Virginia Postrel of the Dynamist website draws our attention to Chuck Freund, an ex—Washington Post employee, who is disgusted at the way his former paper finds anti—Semitism to so unremarkable as to overlook entirely, and instead chooses to implicitly bash Bush for having 'alienated old friends.' Read the whole thong, but here is an indicator of what is going on:

Today's Washington Post has a front—page story about anti—Americanism in Arab pop culture, leading with a description of the latest film from Egypt's best—known moviemaker, Youssef Chahine. The new film, entitled Alexandria . . . New York, is "a cinematic divorce paper," according to the Post. Writes reporter Daniel Williams, "Chahine said he had long admired the United States and its biggest city, but now he has made a film brimming with resentment."

Oh yeah? Spare me Chahine's supposedly lost admiration. The last time I saw Chahine take up the subject of the U.S. he once "admired" so much, he portrayed the country as an old whore pandering to Jews. That's the conclusion of his 1978 "masterpiece," Alexandria . . . Why?

Good work, all around.

Posted by Ed  8 22 04