Ad Hoc Politics: Taking the Good with the Bad

Joseph Bottum of First Things writes:

I can’t remember Ms. magazine receiving this much attention since about 1978, but the magazine is back in the news—this time for turning down an ad from the American Jewish Congress.

You can see the pro-woman ad here. It shows photographs of Tzipi Livni (Israel’s foreign minister), Dorit Beinish (Supreme Court), and Dalia Itzik (speaker of the Knesset). Underneath the photos, the ad declares: “This is Israel.”

According to the AJC, Ms. magazine explained that the ad was too controversial and “will set off a firestorm,” merely for daring to say anything positive about Israel. Not that it really needed any more proof, but here’s one more bit that shows the old-line feminist organizations aren’t really about women. They’re wholly owned subsidiaries of the left—and if the left rejects Israel, then Ms. magazine must reject Israel’s women.

Lest you think that Bottum’s comments above are an indictment of feminism itself, we feel compelled to point out that Bottum aims his criticism at what he calls “old-line feminist organizations” – presumably groups like the National Organization for Women (NOW) and vehicles like Gloria Steinem’s Ms. magazine.

There’s a problem, Bottum seems to be saying, when one of the most distinguished venues for feminist commentary refuses to support some women because editors and readers don’t like the political state in which the women live – in this case Israel.

The challenge for all self-described nonpartisan, ad hoc movements is to focus on one’s cause (e.g., feminism) to the exclusion of other issues one might also feel strongly about (e.g., the plight of Palestinians).

There’s nothing wrong with criticizing Israel for its treatment of the Palestinians. But there is something wrong when a magazine, whose raison d’etre is the well-being of women, compromises its support of Israeli women because Israel happens to be (at best) unpopular in influential circles on the left -- and not for any reasons related to feminism.

When you're engaged in an ad hoc struggle your integrity sometimes requires taking the good with the bad.