A Giant Among Midgets {Charley Reese}

King Features Syndicate Inc. ^ | 10/06/2003 | Charley Reese

[George Frm Br00klyn Park]

King Features Syndicate Inc.
Charley Reese
10/06/2003

A Giant Among Midgets
Last week, television news shows took note of the deaths of Donald O'Connor, an actor-dancer; of George Plimpton, a high-toned journalist; and of some rock 'n' roll singer I'd never heard of. Completely missing from the shows I scanned was any mention at all of the death of a giant in this era of mental and moral midgets.

I refer to Edward Said, a professor of literature at Columbia University; a Palestinian and a fearless champion of human rights; a musician and a music critic; and a writer of great note. Said died after a long and valiant fight against leukemia, a disease that never stopped him from writing, traveling and speaking until the very end.

Said was naturally reviled and bedeviled by the professional Zionists for his fearless defense of Palestinian human rights. But unlike some Zionists who fly the false flag of human rights (Elie Wiesel, for example) yet never say snot about the Palestinian suffering, Said was as concerned for Israeli human rights as he was for those of his own people. He was a fierce critic of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. He was, in this ideologically divided world, a genuine intellectual and a genuinely compassionate man. He was a constant advocate of a vision of peace and reconciliation for both Palestinians and Israelis.

He was much-criticized when he opposed the Oslo Accords as being a surrender and a process that would lead to more clashes, but subsequent events proved him to have been exactly right. To be hated by both Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is probably the greatest endorsement a man of peace could wish for.

Said's books are not easy reads. He was a scholar, not a journalist, but if you really want to understand the world our politicians have gotten us entangled with, two of his books, "Orientalism" and "The Question of Palestine," are well worth the effort. All of his books are worth the effort.

Most of what is written about the Middle East in America is written by ideologues, primarily Zionist and some anti-Zionist. Such books are arguments and propaganda, not serious discussions. Said, despite the most vicious personal attacks by intellectual thugs, never wavered from his vision of a just peace and a reconciliation of both peoples with equal rights.

There aren't many people in the world whom I regret not knowing or not having known, but Said is certainly one of them. How I would have loved to just have sat around and listened to him. A great mind is indeed a beautiful thing, and frankly, there aren't that many of them these days. It is entirely understandable that they are unrecognizable by television talking heads.

One of Said's many valuable lessons, applicable to us all, is that you can defend a cause without buying into bad leaders or resorting to fanaticism. Once we start justifying the means because of what we think is a noble end, we become corrupt. One astute man I know said that people should realize there are no ends, only means. As Brother Dave Gardner would have said, that's a heavy thought, but the more you think about it, the more you realize that it's true.

Said believed that what divided the world was not religion, ethnicity or nationalism, but rather the will to power, that itch in some to control others and, in order to control them, to degrade them.

We are, whatever else, all members of the same human species, all occupying the same planet. God willing, maybe one day we will arrive at a consensus that the real enemy is those people itching to control others and their possessions. Such people always hide behind the "idealistic end," which, of course, never arrives. All that is real is the suffering inflicted by the means.

Said's passing has left a hole in the world, but all of the young men and women he inspired will no doubt carry on. Even though I never knew him, I miss him already.

© 2003 by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

Charley's article for Oct. 6, 2003

[George Frm Br00klyn Park]

"A great mind is indeed a beautiful thing, and frankly, there aren't that many of them these days. It is entirely understandable that they are unrecognizable by television talking heads."
===========================================

All, Heh,heh,heh! Peace and love, George.

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[Junior]

I stopped reading when I got to the word "Zionist." This is one of those "red flag" words that indicate the person speaking has an anti-Semitic streak.

[LibertarianInExile]

You realize you're going to hell for posting Charley Reese here. That and you're an anti-Semite.

Not my words or opinion, mind you, but it's sure to be that of others.

[George Frm Br00klyn Park]

Said believed that what divided the world was not religion, ethnicity or nationalism, but rather the will to power, that itch in some to control others and, in order to control them, to degrade them.
=============================

Guys, I afree whole heartedly. Peace and love, George.

[FreedomPoster]

Anyone have a link to the pic of Said throwing rocks at the IDF?

I used to like Charlie, but he went off the deep end a few years ago.

[George Frm Br00klyn Park]

Junior; "I stopped reading when I got to the word "Zionist.""

LibertarianInExile; "You realize you're going to hell for posting Charley Reese here. That and you're an anti-Semite."
=====================================

Guys, Yeah, I know. But I also understand how people come to the understanding that someone or the other is "the person speaking has an anti-Semitic streak.". Because of self censorship, they have absolutely no idea of that which they write, and/or speak. Peace and love, George.

[HHFi]

I stopped reading when he referred to Ronnie Dawson as "some rock and roll singer I'd never heard of." That tells me he's too stupid for me to concern myself with his opinion.

[Malesherbes]

Said, "professor of literature," made a career of victimization. The "control" he abhorred was the usual rot about western imperialism.

[Catspaw]

Edward Said throwing rocks at the IDF.

I have pinged dennisw, but it is Yom Kippur.

[Catspaw]

ping--Charlie Reese on Edward Said.

[FreedomPoster]

Bingo!

I'll admit I didn't know much about this guy until the obits came around. I did a little reading, and my conclusion was that he helped lay the "intellectual" groundwork for the modern "liberal" arts anti-Western circle jerk that occupies much of American academia.

[FreedomPoster]

Thank you, sir!

[Catspaw]

Make that ma'am :-))

[FreedomPoster]

Oops! Well, in any case, thanks.
;-)

[veronica]

Said's passing has left a hole in the world, but all of the young men and women he inspired will no doubt carry on.

No doubt, the rock throwing and Jew-hating will continue.

Odd that Reese left out of his fawning tribute the fact that Said was caught lying in his autobiography.

[Catspaw]

Odd that Reese left out of his fawning tribute the fact that Said was caught lying in his autobiography.

I doubt if either one of us is surprised by that omission by Reese.

[SJackson]

I vote for the midget.

[Manic_Episode]

I thought this jackass retired or something.

[southernnorthcarolina]

I stopped reading when he referred to Ronnie Dawson as "some rock and roll singer I'd never heard of." That tells me he's too stupid for me to concern myself with his opinion.

I had assumed that the reference was to Robert Palmer. But whether he meant Dawson or Palmer scarcely matters; he was trying to affect a superior and condescending attitude by making sure that everyone knows that his time is much too valuable to keep up with anything so trivial as contemporary music.

On the story someone posted on Robert Palmer's death, there were several FReepers who could hardly wait to hop on the thread and announce (or brag, really) that they'd never heard of Palmer. Very strange -- not that they hadn't heard of him, but that they were proud of their ignorance.

The author could have used the words "Ronnie Dawson" or "Robert Palmer" -- whichever entertainer he had in mind -- but chose to use more words ("some rock and roll singer I'd never heard of") to take a gratuitous swipe, and to demonstrate oh-how-sophisticated he is by disdaining popular culture.