One of the most difficult things for a person to do is to admit when he’s wrong.
Last month I posted a piece about Margaret Atwood and the Dan David prize. People calling for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel in support of Palestinians trapped in Gaza had criticized Atwood for accepting the prize. I swallowed her rationale in one big gulp and came out defending her. I was wrong.
You can read my post here if you like, but it boiled down to the idea of nuance. As a poet and novelist, Atwood is in the nuance business. The highly polarized situation that pits a conservative Israeli government against a growing and international pro-Palestinian movement is anything but nuanced. It engages in “either you’re with us or you’re against us” rhetoric and plays games with Muslim and Jewish identity. A novelist has to eschew such crude rhetoric.
However, recent events throw concerns about nuance out the window. The IDF has released video footage of Israeli soldiers engaged in an illegal act (boarding non-Israeli ships in international waters) and then has the audacity to suggest that acts of legitimate defense by those on board the ships are, in fact, acts of aggression against the soldiers. There is no nuance here. This is taken straight from the George W. Bush playbook: even when the lie has been exposed, continue as if it were the truth and damn the consequences.
Even Margaret Atwood has acknowledged that she was wrong. It must have been tough for her to hear Naomi Klein speaking yesterday in Dundas Square, saying “And I also have words for famous writers who accept lavish awards and slam Palestinians for daring to ask them for a simple gesture of solidarity.” Here’s @MargaretAtwood‘s tweet time-stamped 15:28 June 01, 2010 “Bet on Gov’t of Israel to act sanely, humanely, & in own best interests re: Gaza Aid Flotilla. Lost bet.”
What kind of a bet allows you to lose your bet and walk away with half a million dollars?
Men like Vaclav Havel give poetry a good name by being both poets and statesmen. Women like Atwood trample roughshod over poetry’s good works by approaching politics with all the nuance of a naive boob. She’s been played and I feel sorry for her. But not that sorry for her since she appears to be keeping the money.
And I’m sorry I got suckered by her rationale. Her words are true, but in a false sort of way. Wish someone would give me a half million dollars for being wrong.