The Inside Assyria Discussion Forum #5

=> Norman Finkelstein!!!

Norman Finkelstein!!!
Posted by pancho (Moderator) - Wednesday, December 29 2010, 23:27:18 (UTC)
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...good lord what a marvellous time I´m having even while hacking my head off, confined to a chair or bed, browsing through some fantastic debates. Talk about your REAL "real teevee".

Watched a great debate between Finkelstein and Alan Dershowitz and then an even better one with Shlomo Ben-Ami, former Israeli foreign minister. Dershowitz is a hot shot lawyer who now teaches law at Harvard...he helped out on the OJ Simpson defense and got Klaus Von Bulow off a murder charge, on appeal no less.

Up to now I thought Hitchens would be the most formidable opponent in debate...and I have to admit that my first impression of Finkelstein was that he was sort of slow and plodding even seeming slightly not all there....but that´s because he´s so damn unusual, at least to me. The guy doesn´t have any style at all...especially when compared to a grand birthday cake like Hitchens who might as well arrive to his debates in a coach and four with liveried footmen and a gold and pearl snuffbox...and then of course Galloway whose Irish charm distracts you from the guts slithering out your belly which he´s jovially eviserated. In comparison Finkelstein has no grace or charm whatever...but he´s the one I´d LEAST want to debate....because the man does his HOMEWORK. he doesn´t rely in the least (because he has none) on charm...he´s all business, all preparation, all scholarship AND quick of mind without any pretentious Latin phrases etc. He´s not there to show you how erudite he is but where YOU are wrong.

The guy is such a thorough scholar...he prepares so well that you would be hard pressed to go him one better...in other words if there is ANY bullshit to your position he will find it AND the footnotes you THOUGHT covered your ass.

In both debates it was delightful to watch his opponents facial expressions, body language and tension levels drastically change. Both Dershowitz and Ben-Ami began in great good humor, plenty of charm, in love with the whole world, confidently refering to notes, writing notes, dolling out praise to Finkelstein etc., But, as the debate went on you could see right before your eyes a sad and stunned sort of look begin to take hold....as a brilliant and not necessarily in a good way either, lawyer, Dershowitz was better at evasions and tossing out distractions...or at least trying to...Ben-Ami just looked sadder and sadder.

One precious monent came when Amy Goodman, (I´m in love again)played a short excerpt from another show in which Dershowitz shouted down a critic of his defend-Israel-at-all-costs books, who´d apparently pointed out an error in his latest apologetics for Israel, saying he dared the guy to find ONE error in the books and if he did, Dershowitz would pay $10,000 to any Muslim charity the guy chose....then Goodman turned to Finkelstein and asked if he could accept the challenge...and he did.

And it was beautiful to behold....Finkelstein, a true scholar in every sense, quoted from Dershowitz´book a statement Dershowitz said he quoted from a reputable source...Finkelstein, who´d already said this latest book was a pack of lies and shoddy trickery, next produced the source of that quote and had Goodman read it...the quote as Dershowitz had it said that "three to four hundred Palestinians had been killed..." I don´t recall exactly in which engagement but that´s not the point...Goodman then read the actual line from the very source that Dershowitz used...and it said "three to four HUNDRED Palestinians had been killed...." Dershowitz looked sad all of a sudden...but then, being a lawyer, he shot back with, "mistakes are made in lots of books"...maybe so...maybe it was an honest typo, thought that´s pretty suspicous...I bet no typo would have appeared in his book if the mistake made was that only a tenth of Israelis were killed than were actually killed...a very "lucky" mistake to say the least...and really, if not for Finkelstein, who would have caught it?

Finkelstein then said he looked forward to receiving the check for $10,000 Dershowitze had promised...and I felt warm and fuzzy all over.

Where Ben-Ami was concerned, this guy was all oozy European charm and easy confidence until Finkelstein caught him in some serious, shall we say mis-statements? To watch a guy, who had been until then speaking flawlessly with perfect diction begin to stumble and sweat, I mean visably sweat...and to hear his hems and hums and throat clearing and back-peddling...well I don´t think you´d find such a scene in fiction.

No sir....send me against Hitchens or Galloway and you can throw in the other Hitchens as well and even all three of them at once...but I´m going nowhere near Finkelstein.



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