Gilad Atzmon - why bother?

In his article Openly embracing prejudice (yes, again on comment is free, in that nest of, how to say it gently, the most virulent strain of debating societies), ever intrepid David Hirsh deconstructs the odious character of Gilad Atzmon.

I have followed David's article, including the references to some quotes.

Yes, Atzmon says: "I would suggest that perhaps we should face it once and for all: the Jews were responsible for the killing of Jesus who, by the way, was himself a Palestinian Jew." I am not sure whether to mention or not that a) the issue of responsibility for that act is still being bandied back and forth; b) the term "Palestinian" is so much "younger" than Jesus and calling Jesus a Palestinian Jew is witness to stupidity of the caller...

Yes, Atzmon says: "Hence, there is no room for comparison between Israel and the Nazis. If a comparison is to be made, then it is the Israelis who win the championship of ruthlessness and the reasons are obvious." Should I mention that the only obvious thing is that Atzmon is deranged and that his "logic" is a logic of a person obsessed?

Yes, Atzmon says: "American Jewry makes any debate on whether the "Protocols of the elder of Zion" are an authentic document or rather a forgery irrelevant. American Jews (in fact Zionists) do control the world." And yes, he pushes the same Elders of Zion crap. Although, deity knows, we (the Elders) could have done something about his foul mouth, what with us being on top of everything in this world.

In general - being a lover of jazz, blues and other stuff irrelevant to the subject, I stop short of purchasing a CD with that name figuring on it. I know that it is childish. After all, who would expect a talented sax player be an incarnation of Disraeli as well or, if that is too much to ask, Trotsky? Upon another thought I would even settle for Dan Quayle...

Atzmon's site is an artless weave of logically disconnected statements, of stammering attempts to build a mini-philosophy on faulty facts and borrowed (even from Fisk!) slogans. His credo is as limited as his brain, and without doubt a good debater with half a brain (which is ten times as much as Atzmon possesses) will easily destroy anything Atzmon tries to stand for.

So what is the big deal? But I shall let David do the explaining:

So, what's the big deal? I consider this Atzmon is an anti-Semitic crank; hardly unusual, is it? The big deal is this: Atzmon is currently being hosted and/or being given a platform by groups that are thought of as being anti-racist and on the left.

OK, point taken. Still, what is the big deal? That Atzmon is received so warmly by SWP and Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign? With all due respect to these mighty groups of lunatics, I could care less. We could care less, to be more precise. As a matter of fact, this phenomenon of scumbags gravitating together reminds me of the recent occasion when that other scumbag, George Galloway, was received so warmly in Canada by the unashamedly fascist (and pro-Nazi) SSNP. Granted, there are still a few remaining differences of opinions between SWP, RESPECT and SSNP, but as the French political market shows lately, these could be settled.

In short - Atzmon thrives on controversy. He seems to be growing larger and fatter on criticism and attention alone, so why feed the troll?

As a matter of fact, my personal poll in Israel (10 random participants) brought 8 counts of "Gilad Atzmon? Who?" with blank stare, 1 count of "Yeah, I definitely heard the name somewhere, could you tell me more?" and 1 count of "Yes, I sure know about the piece of shit".

So it is 10% for Atzmon - quite high. I bet that a similar poll in UK, outside of SWP and jazz lovers will bring less than 1%. Which is about 10% less than the projected number of people suffering from schizophrenia in most modern societies. Not bad.

You know, upon a second thought, maybe I should buy CDs with Atzmon recordings. What the heck! On the other hand...

Cross-posted on Yourish.com

P.S. As usual, no links to the creep's site: I am refusing to feed the zoo exhibit. Google yourself.

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