Hello Mr. Dershowitz.. This is not a question but a comment, I bought your book from Amazon titled "THE CASE FOR LIBERALISM IN AN AGE OF EXTREMISM OR WHY I LEFT THE LEFT AND CAN'T JOIN THE RIGHT. My first comment is that I find it very easy reading and easy for me to understand. The other thing that I would like to mention to you is something that I've never ever experienced in my entire life. I was reading your book yesterday at the beach, when some guys who I was playing beach volleyball with, asked me about the book that I was reading, and so I showed them the book. They then asked me why I chose this book, and so I told them that I had a great deal of respect for the author. The next thing that happened came as a total shock to me. Without warning, I was slugged and punched in the face. I asked why was that called for, and I was told that it's because his political view point and mine differ. I told them that I get it that our view points differ, but why can't we be at least civil about it. With that, he laughed, shoved me once again onto the sand, and kicked sand all over me.
Hello Mr. Dershowitz.. Thank you for sharing my email. Now that I know you will actually post this shit expect to receive many more tales from me in the future.
I do wonder, Mr. Dershowitz, if it ever even occurred to you that such behavior as the reader on the beach experienced was the direct result of a large (figuratively), powerful person who, whether that powerful person knows it or not, is a public role model and that behaving as he did - openly sanctioning borderline violent behavior, ridiculing others (such as the handicapped), and not speaking out when his supporters acted in a decidedly untoward manner - have permission to others to do the same? Think about it.
Trump was maligned, spied upon, his administration undermined, his agenda sabotaged, his family smeared, threatened with violence, relentlessly investigated, impeached twice after spending only 4 years in Washington, DC. Mean Tweets and displays of righteous indignation by Trump is too annoying for you? Get a grip you foolish man. Trump is an a$$hole but we need an a$$hole now more than ever.
This comment reads like it was written by an earnest 12 year-old comics reader. Bullies have been kicking sand in the face of 'weaklings' since the days of Charles Atlas ads in said comic books back in the 50's. Are today's "liberals" yesterday's "weaklings?" Is a minor dust-up between some adolescents another sign of the end of Western civilization? Stay tuned...
Just my opinion, of course. I began my adult life as a liberal. Back in the day, it was about freedom. Back then, it was fitting that it was more rightwing authoritarian, locking people up for what amounts to differences of opinion, although codified. My son, who is 33, and I were discussing both of us were swatted in school for misbehaving. We didn't dare tell our parents for fear of an add-on punishment. It must have been 20 years ago that all that stopped. Much of it was promoted by the press. If one person had committed an unusual crime, the press demanded and paraded it as an example that must have extensive legislation affecting the rights of a majority.
But then there was a sea-change in mentality when a few with unusual sexual desires wanted to come out of the "closet." The majority agreed they should not be discriminated against, so it was codified. But codifying the "protection" became a right to push all to their lifestyle. The press made it like the banner they chose was, to the majority, an insult to the God they worship who destroyed the earth once but for eight due to their lifestyle. Or so we believe. Can we not admit to the hostility in this in your face by less than 5% of the population? Continuing with a month of "pride" in what the majority finds disgusting is also pushed by the press. The press wanted it into the schools, and the indoctrination became intense. Drag queens are encouraged to come to test this on children who haven't a clue what sexual relations even mean; why?
For what purpose was this other than to indoctrinate. So, pride went from out-of-the-closet to parades and indoctrination of impressional youth but kept this well hidden from the parents of the majority. It has been the majority who have lost rights and have been called domestic terrorists by our federal justice department. It's the majority that the press has branded as troglodytes. The shift of the authoritarians has squarely become the mantra of the liberal left. I left them because they were adopting a hate-filled, violent extremist behavior justified by what they believe is acceptable and what is not. I saw it in myself. Most violent riots are indeed the left if we look back at the summer of love in 2020. And there was little prosecution of those involved. In contrast, the Jan 6th hearings are little more than political theatre. The impeachments have made a farce of the justice system, and the waste of our tax dollars for these productions seems acceptable to the liberal left.
We on the right are frustrated with our representatives because when we gain control, we refuse to play tit for tat. I do not believe the abuse will diminish, given the two parties want us at each other's throats. Still, to be sure, it is the left demanding through insurrection this sea-change, and the government is content for it to be an incredibly corrupt justice system.
This incident unfortunately is all too indicative of the lack of tolerance for civil discourse and respect for differing views that is one of clear indicia of membership in the woke world view
Obviously, a senseless act…but I’m not sure what “reason” you’re going to find from someone who confronts you in such a way. I had, both, the luck & misfortune of growing up in northwestern Louisiana as the most unassuming, inoffensive Jewish kid you could possibly imagine: I still remember a girl riding the same school bus as my brothers and I, when one morning, she found out we were Jewish—she grabbed her little sister by the arm and dragged her away from the area in which we were sitting. Also, in first grade gym class, I’ll never forget the time another student said he couldn’t play with me anymore—because I “killed Jesus.” Some, most, even, simply can’t accept Reason…. —todd gold (Shreveport, Louisiana)
PS: The simple Irony, alone, helped, actually, in my personal cultivation of an overall sense of humor as I got older—no wonder I loved reading Vonnegut so much growing up—he definitely helped me see and accept so much of the Irony innate in The Human Condition…
The thuggish behavior is intolerable, of course, and in an ideal world the perps would be charged, convicted, and suitably punished for assault and battery, regardless of their political persuasion. But the victim's account leaves me wondering what triggered them. Was it because he was reading a book by Alan Dershowitz and said he had great respect for the author or was it because they gathered from the book's title that he, the reader, was "liberal"??
Wow, that’s too bad. Just imagine trying to clean off all that sand! Did the other guys have any reading suggestions? Maybe that would help show their motives.
Apparently you need some new friends, or you didn't know him/them very well. I hate to say it but I only see this kind of response from people on the left, the so - called "tolerant" people. I feel bad for you and the battering you took. Maybe you should sue him?
There is nothing to understand. The man is unable to control his impulses...He probably does this to anyone whose ideas. he does not understand. He is a psycho and you are OK. Brush off the sand. Next time, punch his lights out. He attacked you and you defended yourself.
That totally happened.
Hello Mr. Dershowitz.. Thank you for sharing my email. Now that I know you will actually post this shit expect to receive many more tales from me in the future.
I do wonder, Mr. Dershowitz, if it ever even occurred to you that such behavior as the reader on the beach experienced was the direct result of a large (figuratively), powerful person who, whether that powerful person knows it or not, is a public role model and that behaving as he did - openly sanctioning borderline violent behavior, ridiculing others (such as the handicapped), and not speaking out when his supporters acted in a decidedly untoward manner - have permission to others to do the same? Think about it.
Trump was maligned, spied upon, his administration undermined, his agenda sabotaged, his family smeared, threatened with violence, relentlessly investigated, impeached twice after spending only 4 years in Washington, DC. Mean Tweets and displays of righteous indignation by Trump is too annoying for you? Get a grip you foolish man. Trump is an a$$hole but we need an a$$hole now more than ever.
This comment reads like it was written by an earnest 12 year-old comics reader. Bullies have been kicking sand in the face of 'weaklings' since the days of Charles Atlas ads in said comic books back in the 50's. Are today's "liberals" yesterday's "weaklings?" Is a minor dust-up between some adolescents another sign of the end of Western civilization? Stay tuned...
Just my opinion, of course. I began my adult life as a liberal. Back in the day, it was about freedom. Back then, it was fitting that it was more rightwing authoritarian, locking people up for what amounts to differences of opinion, although codified. My son, who is 33, and I were discussing both of us were swatted in school for misbehaving. We didn't dare tell our parents for fear of an add-on punishment. It must have been 20 years ago that all that stopped. Much of it was promoted by the press. If one person had committed an unusual crime, the press demanded and paraded it as an example that must have extensive legislation affecting the rights of a majority.
But then there was a sea-change in mentality when a few with unusual sexual desires wanted to come out of the "closet." The majority agreed they should not be discriminated against, so it was codified. But codifying the "protection" became a right to push all to their lifestyle. The press made it like the banner they chose was, to the majority, an insult to the God they worship who destroyed the earth once but for eight due to their lifestyle. Or so we believe. Can we not admit to the hostility in this in your face by less than 5% of the population? Continuing with a month of "pride" in what the majority finds disgusting is also pushed by the press. The press wanted it into the schools, and the indoctrination became intense. Drag queens are encouraged to come to test this on children who haven't a clue what sexual relations even mean; why?
For what purpose was this other than to indoctrinate. So, pride went from out-of-the-closet to parades and indoctrination of impressional youth but kept this well hidden from the parents of the majority. It has been the majority who have lost rights and have been called domestic terrorists by our federal justice department. It's the majority that the press has branded as troglodytes. The shift of the authoritarians has squarely become the mantra of the liberal left. I left them because they were adopting a hate-filled, violent extremist behavior justified by what they believe is acceptable and what is not. I saw it in myself. Most violent riots are indeed the left if we look back at the summer of love in 2020. And there was little prosecution of those involved. In contrast, the Jan 6th hearings are little more than political theatre. The impeachments have made a farce of the justice system, and the waste of our tax dollars for these productions seems acceptable to the liberal left.
We on the right are frustrated with our representatives because when we gain control, we refuse to play tit for tat. I do not believe the abuse will diminish, given the two parties want us at each other's throats. Still, to be sure, it is the left demanding through insurrection this sea-change, and the government is content for it to be an incredibly corrupt justice system.
This incident unfortunately is all too indicative of the lack of tolerance for civil discourse and respect for differing views that is one of clear indicia of membership in the woke world view
The likely cause for the thugish behavior is, of course, that they went to Yale.
Obviously, a senseless act…but I’m not sure what “reason” you’re going to find from someone who confronts you in such a way. I had, both, the luck & misfortune of growing up in northwestern Louisiana as the most unassuming, inoffensive Jewish kid you could possibly imagine: I still remember a girl riding the same school bus as my brothers and I, when one morning, she found out we were Jewish—she grabbed her little sister by the arm and dragged her away from the area in which we were sitting. Also, in first grade gym class, I’ll never forget the time another student said he couldn’t play with me anymore—because I “killed Jesus.” Some, most, even, simply can’t accept Reason…. —todd gold (Shreveport, Louisiana)
PS: The simple Irony, alone, helped, actually, in my personal cultivation of an overall sense of humor as I got older—no wonder I loved reading Vonnegut so much growing up—he definitely helped me see and accept so much of the Irony innate in The Human Condition…
"My first comment is that I find it very easy reading and easy for me to understand."
Dersh now writing his own blurbs?
Richard Hofstadter was correct in opining that the extremes of left and right have a great deal in common.
The thuggish behavior is intolerable, of course, and in an ideal world the perps would be charged, convicted, and suitably punished for assault and battery, regardless of their political persuasion. But the victim's account leaves me wondering what triggered them. Was it because he was reading a book by Alan Dershowitz and said he had great respect for the author or was it because they gathered from the book's title that he, the reader, was "liberal"??
Wow, that’s too bad. Just imagine trying to clean off all that sand! Did the other guys have any reading suggestions? Maybe that would help show their motives.
Apparently you need some new friends, or you didn't know him/them very well. I hate to say it but I only see this kind of response from people on the left, the so - called "tolerant" people. I feel bad for you and the battering you took. Maybe you should sue him?
There is nothing to understand. The man is unable to control his impulses...He probably does this to anyone whose ideas. he does not understand. He is a psycho and you are OK. Brush off the sand. Next time, punch his lights out. He attacked you and you defended yourself.
Call the cops and ask them to arrest those thugs for assault. No way is physically attacking people for different political opinions acceptable.