Renowned US physicist Stephen Weinberg (one of the true geniuses in his field in the last half century) has cancelled a visit to the UK because he thinks we all hate Jews. Weinberg is also known to be a "liberal Zionist" (well, nobody's perfect ). This just shows more evidence of how off-centre the overall American public's opinion is towards Israel. I'm not aware of the typical Brit's attitude towards Israel having changed rapidly recently. However he was due to visit a Pakistani, who probably would have given him more anti-Israel food to think about than he's used to in the States. I don't know any "liberal Zionists" on my street. My opinion of him has gone down http://www.thes.co.uk/current_edition/story.aspx?story_id=2036807
I like Weinberg, I've read 'The first 3 minutes' a few times. He's a fantastic theorist, pity he seems to have a slender grip on reality...
For him it's refusing to accept that 1)Israel is completely free fom blame for the middle-east problems 2)Jews are superior to Arabs
Well, doncha? I always heard that Earl Grey tea contains no less than 10% shredded Jew baby. Y'know, for that extra flavor zip.
Even really smart people can be really stupid. The most widespread capacity in human beings is the capacity to irrationally compartmentalize modes of analysis.
Always fun having Israeli scientists at the conferences I attend. You can spot them a mile off - the four bodyguards accompanying them tend to make them stand out from the rest of the academic crowd.
I thought he was being a bit of a dick. Then I read a little about it. Apparently the UK scientific community is looking to boycott Israeli researchers or something. Uh. I forget. Anyway, they came out of it looking a bit daft to me, so I can see why he's a bit pissed off. [action=Spider]wonders if any of that made any sense. [/action] [action=Spider]wonders if he should post while half-asleep...[/action]
I'm guessing this is using the common American usage of "anti-semetic" where the slightest criticism of Israel means you hate Jews?
Is that like the common usage of "homophobic" or "racist" where the slightest criticism of a relevant group or the slightest off-color joke means you're afraid of homosexuals or hate other races?
If there were even the slightest justification for the criticisms of Israel, Weinberg would be overreacting. But given that there isn't the slightest justification for those criticisms, his position is a reasonable one. Next.
I, too, eagerly await the next installment of "Starkt's Utter Bullshit of the Week". Oh, it makes me giggle.
Usually I'm one of the few who at least waits until he knows a thing, though... Weinberg canceled specifically because the National Union of Journalists (the NUJ) voted to boycott Israeli products at its national conference, in response to the 2006 military action in Lebanon. The text read: "This ADM [annual delegate meeting] calls for a boycott of Israeli goods similar to those boycotts in the struggles against apartheid South Africa led by trade unions and the TUC [Trades Union Congress] to demand sanctions be imposed on Israel by the British government and the United Nations." He interpreted this as anti-semitism. Also, there was to be a motion at the University and College Union (the UCU) conference next week, calling for an academic boycott of Israeli academic institutions. This has since been amended to remove any call for a boycott, as follows: "Congress notes the suffering of Palestinians through years of dispossession and economic strife. Congress calls for the withdrawal of Israeli forces and settlers from occupied territories, the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian State and the guarantee of safe passage for the citizens of both nations. Congress recognises that many in Israeli academia and society oppose their Government's policy, and actively support efforts for a permanent resolution to the Palestine/Israel conflict. Congress accepts that a boycott of Israeli academia would be unhelpful." Weinberg acted similarly last year, canceling his attendance of a conference at the University of Durham, when the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (Natfhe) passed a motion to boycott Israeli academics who did not vocally speak out against their government. The motion was meaningless because the union was dissolved just hours later to form the UCU .
its tales like spiders, and listening to that worthless cretin bob crow, that explains why trade unions get such bad press.
At first it looked like this fellow was deeply paranoid, to the point where he actually feared for his safety as a Jew visiting Britain. Turns out he's merely making a grandiose political statement. It's his right to do so, of course, but I find it rather distasteful.
That's stupid, of course. I wonder if they changed it before or after Weinberg cancelled? I can understand him being upset about this, it's stupid generalisation. Justified, imo. Nobody has a right to make demands like that. Meaningless or not, the motion was passed.
