December 30, 2002
Tom Clancy is not Anti-semitic
David Mamet in a recent article alleges that Tom Clancy is antisemitic. He uses two Clancy novels to make this assertion. He states that in Sum of all Fears:
As per Mr. Clancy, in this otherwise ripping yarn, the world is going to end because these lazy or distracted Mockies have committed a blunder no civilized folk would make.
The stretch he makes is amazing. In that book, the opening scene takes place during the '73 Arab Israeli war, and because the Syrians are about to break through the defenses on the Golan Heights, Israeli High command issues an order to arm some aircraft with nukes. In the confusion of the battle, an Israeli pilot unknowingly takes off with one of the nuclear armed planes, and the plane is shot down, with the bomb burying itself in a field, to be found 20 years later. To say it is because "these lazy or distracted Mockies have committed a blunder no civilized folk would make," is a deliberate misinterpretation of the novel.
Later on, he tries to draw the same conclusion on a later novel, The Bear and the Dragon:
A subplot deals with the Chinese custom (reported by Clancy) of female infanticide. An American operative falls in love with a Chinese young woman and is informed of this crime and is, rightfully, horrified, as is Clancy. How can these little children be murdered? He writes, "If it were the Jews, the world would be Up in Arms." What can he mean? As the world was in 1941, when they rushed to the defense of 6 million innocents? Or as the world is today, in its staunch support of Israel's right to existence, and in opposition to the murder of its children? What can Clancy mean?
I've read Sum, but not the latter novel. However, I've read every Clancy novel up to and including Rainbow Six, and I think I know pretty much what he was talking about. As a result of Communism, millions have died. Depending on the source, while Nazism is responsible for the deaths of between 25 and 40 million people, Communists have murdered between 80 and 100 million(60 million+ in China alone). Yet noone is as revulsed by the symbolism of the hammer and sickle as they are towards the swastika, even though communism has murdered many more people, and continues to do so today. The world recoiled in revulsion at the Holocaust, but has not in the case of equally vile crimes against humanity committed by the Communists. Anyone remotely familiar with Tom Clancy and his worldview would understand what he meant in a microsecond. Mamet chose not to, and slandered a good man.
Link via Andrea Harris
I only read ANDROMEDA STRAIN by Clancy. However, the antagonist would seem to need more proof to show prejudice against Jews. Let's talk about Trent Lott.
Posted by: Steve Plonk on January 4, 2003 07:36 PM
