The last time billionaire Bill Ackman was heard from, he perpetrated the most brazen assault on academic freedom in our country’s history. He engineered a coup that toppled Harvard president Claudine Gay by publicly threatening to withhold megabucks in alumni contributions if the Board of Trustees did not dismiss her. What was Gay’s crime? She was insufficiently repressive of student outrage at Israel’s genocide in Gaza. It is not, however, as if Ackman is a Zionist. Social critic Irving Howe once quipped that, if you have enough money to purchase a one-way ticket to Israel but don’t, then you’re not a Zionist. So no, Ackman is not a lover of Zion. Rather, he’s a typical Jewish supremacist. The notion that a Jew—or, in the case at hand, the Jewish State—can be anything less than the paragon of virtue amounts to a blood libel. When Ackman’s coup plans began to falter, he went after Gay for plagiarism. But, alas, Yahweh proved to be a mischievous God. It was miraculously revealed that Ackman’s wife had herself plagiarized in her doctoral dissertation. The difference was that Gay lifted passages from scholarly publications, whereas Ackman’s wife plagiarized Wikipedia. In a world replete with ironic coincidences that almost make one a believer, it appears that Ackman’s wife was channeling Mr. VermiNcelli, or vice versa.
I’m stealing your phrase, “infinite self-regard” and inserting it into paragraphs describing those with ample abundance of same.
I so very much enjoy your writing, interviews and completely rational thought. I’ve learned so much from you these past 6 months and search out every interview and essay.
I’m stealing your phrase, “infinite self-regard” and inserting it into paragraphs describing those with ample abundance of same.
I so very much enjoy your writing, interviews and completely rational thought. I’ve learned so much from you these past 6 months and search out every interview and essay.