Wednesday, April 11, 2012

An All-around Anti-Semitic Ass, That Grass

An LATimes editorial posits:


...by overreacting to Grass' criticism, Israeli officials are acting like, well, Iranians....Israel and Iran aren't morally equivalent because Israel is an open democracy that cherishes free speech and the rule of law. Yet barring a prominent European intellectual from the country for expressing his political views is precisely the kind of reaction we'd expect from Iran's mullahs.

Well, if the LATimes is looking for some real silly state policy about whom to let into a country or enjoy a visit?  Here:


The Dutch government today announced that by the end of the year, the country's famed marijuana-dispensing coffee shops would start to close to tourists and be open only to Dutch citizens.

After all,  Grass wasn't just writing poetry or expressing a political opinion.  He was perverting history, misrepresenting facts, disgracing Israel's honor, endangering the lives of millions of Jews and being an all-around anti-Semitic ass, was Grass.

As for the editorial writer at the LATimes, well, he'll win the Gunther Grass Award at next year's ceremony.

^

______________


On second thought, if the LATimes needs to deal with a matter of "free political expression", why not Florida?

That's where Ozzie Guillen apologized

for more than an hour Tuesday for having said “I love Fidel Castro,’’ categorizing the remark — which ignited a firestorm in Miami’s Cuban exile community and beyond — as “stupid.”


Ozzie was suspended (!) for 5 games over his comments.


I hope the authorities don't seek to expel him.

You want another angle about getting into a countey? Here:

In the decade since the attacks on the twin towers, American visa procedures for foreign artists and performers have grown increasingly labyrinthine, expensive and arbitrary, arts presenters and immigration lawyers say, making the system a serious impediment to cultural exchanges with the rest of the world.

^

2 comments:

NormanF said...

Its not free speech!

Apparently the Los Angeles Times can't understand why Jews would not want to hear Grass.

No one has censored him. He is free to read his crappy poem. Just not in Israel.

Anonymous said...

Let's not forget in recent memory perhaps one of the most discussed bans was that of US radio host Michal Savage, who was revealed in 2009 to be on a list of 16 people who had been banned from entry to the UK:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/named-and-shamed-the-16-barred-from-uk-1679127.html

A more complete list of who is/was banned, with reasons:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_banned_from_entering_the_United_Kingdom

Personally I think Israel missed a PR opportunity here. Instead of banning Grass specifically, they should have just announced a blanket ban on all former members of the Waffen SS, and not mentioned Grass at all.

There was also the UK ban on Geert Wilders

There's also this list:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_declared_persona_non_grata

Seems very incomplete, but useful.