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Finkielkraut revisited
In one of the recent discussions about the James Watson affair, I mentioned Alain Finkielkraut, the French philospher who last year said some mildly critical things about the Muslim rioters, for which he was first threatened with a suit for incitement to racial hatred, and then received death threats. In fear for his life, he went on a national radio show to apologize. However, he did not just back away from his critical statements about the rioters, which would have been entirely understandable under the circumstances if not particularly admirable, but melodramatically declared that he did not recognize himself as the person who had made those statements: “He is he and I am I. To my shock, since Wednesday, it appears that he and I share the same name.” That over-the-top, self-canceling retraction, like something in a Stalin show trial, was strikingly similar to, though even more abject than, Watson’s apology. Here are my entries on Finkielkraut from last year:
Alain Finkielkraut: the latest Lawrence Summers Email entry |