December 12, 2003
STEYN WHACKS PAX
Mark Steyn has had it up to here with that Pax chap:
At the beginning of this year Salam Pax was just another typical oppressed Baghdadi, four of whose relatives had ‘gone missing’ (according to his Guardian biog.). But a couple of weeks in the company of Guardian editors and he’s been transformed into a note-perfect, sneering, metropolitan poseur, right down to the two-decade-old Rambo putdown. He sounds like a Channel 4 commissioning editor. Now you might think this is a tad ungrateful of Salam: some of that tomato juice on the rug is from his four missing relatives and, given that the Americans have seen to it that his own juice is no longer in danger of hitting the shagpile, it might be nice if he understood that, in the end, it’s in his interest to clean up the room more than Rambo’s. But personally I find it heartening: if the Americans can’t transform Iraq into New Hampshire, this snotty little twerp is living proof that you can at least turn it into Islington.
Salam seems to have wised up recently. His latest column repeatedly refers to the “so-called resistance”. And is he becoming a little tetchy with The Guardian?
Posted by Tim Blair at December 12, 2003 03:41 PMThis is what happens when you sell your soul to the devil, he is allowed to sit on the blogs you write until he wants to put them in his paper.
If you read his blog, you'll see that it was 'Raed' who first mentioned Iraqi Idol.. and 'Raed' who made that comment.
Posted by: nardo at December 12, 2003 at 03:52 PMPax originally seemed down to earth. After the invasion he turned out to be a leftist & I thought—oh well, either he’ll figure things out or he’ll stop sounding down to earth. Of course he ended up at the Guardian.
This is the first column of his I’ve read in a long time, & it sounds like the old Pax.
Posted by: ForNow at December 12, 2003 at 04:45 PMNow I’ve read Steyn’s column with his quote from Pax. Pax was being a snotty little twerp. But in the column linked to by Tim, Salam seems to be back in Baghdad. He might be better off cognitively & affectively if he stayed there.
Posted by: ForNow at December 12, 2003 at 05:06 PMhmm, for more better illiteration you should have titled it "flack whacks pax"
Posted by: Mr. Bingley at December 13, 2003 at 12:39 AMThe best line in the column -
"Especially at this time of year, when the streets are full of exclusionary imagery —snowmen, reindeer, Yuletide logs, all evoking the time when the crusading white men of northern Europe rode their reindeer into the streets of Damascus hurling blazing Yule logs at Muslims."
I love Mark Steyn!
Posted by: Polly at December 13, 2003 at 05:15 AMSteyn is right about Pax. I remember reading his blog before the war and thinking, "This guy is a Baathist (or former Baathist). Sure he's likes freedom, but it's freedom on his terms that he wants: to live the comfotable life again, the life he had been accoustomed to living." He was wary about the Americans' taking away what he had once had.
Posted by: Kevin Smith at December 13, 2003 at 05:19 AMso Mr Blair, I realise this is very pedantic on my behalf but reading your entry today, I see you are concerned with accuracy.. you make two comments on Salam Pax, both of which have errors:
1. he has never once supported armed resistance against the occupying troops or their iraqi associates; "so-called resistance" is therefore not suprising coming from him, nor does it indicate any change in position
2. the second quote in italics is made by Raed, and refers to the fact that he talked about anti-American tapes previously and now Salam has included it in his newspaper piece.. it has nothing to do with Salam's view of the Guardian (whatever that may be)..
note at the very top of the blog, it is written: "Raed started writing on this Blog. Salam Pax kindly asks you to always check who is posting, Raed's brain de-rails sometimes. My ramblings are in orange, his in white."
Posted by: nardo at December 13, 2003 at 11:23 AM