The Guardian Readers’ Editor has responded to complaints from readers for the newspaper’s production of Seven Jewish Children.
Speaking of the widespread belief that the play is antisemitic, Siobhan Butterworth writes: “It is not for me to challenge this analysis and I accept that it is one possible interpretation. What I don’t accept is the complainant’s suggestion that it is the only possible reading.”
Imagine for a moment that a play was written called Seven Black Children. For several months, the play drew anguished protests from across the black community, with numerous organisations, community leaders, respected writers and newspapers all declaring the play to be offensive and racist. Seeing all of this, would The Guardian then broadcast its own production of that play? It seems – thankfully – less than likely. I wonder if it did, though, whether Butterworth would so disinterestedly brush off the offence the issue had caused?
The Guardian’s head of multimedia Tom Happold – whose department oversaw the newspaper’s production – says: “It was an innovative thing for the multimedia department to do.”
Trust me, Tom, there is nothing about the promotion of racism that is innovative. People have been doing it since time immemorial – and shame on you for joining that dark tradition.
He has also said: “People will have different views but they should at least base their views on having seen it.”
People also have ‘different views’ about the Geert Wilders film Fitna*, and the Danish Muhammed cartoons and The Jewel Of The Medina novel that Islamists firebombed a publisher’s home over. Do we think that Happold will also be innovative enough to publish them on the Guardian website so people are at least basing their views having seem/read them? Do we think that Butterworth would be so quick to defend him if he did?
What a cowardly and hypocritical pair: they’ll go far!
* For the record, I dislike Wilders and his film.
The Guardian will of course take the video of ’7 Other Children’ that will soon be on YouTube
Won’t they ………
Well, Happold says: “We want to be as broad in our remit as G2, Weekend, or Saturday Review.” So the answer must be yes!
Innovative! What a twat. Reminds me (tangentially) of this brilliant video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=towd9vZWDJg
Of course, because you can say what you like about Jews and just pretend you meant Zionists. Or Israelis, same thing isn’t it. Forget most Israelis and most Zionists are Jewish, and that most Jews are Zionists, and you can say what you like without being called an antisemite.
“Innovative”?
You said it all Chaz. Tom Happold is a coward and a hypocrite. He will proudly commission anti-Jewish racism but no other type, I bet. He should be ashamed.
http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/2009/04/purveyors-of-fine-antisemitism.html
“So this is an example of the Guardian actively seeking ways to promulgate antisemitism, beyond merely slanting its reportage and punditry of the daily events.”
This guy is a former director of Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial in Israel. Well done Happold, you must be proud.
Hi Chas, just one small correction: Yaacov is former director of the Yad Vashem archives.
See Normblog’s entry re: Butterworth’s e-mail follow up to correspondence with Gabby Charing, the aggrieved reader. In it, it appears Ms B has no doubt that 7JC isn’t anti-Semetic, she was just spinning when she allowed that it might be read as some that way.
But don’t you write for the Guardian…?
Perhaps you could use your columns/blogs for the paper to counter the lies about Israel that this newspaper has been printing for months now.
I’ve stopped buying this newspaper and so have numerous others – both Jews and Gentiles alike – because the coverage of Operation Cast Lead was so horrific. In one cartoon published by the Guardian, it was stated that Israel had caused death and bloodshed since 1948. This reveals such an ignorance on the part of the Guardian that it’s really rather alarming.
Racists.