Giraffe Edition 21
Dallas Killers’ Club
Nicholson Baker | The Baffler | 21st July 2014
Sprawling discussion of books on the John F. Kennedy assassination. In brief: Strong case against Mafia don Carlos Marcello; weaker case against CIA; Oswald the scapegoat, either way. "Ask yourself two questions. If there had been a CIA, but no Mafia, would the president have lived through the motorcade? I think the answer is yes. If there had been a Mafia, but no CIA, would the president have lived? I think the answer is no" (6,250 words)
The Uses Of Adversity
Malcolm Gladwell | New Yorker | 10th November 2008
All of the New Yorker's content is temporarily available free on line while the web site is updated; browse and enjoy previously gated favourites. Here is a Malcolm Gladwell piece on a very Gladwellian theme: how an underdog can triumph. The case study is that of Sidney Weinberg, who rose through Goldman Sachs from janitor's assistant at 16 to senior partner at 40, making his outsider status work in his favour (4,424 words)
Why Do Palestinians Support Hamas?
Noam Sheizaf | +972 | 22nd July 2014
"The demand that the people of Gaza protest against Hamas, often heard in Israel today, is absurd. Israelis themselves hate protests in times of war. They expect the Palestinians to conduct a civil uprising under fire. The people of Gaza support Hamas in its war against Israel because they perceive it to be part of their war of independence. Many would gladly see Hamas fall, but not at this moment" (1,250 words)
Off My Table, Damn Carnivore
Lhendup Bhutia | Open | 18th July 2014
On vegetarian activism in India. "In Mumbai, vegetarians have set up residential enclaves in various parts of the city and tweaked their housing complex bylaws to forbid the selling and renting of properties to non-vegetarians." In Gujarat, Jain monks are trying to enforce vegetarianism on the town of Palitana; they propose to "rehabilitate" the town's 68 butchers by retraining them for new occupations (2,150 words)
What Happened To Flight 17
Julia Ioffe | New Republic | 20th July 2014
If you were living in Russia, you'd get your news from state-controlled television and radio, and here's what it would tell you: That MH17 is actually MH370, the Malaysian Airlines flight that disappeared in the Indian Ocean; it was secretly held at an American military base on Diego-Garcia for re-use. The plane was filled with corpses, not passengers, when it left Amsterdam; and flown on autopilot. Russia was framed (1,540 words)
Writers Or Missionaries?
Adam Shatz | The Nation | 15th July 2014
On reporting the Middle East. Journalists are quick to advocate solutions, before they are even close to understanding the problems. They should watch, learn, describe — not preach. But any writer is limited by her own conceptual framework and that of her readers: "The Palestinians are important to the West because, through their oppression by Israeli Jews, they have become characters in a Western narrative" (8,400 words)
Video of the day: Stephen Fry Explains The Laws Of Cricket
What to expect: Animated short. But not even Stephen Fry can make much sense of the 'leg before wicket' rule
Thought for the day
"The worse your logic, the more interesting the consequences to which it gives rise"
— Bertrand Russell