The other is more unexpected: the Lebanese mathematician, investor, flaneur and Black Swan author Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
You can assess kindness & mental clarity at one's compassion for Palestinians; vicious ignorance, heartlesness at his demonizing/casuistry.
— Nassim N. Taleb (@nntaleb) July 31, 2014Tonight, a thought for Palestinians who, since 1948, have been dispossed, beaten, uprooted, demonized, & humiliated. #Gaza
— Nassim N. Taleb (@nntaleb) July 30, 2014I can't presume to know what he's thinking, as he is so fearsomely learned that I could never hope to hold up my end of a serious conversation with him. I've never heard him say a bad thing about Jews. Elsewhere he's written about growing up in Lebanon during that unfortunate nation's civil war, which was caused in part by the Palestinian Liberation Organization setting up shop there after they were kicked out of Jordan. He is certainly aware of Hamas' charter to eliminate the Jews. He is also surely aware of the tried and true human shield ploy, the credulity of Western news media in areas they don't understand, and the cynicism endemic in Arab ruling circles. So what is he thinking? I don't know. My guess is just that this is his gut feeling, no analysis involved. I hope he realizes that he's being played, along with the rest of Western celebrity-hood.
