Campus Protests Redux and the Media Failure

The campus protests about the Israel-Hamas war are slowly dissipating but their impact is still very much with us.  I have a few little notes to make that are way beyond our stupid mass media to handle.  Forgive me for being blunt.

1. It is possible to do protests without making other people feel unsafe.  See for example the women's marches of the last decade.

2. Many campuses have been unsafe for Jews for a long time.  This issue is well known to the administration(s) and they have refused to do anything about it.  

3. I have no desire to have this country's foreign policy determined by these idiots.

4. I dont think the protesters know a goddamn thing about the history here or what they are protesting.  Alternatively, maybe they *do* know exactly what is going on but I hope not because that would be even more ugly.

5. There are slogans that are code words for killing Jews, and when the media repeats them they need to make that clear.  Failure to make that clear is problematic on a number of different levels.

6. Failure to understand and use words like "genocide" properly is extremely offensive.

7. I personally have been prevented from expressing my opinion on this topic and been removed from social events on the possibility that I would express these opinions.   What about my freedom of speech?  Oh I guess that doesn't matter.

Palestinian Flag

Brief Bio for Friends from Virginia

 

This is a very brief non-bio bio for friends and classmates from Virginia.  It is just a way to keep things concise and not have to repeat myself too much and I doubt anyone else will be interested.

I left Collegiate after 10th grade, spent one year at a high school in LA (public, it was awful) and then spent a few years at UCSB and graduated from UCLA in Math and/or Economics.  From there I went to the RAND Corporation which was wonderful, and worked in early computer graphics for visual effects which was "not pleasant" although I did meet some nice people.  Did some early films with the technology, wrote some of the early technology (for which I received an Academy Technical Achievement Award) and worked on some innovative, very early, projects.  I briefly helped run my own production company, deGraf/Wahrman, inc, and when that was over worked on a variety of consulting projects.  Some of these were lots of fun, like the rebuild of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History.  If only they could all have been that fun! 

I have lived in Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Hollywood, Colorado and New York City.  I am currently living in Los Angeles with Jill Fraser, a noted pioneer and composer in electronic music.  

I am thinking about going back to school to make something of my life.

Now its your turn.

Other notes: 

-- email sent to kent hudgens, linda linkins, bruce mckenney on 5/7/24

-- I have heard from Paul Sikorovsky, Bucky Neal, and Linda Linkin, Ed Jones, Bob Siff, Chuck Rogers, Charles Strauss and David Clough