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5 Responses to “Steven Plaut’s Sockpuppet Defense”

1. Donald says:

   June 2, 2008 at 5:57 PM

   HNN has closed the comments section to the Plaut article. This is disgraceful, because Plaut’s piece contains the following–

   ” Finkelstein is a crackpot and an open admirer of Holocaust denier David Irving. Finkelstein claims that all Holocaust survivors are liars, hoaxsters, and thieves, extorting Germany. Finkelstein was fired last year from DePaul University in Chicago because he had no academic publications or achievements at all; he has yet to publish his first academic paper. He is regarded to be a Holocaust denier by the Anti-Defamation League, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and others. ”

   Anyone reading this who was unfamiliar with Finkelstein would think that he is a Holocaust denier. It’s a funny sort of Holocaust denier who was friends with Raul Hilberg and received his approval and who constantly refers to his Holocaust surviving parents. Is HNN actually going to leave these vicious lies on their website, without even giving readers a chance to rebut him?

   Actually, even if they did give readers a chance to rebut, they still shouldn’t have this garbage on their site. They’re so concerned with civility, yet they are willing to allow this.

   Reply
2. Richard Silverstein says:

   June 2, 2008 at 9:49 PM

   @Donald:

   I’m sorry the editor chose to close comments. I thought he had merely removed the existing comments. I guess he realized there would be continual bloodletting if he didn’t close comments. Both I and another contributor, Peter Kirstein, have let the editor know about Plaut’s reputation & provided some of the background that you mention below. I can’t say for sure whether the editor will ever again publish something by him, but I hope, given our warnings about Plaut’s low character & non-existent credentials with which to judge Finkelstein’s work, that this wouldn’t be the case.

   Plaut disgusts me so much I couldn’t even read what he actually wrote. Now that I read the quotation which you provided I’m even sicker to my stomach than I was previously. Every single claim is a outright lie. This Plaut is pure intellectual poison.

   Reply
3. Protest II says:

   June 3, 2008 at 6:02 AM

   Despite of the bad reputation of Plaut, Finkelstein is still a misguided rebel.

   The Palestinians need a new guard that can look at the advances of the European culture, justice, and philosophy wth an open mind, to bring the Palestinian society into the age of Enlightenment.

   The Palestinian people are not served well by Finkelstein, or by the PLO, HAMAS, and other reactionary leaders.

   I hoped that Edward Said would make the correct moves, but he could not.

   By giving any support to those Palestinians who declared an eternal war on Israel, we are harming the decent Palestinians.

   Reply
4. Donald says:

   June 3, 2008 at 9:24 AM

   Since the previous comments are removed and none can be added, it seems to me that HNN owes its readers a big fat retraction and an apology to Finkelstein for the slanders they’ve published. One would hope they’d understand that false accusations of Holocaust denial are just about the lowest thing you can say about anyone.

   Reply
5. Richard Silverstein says:

   June 3, 2008 at 12:33 PM

   @Donald:

   I agree. You should write (politely) to Rick Shenkman at editor at hnn dot com outlining yr feelings.

   Reply