If it sounds like anti- Semitism, maybe it is
Earlier this week, Gregg Easterbrook, a senior editor at the New Republic, ignited a blistering controversy when he criticized those responsible for the release of Quentin Tarantino's violent hit film, "Kill Bill Vol. 1," singling out Miramax Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein and Disney Chairman Michael Eisner, who were described as "Jewish executives" who "worship money above all else."
Easterbrook's comments were distasteful and disturbing in their own right. But the affair also is notable because his charges appeared in the unedited blog he writes for the New Republic's online edition, and most of the reaction to them has appeared on similar sites of other prominent Internet commentators, including the novelist and screenwriter Roger L. Simon, whose blog is widely read in Hollywood.
Moreover, in an apology posted in the New Republic Online Thursday and in an interview Friday, Easterbrook attributed the furor, at least in part, to the peculiar perils of blogging, a relatively new form of personal journalism that has captured the imagination of many involved in the coverage of politics and culture. "I stand by my original thoughts, which are important and true, but the language I used to express them was careless and bad," the veteran magazine writer said in the interview. "It was crummy work on my part."
In his apology, he described himself as guilty of "mangling words" and speculated that "maybe this is an object lesson in the new blog reality. I worked on this alone
Easterbrook, a Presbyterian, is one of the rare Washington-based journalists who has written explicitly about the importance of religious belief in his life. His initial essay was a forthright attack on the brutality of Tarantino's film, which pays homage to Asian martial arts films in an elaborate -- and bloody -- revenge fantasy. Disney is the parent company of Miramax, which released the film, and Easterbrook extended his criticism to executives at the head of both companies. "Set aside what it says about Hollywood that today even Disney thinks what the public needs is ever-more-graphic depictions of killing the innocent as cool amusement," he wrote. "Disney's CEO, Michael Eisner, is Jewish; the chief of Miramax, Harvey Weinstein, is Jewish. Yes, there are plenty of Christian and other Hollywood executives who worship money above all else, promoting for profit the adulation of violence. Does that make it right for Jewish executives to worship money above all else by promoting for profit the adulation of violence? Recent European history alone ought to cause Jewish executives to experience second thoughts about glorifying the killing of the helpless as a fun lifestyle choice."
