My Open Letter to a Critic of Mearsheimer and Walt
Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 5:07 pm
[T4Y- I found Timothy Rutten's "Israel's lobby as a scapegoat" article courtesy of the What Really Happened website. This is my short open letter to the author which tackles his use of ad hominem attacks in the article. I have yet to receive a response. To read the article go here. Please pass this around. If an LA Times journalist can't answer a 16-year old's questions about stifling debates with ad hominem attacks then we are in big trouble!]
Open Letter to Timothy Rutten
Dear Mr. Rutten,
I'm a 16 year-old who would like to comment on your recent article on Mearsheimer and Walt. Note: Again I'm a 16 year-old. I note that because your article was filled with ad hominem attacks that didn't contribute to a debate. You use words like "loony fringe" and other such underhanded tactics to get your point across. I have a question about a paragraph in your article though:
[excerpt]
Mearsheimer and Walt go to great pains to proclaim their disinterested benevolence toward all and to attach the word "realist" to their argument. The only adjective that comes to this reader's mind is "sinister."
[end excerpt]
What is so "sinister" about what Mearsheimer and Walt are saying, and are you implying that they're "anti-semitic"? I find this statement rather funny as I actually have met people that directly blame Jewish people for the world's problems, and I would think you have too. I don't agree with those people, and you don't seem to either. But do you honestly not see a difference in those people and Mearsheimer and Walt?
Another excerpt from your article that bothered me:
[excerpt]
Baloney. If -- as was long ago proposed -- the Jewish state had been established in Uganda, the Twin Towers still would be rubble.
[end excerpt]
Why do you not back that statement up?
There is much more I could say, but I'm not going to. I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Joe
Open Letter to Timothy Rutten
Dear Mr. Rutten,
I'm a 16 year-old who would like to comment on your recent article on Mearsheimer and Walt. Note: Again I'm a 16 year-old. I note that because your article was filled with ad hominem attacks that didn't contribute to a debate. You use words like "loony fringe" and other such underhanded tactics to get your point across. I have a question about a paragraph in your article though:
[excerpt]
Mearsheimer and Walt go to great pains to proclaim their disinterested benevolence toward all and to attach the word "realist" to their argument. The only adjective that comes to this reader's mind is "sinister."
[end excerpt]
What is so "sinister" about what Mearsheimer and Walt are saying, and are you implying that they're "anti-semitic"? I find this statement rather funny as I actually have met people that directly blame Jewish people for the world's problems, and I would think you have too. I don't agree with those people, and you don't seem to either. But do you honestly not see a difference in those people and Mearsheimer and Walt?
Another excerpt from your article that bothered me:
[excerpt]
Baloney. If -- as was long ago proposed -- the Jewish state had been established in Uganda, the Twin Towers still would be rubble.
[end excerpt]
Why do you not back that statement up?
There is much more I could say, but I'm not going to. I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Joe