Rabbi Jason Miller, blogger of RabbiJason.com, heard that an article in Time Magazine isn’t good for the Jews. After having read a few posts about the article, he decided to throw his several hundred words of cents in. He has cleverly titled his post, Time not on Israel’s Side. (Get it? See, the name of the magazine is…)
Writes Miller:
This week’s issue of Time Magazine has the bold headline proclaiming “Why Israel Doesn’t Care About Peace.” I haven’t read the article yet (the online version is an abridged version of the cover story appearing in the September 13, 2010 issue), but I’ve read several responses to it.
Despite not having read that article that isn’t even available to read yet (!), Miller already has some choice words for it. But don’t take my word for it! Go read Miller’s post. All of it. You see, he has had the foresight to make entire post available to read today, so we can go ahead and start critiquing it now.
I don’t have anything to say about the article itself, because, unlike Miller, I can’t see the future/read through walls. But I will say that the entire premise of his post is mumbo-jumbo. He’s saying that the cover title itself is anti-Semitic. If even Miller himself, a rabbi, can’t read the damn article for himself, how can we expect any other ordinary Americans to read it? Therefore, we should disregard the content of Time’s article and focus on the headline, which is meant to grab attention. (I guess it’s working?)
I’d like to suggest that he’s doing exactly what he thinks the article is doing. Anti-Semite is a pretty drastic label to assign a publication today. Now, if I only read the first little bit of his post, say just the title or something, I might come away with the impression that he’s trying to slander Time Magazine. I have actually read the whole post, so I’m pretty sure his intentions are better–and more complex–than that. I think I’ll wait to read the article in Time before passing the kind of judgement on it that I’ve just passed in Miller’s wrong-headed post.
He should be embarrassed.
**The title of this blog post is meant satirically and not at all sincerely. Both David and New Voices know that Rabbi Jason is not an anti-Semite.**
