September 29, 2003

ED "GOLDEN ARM" SAID

Tariq Ali on Edward Said:

With Said's death, the Palestinian nation has lost its most articulate voice.

And its best outfielder.

Posted by Tim Blair at September 29, 2003 07:24 PM
Comments

From what I can gather Said was just a big liar.


From Middle East Forum



and the following reprinted from the WSJ

Posted by: Barry at September 30, 2003 at 01:21 AM

If hate-mongering, "you can't judge us but we can judge you just because I say so" Said was the Palestinian movement's most articulate voice...then it's suffering from some pretty big flaws.

Posted by: PatrickM at September 30, 2003 at 02:50 AM

I have been told that Edward Said was a very talented classical pianist. You've got to admire that much, but I have an image of the man sitting in the dark, banging out Mussorgsky to torment his neighbors. Cheers! -m

Posted by: Mark at September 30, 2003 at 03:44 AM

I was wondering how long it would be before Tim started gloating over Said's death. Wonder no more.

Posted by: Cracker Spawn at September 30, 2003 at 10:59 AM

No gloating involved; just the satisfaction of knowing M. Said has received his just reward.

Cheers

Posted by: J.M. Heinrichs at September 30, 2003 at 12:55 PM

Actually, Said probably was one of the Palestinian people's most articulate spokesmen.

Of course, that's only because Said's competition was people who beat other human beings to death with their bare hands, people who open museums commemorating the Sabaro Restaurant bombing, people who pass out candy to "celebrate" an attack on the most powerful nation on Earth in full view of said nation's television cameras and (lest we forget) people who strap bombs on their bodies in the hopes that they can take a few women and children with them.

Posted by: Sean at September 30, 2003 at 02:05 PM

Tell me Tariq, but please make it brief, is there a hole for me to get sick in?

Posted by: R. Zimmerman at September 30, 2003 at 03:49 PM

Edward Said was a very fine writer, a generous & humane person. You can read Hitch's tribute in The Guardian, and countless others are pointed to in Troppo Armadillo.

His writing skills, his ability to think laterally in crisis after crisis, his guts in his long illness, there is much to admire in this man.

Sadly, he died prior to mastering the skills employed in snippy one-liners and cut'n'pasting obsessively in a blog.

He'll be read for centuries after his death, by people of all political persuasions. I admired him, his finer points, as much as his flaws. He celebrated diversity, and was always open to new streams of thinking.

Chris, he'd have suffocated here wouldn't he?

Posted by: chico o'farrill at September 30, 2003 at 09:19 PM