MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Kaufman links e-book trend to bookburning, Nazis

taglines · 12-07-2009, 08:56 PM

Alan Kaufman, sir, would you please shut up! (kidding!)

But seriously, Alan, who never replies to my emails over the past month, not once did you reply, and I say this because I am the person responsible for this thread about you being here on this forum, because I brought your Evergreen commentary essay to the attention of Steve Jordan on another forum site and he then came here and posted the news here and voila, 24 pages of attacks on you, and I will tell you why:

You have every right to write whatever you wish about books and the Internet and ereaders, and like Voltaire said, I will also defend until death your right to speak your mind, here or anywhere, but Alan Kaufman, sir, using that Nazi/Holocaust/Jews imagery in your essay completely demolished any point you were trying to make.

I first heard about your essay in the pages of Newsweek magazine, where one of their web editors blogged on it, and I believe he was the first to pick up on your Nazi/Holocaust imagery, and he also poked a bit of negativity toward you for using such absolutely pushing-the-envelope imagery in a piece about books vs ereaders.

You have some good points to make, and you made them in a few places. But by bringing up the Holocaust in Nazi Germany (due to your connection to you, and I believe everyone understands your psychological pain frok being the son of survivors, really) but by bringing up this meshagus in a completely un-related way you completely destroyed and demolished any good points you were trying to make.

I have two suggestions for you, Alan. You are undoubtly a nice guy and the video on your speaking in SF recently shows you to be a soft-spoken gentleman with short hair and a bit older than your "youthful' photos on your website from long ago, so I am sure everyone here would like you in person, and does like you as a human being. Here are my sugggestions, IMHO, if you want to communicate with Americans and Europeans about these issues:

1. drop the Nazi/Holocaust/Jews imagery in your essay....rewrite it taking out all the Nazi Holocaust imagery and just give us your POV about paper versus screens, be as angry as you want, be as cutting as you want, but drop the Nazi Holocaust imagery. THAT is what ruined your commentary completely and made everyone who read it feel you were operating in a very strange and unintelligible way. Rewrite your essay and take out the Nazi Jews stuff. Do yourself a favor. Drop that crap. You are way off base, and not one person anywhere on Earth will defend your point of view using such imagery and words. Rewrite the piece, edit it, drop all references to the Holocaust and your own Jewish background. Not germane here, Alan.

2. Reply to my emails, sir. If you are a man of your word, you will.

3. (and lighten up, Alan. this is NOT about the Holocaust. It is about some very important issues, and some of them you addressed well, but you completely screwed up and if you cannot see that now, then you will never see that. I say this as friend who actually understood what you were trying to say, but completely disagrees with the way and the tone in which you said it...)

4. Communicate. Don't rant.

12-07-2009, 08:56 PM	#353
taglines Banned Posts: 96 Karma: 334 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: nook	Alan Kaufman, sir, would you please shut up! (kidding!) But seriously, Alan, who never replies to my emails over the past month, not once did you reply, and I say this because I am the person responsible for this thread about you being here on this forum, because I brought your Evergreen commentary essay to the attention of Steve Jordan on another forum site and he then came here and posted the news here and voila, 24 pages of attacks on you, and I will tell you why: You have every right to write whatever you wish about books and the Internet and ereaders, and like Voltaire said, I will also defend until death your right to speak your mind, here or anywhere, but Alan Kaufman, sir, using that Nazi/Holocaust/Jews imagery in your essay completely demolished any point you were trying to make. I first heard about your essay in the pages of Newsweek magazine, where one of their web editors blogged on it, and I believe he was the first to pick up on your Nazi/Holocaust imagery, and he also poked a bit of negativity toward you for using such absolutely pushing-the-envelope imagery in a piece about books vs ereaders. You have some good points to make, and you made them in a few places. But by bringing up the Holocaust in Nazi Germany (due to your connection to you, and I believe everyone understands your psychological pain frok being the son of survivors, really) but by bringing up this meshagus in a completely un-related way you completely destroyed and demolished any good points you were trying to make. I have two suggestions for you, Alan. You are undoubtly a nice guy and the video on your speaking in SF recently shows you to be a soft-spoken gentleman with short hair and a bit older than your "youthful' photos on your website from long ago, so I am sure everyone here would like you in person, and does like you as a human being. Here are my sugggestions, IMHO, if you want to communicate with Americans and Europeans about these issues: 1. drop the Nazi/Holocaust/Jews imagery in your essay....rewrite it taking out all the Nazi Holocaust imagery and just give us your POV about paper versus screens, be as angry as you want, be as cutting as you want, but drop the Nazi Holocaust imagery. THAT is what ruined your commentary completely and made everyone who read it feel you were operating in a very strange and unintelligible way. Rewrite your essay and take out the Nazi Jews stuff. Do yourself a favor. Drop that crap. You are way off base, and not one person anywhere on Earth will defend your point of view using such imagery and words. Rewrite the piece, edit it, drop all references to the Holocaust and your own Jewish background. Not germane here, Alan. 2. Reply to my emails, sir. If you are a man of your word, you will. 3. (and lighten up, Alan. this is NOT about the Holocaust. It is about some very important issues, and some of them you addressed well, but you completely screwed up and if you cannot see that now, then you will never see that. I say this as friend who actually understood what you were trying to say, but completely disagrees with the way and the tone in which you said it...) 4. Communicate. Don't rant.