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Introduction by Gilad Atzmon: The following is a deconstruction by Kevin Barrett. Barrett takes the time and the effort and dismantles each of the arguments  against myself and my work. Barrett exposes the intellectual lameness at the core of my detractor's argument . Once again, it seems as if my critics actually project their own symptoms onto me.  I would like to thank Kevin for his time and effort. 

Kevin Barrett - Why Hate Gilad Atzmon Pt. 2

Last Thursday’s essay “Why Hate Gilad Atzmon?” has been bouncing around the internet. (The title currently gets 780,000 Google hits).

In that piece I suggested that the anti-Atzmon brigade is defending sacred boundaries against Atzmon’s fearless questioning. The two taboo questions are: Is the whole notion of a Jewish state in Palestine (i.e., Zionism) legitimate and/or feasible? (The obvious answer, of course, is NO.) Second question: To what extent has Jewish identity politics contributed to the disaster of Zionism? (The obvious answer, of course, is “to a considerable extent.”)

“Don’t even go there!” they scream. Atzmon goes there. So they lynch him.

The truth hurts.

That’s my take, anyway. But not everyone agrees with me. I have received quite a few anti-Atzmon emails. They all make the same argument: Atzmon is wrong about X, Y, or Z, and therefore he is dangerous, a racist, a dangerous racist, and so on.

First, I would like to point out to these people that Atzmon has a right to be wrong. Since nobody is arguing that Atzmon is offering wrong facts – just wrong opinions, interpretations and orientations on very complex issues – his critics ought to be working harder to explain why he is wrong, rather than calling him names and organizing boycotts and smear campaigns on the basis of perfectly innocent quotes violently and misleadingly ripped from their contexts.