I see this guy, Thomas Friedman, intl op-ed columnist, in the local papers sometimes, the News and the Taipei Times I guess. He is a reporter for the New York Times, major liberal globalization freak, leftwingish, and has a lot of readers, some fans, some unfans. THEN i saw this on the Internet the other day, seems the peace advocate doesn’t always advocate peace of mind. read on and laugh:
A reporter in New York covering a recent speech by Mr Friedman there, notes in his webblog:
After the speech is over … I run over to the stage to catch Tom Friedman for that question-and-answer he promised I’d get after his speech. Harvey Schwartz, a Manhattan lawyer, greets Friedman and with a smile on his face tells him he learned two things from Friedman that night: That the columnist, “Supports drilling in ANWR,” and is, “willing to sacrifice Israel on the altar of Iraq.”
Friedman yells “F**k you,” hits the guy with his right hand, and then shoves him into a small crowd of people with their backs turned. Schwartz probably has a good foot and 100 pounds on the diminutive Friedman, but he went about three feet backwards from Friedman’s push.
Friedman turns around and sees me with my notebook and tape recorder. Deer in the headlights. Schwartz goes, “Did you get a picture of that?” Still under the lull of the truth is untrue/up is down nature of the event, I consider for a moment whether I’m a photographer. Friedman runs over to an IPF executive, the one who said he does “the most unbelievably insightful reporting ever,” (sans an adjective) to tell on Schwartz. Like those wimpy nerds in grade school, he hits first, tattles second, screaming about “that asshole,” who apparently is so mean that his innocuous comment deserves a whack.
Finally, I have Friedman cornered. Can he answer some questions? “No, no.” But I’ve got one question I think he’ll have a cool answer to: What do you think your role is for the Geneva Accord? “I’m a journalist, I’m a columnist,” he says and then runs away. Sure, he is those things, but only in the loosest sense: more, he’s an actor, a trader, and a fighter.
The man who spent the past few hours pronouncing how we need to see past the present, the rhetoric, and the attacks to achieve peace has just gone violent on some random guy.
You couldn’t ask for a more fitting ending."
FUNNY!
