This flamewar between Meryl Yourish, Judith Weiss, and Diana Moon in the comments thread at Jeff Jarvis' blog (Buzzmachine) is worrisome to me. I don't exactly have a record of great relations with any of the three combatants - in fact all three have called me an anti-Semite. But it's troubling to see three bloggers whose sense of purpose is so similar, squabbling like this. I regularly read Yourish because she does represent a perspective I want to understand, and try to factor into my awareness. This process does not require agreement, just awareness.
Diana emerges from the affair as a more thoughtful analyst than I had previously given her credit for. She claims she represents the silent majority of Jews who were not offende by Easterbrook's recent remarks (which I've not actually read). My recollection was that she had been exactly the type to take offense, but either her attitudes have shifted since our last encounter, or I am simply wrong and have misjudged.
Still, the whole discussion is somehow disturbing in that it shatters my simplistic binary image of Jewish attitudes towards anti-Semitism. It has convinced me that I need to re-read the Easterbrook offending article and try to understand what he was saying, and the offense it caused. There's something here of value, for it to be a catalyst of such a unique exchange.
UPDATE: To put my previous disagreements with Diana in context, see this post of mine and a good meta-commentary by Miranda.
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