Harry's Place

footling story

Sorry, but you’ll have to explain in what sense the story was inconsequential…this was a major scoop for the Statesman, and should secure at least another 3 subscribers!!

There are those who might be tempted to argue that the views of an interview subject shouldn’t be taken to be representative of the views of the publication in which the interview’s published, particularly when said interview is done in a question-and-answer format, without any commentary on the subject’s responses. But I guess that’s just crazy talk.

Published any softball interviews with Nick Griffn recently:

“Mr Griffin – what are your hopes for the future?”

So the poor old Staggers is now down to 23,000 (link in Alan A’s final paragraph). Fifty years ago, under Kingsley Martin, it was 80,000.

the views of an interview subject shouldn’t be taken to be representative of the views of the publication in which the interview’s published, particularly when said interview is done in a question-and-answer format, without any commentary on the subject’s responses

Evidently you have failed to grasp that it is not the mere appearance of Meshal in the magazine, but the very nature of the questions he was asked, that are at issue here. Namely – a sympathetic and soft-pedalling approach to a Holocaust denier.

Try again.

How dare you criticise Khaled Meshal you fetid Cohenist scum. He combines the Jew hatred of Himmler with the well groomed facial hair of John Rees. He’s fucking perfect.

There are those who might argue that Owen is a gullible little shit.

Wow, I’m being parodied. What an honour!

Ever since they continued to employ the guy who called all us non-muslims “sheep” (along with other questionable remarks), I decided I would never buy it again or even visit their website. Now it’s only fit for toilet paper, I hope they’re quest to appear “multicultural” was worth it.

I agree about the mote-beam point, since the NS is certainly not averse to jumping into bed with any old Holocaust denier and other assorted Jew-haters.

However, a fashion shoot at a Holocaust memorial is not a ‘footling’ story (I bet you waited 20 years for an opportunity to use that word. Well done!). It’s an indicator of how degenerate society has become.

I’ve got pictures of my two young daughters clambering all over the Holocaust memorial. But that’s partly what it’s there for. It’s not just a show and tell piece of art; it’s meant to be interactive.

I spoke to my children, in very rough terms, about what it represented and they listened intently. Then they ran off and played hide and seek with their cousins for an hour.

When I first saw the the memorial, I thought it looked like the foundations of a multi-storey carpark. But it grew on me, quickly, so that by the end of the day I thought it terrific. I never made into the museum, though. It’s difficult to get a 3 and 6 year old into a museum on their holidays.

I was offended by this magazine feature. This issue will have been the one on their first flights to Israel (a new route for EasyJet). I wrote to them about this last week. Here’s what they said to me:

Thank you for your email to Andy Harrison, our Chief Executive Officer. The e-mail has been passed to me for a response. I apologise for not being able to answer to your e-mail immediately.

I am grateful for the number of comments that you have made regarding the November issue of our easyJet Traveller Magazine. Please be sure that your opinion is highly appreciated.

I would like to apologise if you have felt offended by the content of ‘Bauhaus Vunder’ article. I would like to underline that it was never our intention to insult any of the readers.

Still, we do acknowledge your feedback and we are thankful to learn about the number of issues you have raised concern over.

I would like to advise that I have passed your comments to the editors of easyJet Traveller Magazine.

Thank you for contacting us. Please be assured that your correspondence has been noted by Mr Harrison.

Yours sincerely,
easyJet Executive Support Team

Brownie- I do understand what you mean about the Memorial being designed for interaction, but the understanding of a child (even a bright child as I am sure yours are!) and an adul are very different and that difference determines what behaviour is appropriate. An adult clambering over a memorial and taking cheery holiday snaps would be inappropriate, likewise a fashion shoot.

I cannot fathom why anyone would not be able to realise that a photo shoot was inappropriate. I am not a clever or educated person, but you do not need to be either of those things to know instinctively that this was wrong.

I don’t have any time for NS they appear to have no shame or sense of irony.

0

Then they ran off and played hide and seek with their cousins for an hour.

They came back.

Well, it’s either the Jews or the Muslims innit?

The New Statesman: the magazine that sponsored Shlomo Sand’s booklaunch at Borders last week and whose literary editor chaired the SOAS meeting with Sand the next day which attracted antisemites ‘like fleas to a dog’………..

http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/5534971/lesser-forms-of-pond-life-amongst-the-british-intelligentsia.thtml

Yeah, that’s right Arnold, but NS also bigged up the Euston Manifesto, since sunk without trace. I don’t know, whatever. If anyone is interested, NS is owned by the same guy who owns LabourHome, so clearly the evil antisemitic conspiracy is spreading. Shock, horror, etc.

Something a little similar appeared in The Times travel section two weeks ago (7/11/09). An article on tourism in Berlin was illustrated using a picture of a laughing mother and daughter running among the memorial’s ’stelae’, with the rather curious caption ‘Moral maze’.
I have to say that I found the picture very unsettling at the time.

Can anyone understand the nonsense that “Amused” posts all the time? Is he claiming that there is no such thing as antisemitism? That it’s all in the mind?

Re amused and his constant foolishness…

“He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot but don’t let that fool you. He really is an idiot.
- Groucho Marx”

Gordon Bennet

Antisemitism surely does exist, but poor old HP is obsessed with Jews and Muslims like no other blog I know. It’s all about balance and perspective of which HP has none, thankfully.

Anyway, regarding NS: why not go to the top? The NS head honcho is a Labour supporting businessman of good repute, you know. Inform me of his reply – for my amusement, of course.

Why is a fashion shoot at a Holocaust memorial offensive? I don’t think anyone would care if a fashion shoot was in a graveyard or in front of a cenotaph.

I do understand though that Easyjet is a commercial enterprise so artistic freedom is not necessarily the primary issue, as with the Ryanair schoolgirl “scandal”.

Fatloser – a Holocaust memorial, particularly one in the capital city of the country which perpetrated the most extensive attempt at genocide in modern times – is presumably designed to encourage people who visit it to reflect with sobriety upon the causes and circumstances under which such atrocities took place.
If you are incapable of understanding that to reduce that site to the level of a theme park or adventure playground through the frivolity of badly conceived advertising could be offensive not only to those who still live with the traumas of the Holocaust’s events, then I really do feel very sorry for you.

I don’t think anyone would care if a fashion shoot was in a graveyard or in front of a cenotaph.

Really?

This was one of the images:

http://www.easyjetinflight.com/images/2009/nov/05.jpg

Sure Owen. And when will the New Statesman be interviewing Nick Griffin? They won’t? Why not?

Imo the Holocaust Memorial story is a little bigger than a mote, but certainly “freebie magazine sends self-absorbed airheads to do fashion shoot” is hardly the scoop of the century. So: if you’re Jewish the NS is your friend when it can earn some easy anti-racist brownie points. Just not when somebody actually hates you and wants to kill you.

Antisemitism surely does exist, but poor old HP is obsessed with Jews and Muslims like no other blog I know. It’s all about balance and perspective of which HP has none, thankfully.

You know where the door is. If not, all you need to do is ask.

Anyway, regarding NS: why not go to the top? The NS head honcho is a Labour supporting businessman of good repute, you know.

I refer you to Groucho Marx’s comment, as quoted by Doc. You have it arse backwards. The head honcho first needs to earn this supposed ‘good repute’ by not allowing the NS to jump into bed with antisemites.

I saw the article 2 weeks ago on a flight to Majorca and thought it rather tasteless,a bit like eating fish and chips at the Menin Gate whilst ‘Taps’ was played.
We all need to be reminded of the horrors endured by humanity down the ages and this article showed that many people are unaware of the suffering of Jewry and others during the war.
Difficult to beleive but true

Ronbo2571, you are correct. It’s all to do with treating something the respect and sobriety it deserves, even many years after the event took place. It is hard for me to believe that anyone cannot see why this is offensive, and while I am not big fan of the New Statesman, and I also don’t think that this EasyJet magazine mistake was the worst thing we Jews have to worry about (sadly), for me it was sad and shocking to see, and that’s why I wrote to the airline when I saw it. We need to act when we see things like this, especially if we suspect the person / people who made the mistake didn’t do so intentionally: it is those people who we can educate more easily, and they are the ones most likely to change and help us turn the tide of rising antisemitism. It is in fact the *lack* of intent or malice that makes it all the more worth saying something, I think.

Alan A, November 20th 2009, 10:48 pm

“The New Statesman has published a footling story”

My copu of the Staggers arrives in Friday’s post (usually) after I’ve left for work. This is unhelpful, since I used to read it during Friday lunch.

This week’s is in the car, unopened, with a view to reading, as usual, during Monday lunchtime.

Some of us just can’t keep pace with virtual reality.