| Author's note: While it's probably a mistake to attempt to explain satire, I want to note that the above parody of the Times front page for June 4 is not meant to imply that all Arabs or Muslims hold fanatical warlike views on Israel and the United States, which is plainly false and ridiculous. There are two targets of satire here: the pompous, lazy, cliché-ridden and profoundly uninformative journalism of the Times, and the disturbing fact that, in my view, President Obama's well-intentioned overture will be taken by many as "throwing Israel under the bus" and will therefore unintentionally serve the interests of the jihadis rather than the interests of peace. |
