← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Kevin_O'Keeffe
Thread ID: 13453 | Posts: 2 | Started: 2004-04-30
2004-04-30 00:02 | User Profile
As many of you have no doubt heard, The Nation magazine ran an 1/8th page advert for an anti-Zionist book from the Institute for Historical Review. After running it for a week, they returned IHR's money for any future adverts. Here is my letter to the editor of The Nation. Write one yourself by clicking on [url]http://thenation.com/contact/lett[/url]
Dear Editor,
I'm sure you're going to get several letters from people unhappy about your decision to cease running adverts from the Institute for Historical Review. The difference, however, is this letter comes not from a right-wing outsider, as it were, but rather from a former subscriber (who would be a current subscriber if he hadn't gotten laid off as part of the Bush recession). America is a changing country and frankly, the distinction between 'left' and 'right' is a lot less meaningful than used to be the case, hence the overlap of Nation readers and historical revisionists (yes, even those who don't automatically accept each and every thing Abraham Foxman or the JDL have to say about the Holocaust i.e., "Holocaust deniers"), assorted anti-Zionists on the 'right' ('anti-Semites,' as they are invariably labelled, while anti-Zionism on the so-called 'left' is permitted), paleo-conservative critics of the Bush/Cheney administration's insane, imperialist misadventure in Iraq, even the dreaded White national socialists themselves, may be a lot greater than your Manhattan-ensconced, quaintly Marxian editorial board may realize. I know I'm not the only person who read's The Nation for the anti-war and pro-civil liberties articles, as well as for hard-hitting stories about administration corruption and other serious topics, while skipping all the propaganda dreck about how wonderful life is now that all of America's major urban centers (with the possible exceptions of Seattle and Salt Lake City) are Third World slums dependent on the functional and moral equivalent of slave labor.
Suffice it to say that while some White national socialists ('Nazis') and bona fide anti-Semites have been published by the Institute for Historical Review from time to time, that doesn't mean that the IHR doesn't provide useful insights not found elsewhere in the media. Indeed, the irredeemably controversial nature of the IHR makes it an ideal forum for unpopular truths, which used to be a concept I associated with The Nation.
In any event, there are those who like to claim the Jews control the media. If the IHR can't even pay for an advert in a (supposedly?) anti-establishment political magazine like The Nation, then doesn't that strengthen their argument?
2004-04-30 02:51 | User Profile
Good letter, Kevin. The question is, will [B]The Nation[/B] publish it?
By the way, I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one here at OD who also reads [B]The Nation[/B]. You're correct that Left and Right are not the dichotimies they once were, but aside from the ol' Commie Alex Cockburn, I doubt that other Nation writers are aware of how much things have changed. For example, I remember Katha Pollitt refering to Free Republic as "far right"!
Aside from Cockburn, the book reviews are [B]The Nation[/B]'s saving grace.