Comments on: Beirut, one year after the war: my article for Time Out Tel Aviv

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 23:59:59 +0000

Awaiting the English translation with bated breath.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 23:59:59 +0000

BV – We're almost there – I don't want you turning blue in the face.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 23:59:59 +0000

Marmari points out that both Beirut and Tel Aviv have branches of McDonald's, so there goes Thomas Friedman's famous Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention.
My understanding was the NATO-Serbia war was the first failure of that theory.
Anyway, Lisa, I'd gently suggest that the “TEL AVIVIAN IN BEIRUT” headline and some of the other elements of that piece are at odds with the “just a journalist going wherever and how could anyone object?” attitude you want the Lebanese to take towards you. I understand that your editors want to crow a bit, but that crowing has to create antagonism elsewhere.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 23:59:59 +0000

Hi J Singer -
I'm not sure how far along you got in reading the article, but it sounds as though you didn't get far past the headline. The point is most definitely not to crow, but rather to specify that this is an article about the similarities (and differences) between TA and Beirut – as seen through the eyes of a Tel Avivian.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 23:59:59 +0000

The point is most definitely not to crow…
I didn't mean to suggest that at all, just that the framing of both this article and your TV appearance do strike me as having some elements of Outsmarting The Lebanese that I can see rubbing them the wrong way. I know it's not your intention, which is precisely why I mention it.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 23:59:59 +0000

I honestly did not get that impression at all from Lisa's previous reports (and TV appearance). Haven't read the TOTA piece yet, but I can't imagine it's much different from the previous dispatches we've read.
There is absolutely nothing in the tone that indicates “outsmarting the Lebanese”. So far, I've seen an honest depiction of what Lisa saw in Lebanon.
Sure, being an Israeli, and never having seen Lebanon through her own eyes, there is bound to be a skewing of what one sees colored to a degree by what one might have expected. A lot of westerners come to Lebanon thinking it's going to look like a war-scarred shithole and make comments like “Wow. It's not at all what I expected. I didn't see a lot of bearded men screaming 'Death to America'. ” or similar comments. And I can see how some might find that kind of comment somewhat offensive, but that's about it.
What's a lot more maddening to me, is having read/seen the Hezbollah/Al Manar/Al Jazeera depiction of Lisa's visit, with all the lies and fabrications that entailed.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 23:59:59 +0000

OK, good! It's not my place to decide what Lebanese should take offense at — I'd just perceived something in the way this “scoop” was being presented (again, not their content, just the framing of them) that I could see rubbing people the wrong way. If you don't see it, all the better. I'd like to see fewer grievances in the world, not more.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 23:59:59 +0000

And of course Mossad spies ALWAYS publish their intelligence reports in “Time Out Tel Aviv”, telling Headquarters about the strategically vital night life in Beirut and taking photos of hush-hush billboards beside super-secret public highways in top-secret major cities.
*laughing*
Thank you, Lisa.
-Zvi

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 23:59:59 +0000

Zvi -
What – you didn't know that TOTA is part of a Mossad-CIA conspiracy to improve Israel's image at the expense of the Palestinians?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 23:59:59 +0000

Of course