Thursday, June 17, 2010



Kind of puts petty internecine squabbles into perspective, doesn't it?

9 comments:

  1. Let's bring a libel suit against the author and the publisher in a Scottish court.

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  2. After reading some of the reviews on Amazon I'm amazed (once again) at how deceptive works sold under the guise of "objective scholarship" can be.
    BTW Hoffman sounds like a Jewish name, is he self hating Jew or is it just coincidence?

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  3. There's actually much more that can and should be said about this. This was meant to form part of a post about six months ago. Eventually I'll get around to it.

    Hoffman is a German name. Many "Jewish" surnames are really European vernacular names.

    This is a thinly disguised antisemitic tract. Don't be fooled by Amazon reviews. Everyone knows what it is. Even the cover - let's say there is a Jewish cabal that runs the world. We Jews know that it certainly is not ordered and run in partnership with R. J.B. Soloveitchik and R. A.L. Steinman.

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  4. I actually reviewed this on Amazon as well. I gave it three stars (for "rhetorical purposes", because I wanted people to actually read what I had to say), and will hopefully get across to a few people in the process. Those who love his work are never going to be convinced by arguments to the contrary, but people who merely profess an interest might be.

    Incidentally, Hoffman declares on his website that he wrote it in such a fashion that "there is no possibility of a rational refutation of it". In other words, you can dispute his nonsense all you like: he's not listening. If you publically demonstrate how appallingly ignorant he is (and I've heard this fellow in interviews: he is), it's only going to prove to him and his cronies that you work for the mind police.

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  5. An "exceptional recrudescence"? I have an image of this poor guy sitting in his basement with Soncino and Thesaurus, pounding away on an old typewriter... Anyway, who is the academic on the flier who reviewed the book positively? That's odd...

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  6. >Anyway, who is the academic on the flier who reviewed the book positively? That's odd...

    Is it odd? Google the name.

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  7. Ah, I see... Very depressing.

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  8. Actually, Some Guy, you're not far off the mark. He can't read Aramaic and occasionally provides the incorrect text for the English section that he's presenting. In an interview for a revisionist radio program, he spoke about Shimon ben Yo-hay (rhymes with Tokay, stress on the first), whose birthday is celebrated every year in Meron. He'd be funny if he weren't so offensive.

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  9. "Kind of puts petty internecine squabbles into perspective, doesn't it?"

    Holy shit - well said

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