[whataretheysaying] Mary Madigan: This is your brain on "anti-Zionism". Any questions?

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Posted by Mary Madigan:
This is your brain on "anti-Zionism". Any questions?
http://whataretheysaying.powerblogs.com/posts/1197642390.shtml


   Norman Finklestein [1]cries himself a river..

     At 54, Norman Finkelstein is pretty much back where he started.
     This summer, the leftist scholarâwho made a name for himself in
     2000 with his book The Holocaust Industry, in which he called
     Jewish leaders a "repellent gang of plutocrats, hoodlums, and
     hucksters" intent on extorting war reparations from European
     governmentsâlost his job as assistant professor of political
     science at DePaul University. Fortunately, he kept the lease on his
     late fatherâs threadbare rent-stabilized apartment, on Ocean
     Parkway, and there heâs retreated.

     "It's like death," Finkelstein says. "You keep saying youâre going
     to die, but you never really come to grips with it. And I can see
     Iâm not going to get another job. I havenât yet fully absorbed it."

     His days are now spent in solitary scholarly pursuits; his
     bookshelves buckle under the weight of tomes by Marx, Lenin, and
     Trotsky. Notes of support from his students sit on a piano; thereâs
     a photo of him and Noam Chomsky ("my closest friend") bare-chested
     on the beach at Cape Cod.

     He was a Maoist revolutionary in his youth. By his own account, his
     academic career was bedeviled from the start by his politics: It
     took him thirteen years to wrest his doctorate from Princeton,
     since no faculty member would agree to advise him on his thesis, an
     analysis of Zionism. When he finally did earn the degree, none
     would write him a recommendation. He went on to take a series of
     adjunct postsâat Brooklyn College, Hunter, and NYUârarely earning
     more than $20,000 a year.

     At DePaul, where he arrived six years ago, his situation improved.
     But the success of The Holocaust Industry, which was translated
     into over two dozen languages and was a best seller in Germany,
     raised his profile, and the critics mobilized. Harvardâs Alan
     Dershowitz waged a fierce campaign against him, preparing a dossier
     of Finkelsteinâs âclearest and most egregious instances of
     dishonesty.â Still, his department, and the college, recommended
     him for tenure. But the universityâs promotion-and-tenure board
     voted 4-3 against him, and DePaulâs president refused to overturn
     the decision.

   Link thanks to [2]Solomon, who suggests that Finkelstein should get
   another job.

   Maybe he could start up a 'scared straight' program for young
   Chomsky-wannabes, letting them know that their career path will lead
   to jack squat and a steady diet of government cheese. Manufacturing
   Consent is the gateway drug, a Marxist doobie. Next comes hard Marxism
   and living in [3]a van down by the river!

   [4]SNL - Chris Farley - Matt Foley Motivational Speaker
   [EMBED]

References

   1. http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/41838/
   2. http://www.solomonia.com/blog/archive/2007/12/finkelsteins-coney-island-exile/index.shtml
   3. http://snltranscripts.jt.org/92/92smattfoley.phtml
   4. http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=15429031