to films so I included it.
WaterGirl
@raven: All good.
Medium Cool “rules” aren’t rules, they are just starting points! These threads go where they go, and I am good with that. :-)
WaterGirl
@raven: We have a much uglier past than I realized when I was younger.
phein64
The Milagro Beanfield War (and the rest of Nichol’s New Mexico trilogy).
It’s about the importance of water, and when/how/why people fight over it. I know, never cite Wikipedia, but this particular page has a number of links to scholarly articles and real-time articles about Israel’s appropriation of its neighbor’s water (or vice versa, if you like), starting in the early 1960’s. Conflicts are almost always about control over resources — see a map of Ukraine’s mineral resources compared to where Russia has sent its troops — but rarely get talked about in public in those terms.
Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert.
True story of a remarkable woman, and a history of early British involvement in the Middle East and the realization that oil will replace coal as the fuel for any future empire’s war machines.
billcinsd
@WaterGirl: It’s a book from around 2001. The author was a history professor who has since died
raven
@WaterGirl: The show is pretty depressing so far.
Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom
Oh FFS! I just lost a comment I struggled to compose for over 5 minutes. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
phein64
@raven:
“No more buffalo, blue skies or open roads, no more rodeo, for this old boy.”
The great James McMurtry.
Yutsano
Nothing has given me more insight on the Israeli-Arab conflict more than my friend Ohad. He’s a tech geek in California and a permanent resident from Israel. And definitely on the left side of things especially about the two-state solution (“there’s no other way or Israel dies”). I always try to approach him with caution (and he’s probably more forgiving than he should be!) but that’s my biggest influence without a doubt.
Oh and visiting Dachau in college.
raven
@phein64: I was surprised to learn there are 500,000 now.
Almost Retired
@eclare: yeah, I avoid violence in movies. It’s a deal breaker for me. I grew up in a mortuary so you can see where my preference comes from:)
phdesmond
that Tom Waits song, The Road to Peace, is strong. it was written before Bush’s reelection, back in the early years of this blog’s history.
WaterGirl
@billcinsd: David Fromkin is dead?
WaterGirl
@raven: You have more of an ability to watch depressing shows than I do. That show with the nurses during the war? I just couldn’t watch more than a couple of episodes, even if it was a great show.
phein64
@raven: There is a movement to restore buffalo to the high plains. They were adapted to the mesquite, and vice versa, in a way that cattle never were. Much as wolves restored Yellowstone, buffalo might restore the landscape, plus they are tasty (the buffalo, not the wolves, yech). Buffalo for the Broken Heart: Restoring Life to a Black Hills Ranch is about more than bringing back balance to ecology.
WaterGirl
@Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom: I’m so sorry!
I just checked, and it’s not in SPAM or Trash. :-(
Or were you editing a comment and the 5-minute window ran out? That’s so frustrating when that happens!
eclare
@Almost Retired:
Oh yeah. Wow a real life Six Feet Under.
kalakal
@eclare: The Battle of Algiers is a tremendous film, people who were on both sides of the conflict praised it.
I sort of grew up in the Middle East, I lived in Qatar from the age of about 5 to 14, visiting Lebanon, Oman, Sharjah, and Persia, a period that included both the 6 Day war and the Yom Kippur war. It was a long time ago and the place has changed beyond all recognition. Can’t claim any expertise but I think almost everything I’ve ever read or seen ends up, sometime subtly, taking a side. Hardly surprising, the region has an insanely complex history. Riffing on The Battle of Algiers an excellent book on the Algerian War of independence is Alastair Horne’s A Savage War of Peace which gives a very good picture of of an independence movement using terrorist methods and an occupying power resorting to ever increasing force
WaterGirl
@phdesmond: I just fixed your nym in the comment with your poem at #17.
WaterGirl
@phein64: What the wolves did for Yellowstone was amazing. It would be great if that could happen with the buffalos.
WaterGirl
@kalakal:
A Savage War of Peace. That’s quite the title.
I had no idea you lived in the Middle East!
phein64
@WaterGirl: They sell bison burgers at Harvest Market, and at Ted’s Montana Grill for those not residing here in the center of the universe. Lean, which works for me. Been working on getting the kids to eschew ground beef for it, and they’ve been pretty receptive (little U-U’s that they are).
eclare
@kalakal:
I just read about the book on Amazon, it sounds interesting and is highly rated. Thank you!
kalakal
@WaterGirl:
I was an oilfield brat, lived all over the place as long as there was an oilfield.
It’s a great title, it’s an ironic quote from Kipling
billcinsd
@WaterGirl: According to Wikipedia he died in 2017
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Fromkin
NotMax
Dunno about shaping as many here were well into grown-uphood when it was released, nevertheless two thumbs way up for Europa Europa.
phdesmond
@WaterGirl:
thanks for fixing it.
kalakal
@eclare: If you get it I hope you like it, I thought it was very good. Algeria isn’t in the Middle East but it’s very much part of the Arab World
Brachiator
@eclare:
Yes. The Battle of Algiers is outstanding, and I think, essential viewing.
The 1960s political thriller Z, inspired by true events in Greece, has also has staying power.
thruppence
Waits has another powerful anti war song called “Hell Broke Luce”. It has an amazing video as well:
youtu.be/0Fju9o8BVJ8?si=0MefdbSCRd90rLOq
UncleEbeneezer
Not a piece of culture/art but years ago Bloggingheadstv interviewed a Palestinian man living in Gaza or West Bank. Anyways the story he told about what day to day life is like there for regular old Palestinians who have no connection to Hamas was really eye-opening. That, more than anything, made me accept that comparisons to Apartheid South Africa are totally appropriate. This flew in the face of the way that the media has usually framed the conflict, for most of my lifetime.
WaterGirl
@UncleEbeneezer: “Stories” was included in the list up top, so you are all good. But even if not, you are all good. I set some guidelines to get things going, but this is Balloon Juice, so they are loose!
KSinMA
@WaterGirl:
That’s a very moving poem. Thanks.
Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom
@WaterGirl: No, I hit the wrong button & suddenly the whole blog vanished. Totally my fault. Oh, well, at least it made me think. Always good.😌
Thank you for trying. Le sigh.
Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom
Welp, probably a dead thread, but Barbara Tuchman’s Bible and Sword is as enlightening as all her books are. The British have been involved in the Middle East for a very long time, & usually to the detriment of the people who actually live & lived there. They, the French, & to some extent, the Americans are largely responsible for many of the problems currently plaguing that benighted part of the world.
LiminalOwl
@WaterGirl: Wow. Thread probably dead—I didn’t read BJ before bedtime—but thank you; that is amazing.
To your earlier comment—I found The Chosen and The Promise on library shelves in seventh grade, and loved them. Actually my intro to Orthodox Judaism, I think. The next year, I read My Name is Asher Lev and devoured it in a sitting, then read at least three more in following years. Never became Orthodox, but was briefly tempted. And only learned recently of an Asher Lev sequel!
LiminalOwl
In case anyone’s reading… wow on the Tom Waits song, too. I hardly know Tom Waits’ music but will remedy that.
A song that affected me, which could be seen as trivializingbut I don’t think that’s the intention, was Pete Morton’s Two Brothers. (British folkie, at the outer reaches of pop culture. His song Another Train is my favorite, though not relevant to this discussion.)
WaterGirl
@Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom: So frustrating! A good reminder to me that if I am writing a long, heartfelt comment, I should pause every so often and copy the text just in case.
WaterGirl
@LiminalOwl: Yes, I loved those books, they taught me a lot, nice to know you loved them, too.
When I was looking for the book image for the post, I could see that there were a few more recent books from him that I hadn’t known about.
phdesmond
@KSinMA:
glad you liked it, KS.
peter