Ta-Nehisi Coates‘ takedown of Marty Peretz–and his defenders–is epic, and I’d do it a disservice by quoting it at too much length. I do want to focus on one particular observation:
And so it is, 15 years later, with a magazine whose effective co-editor defends the statement “Muslim life is cheap,” and within weeks skips off to be honored at Harvard. This is all about firepower. The fact is that Peretz has the social and economic guns to be a bigot, to then be defended by even those who acknowledge his bigotry, and finally be honored at the highest levels of American academia.
The immediate observation I suppose, is that Muslim life is cheap, even at the highest levels of American academia, which is why Peretz can afford to be so cavalier in his discussion of it.
