The Egos Have Landed
The Nefesh B’Nefesh’s First International Jewish Bloggers Convention takes place next Wednesday, and while there are those who see it as a great opportunity to meet fellow bloggers and discuss how to improve the craft, there are predictably those who see it as a great opportunity to bitch and moan.
A number of bloggers are complaining that the conference is slanted in favor of Orthodox bloggers with right-wing political leanings. I assume they base this on the list of attendees and panelists, which does seem to have a large proportion of such bloggers.
But here’s the deal. Anyone can register, and the panelists were chosen mainly on the basis of traffic and influence. And given that Nefesh B’Nefesh’s agenda is to promote aliyah (immigration to Israel), they have chosen pro-Israel bloggers, and probably tried to steer clear of controversial Jewish bloggers, who’s agenda includes bashing their fellow Jews.
I am particularly disappointed in the attitude of fellow anglo-Israel blogger Lisa Goldman, who claims no interest in the conference since she’s “more interested in the complexities of Israeli life than in blogging about aliyah-related themes,” and “would have preferred a conference for Israeli bloggers where Arabs could participate.” She also throws in the “politically slanted” argument. Besides the apparent condescension, Lisa also claims she doesn’t “like agenda blogging.” Sorry, Lisa, but I am calling BS on that. What you do is agenda blogging (your agenda being to promote Arab-Israeli dialog). What you meant is you “don’t like blogging for an agenda that does not fit mine.”
I have to also laugh at the Ha’aretz article’s mention of the blog Failed Messiah:
Although Failed Messiah was a finalist in the 2007 Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards and has been quoted in newspapers ranging from The Wall Street Journal to Haaretz and The Forward, Rosenberg was not contacted by Nefesh B’Nefesh about the conference.
Firstly, given I founded the Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards, I am qualified to say they are meaningless in terms of the “worth” of a blog. (I always love it when blogs invoke their performance in the JIBs as proof of their blogging credentials). Secondly, the argument that this anti-Judaism blogger should have been contacted by Nefesh B’Nefesh about the pro-aliyah blogger conference – because he has been cited by the mainstream media a few times – is ridiculous beyond belief.
Blogging opens up a lot of doors for a lot of people. But on the downside, it can also unleash people’s untamed egos. To the bloggers who believe they should have been invited to the conference (instead of registering like us common folk) or should have been invited to be a panelist, I say get over yourselves. And if you don’t like it, how about getting off your posterior and organizing a conference of your own. Perhaps the First International [Name of Your Blog] Admirers Convention?
Update: Check out Jameel’s post What is a JBlogger?
About the Author
An Aussie immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave is founder of Israellycool, happy family man, and lover of Australian sports and girlie drinksFiled Under: General
It’s considered rude to mention a party in front of people who aren’t invited to it, because it will hurt their feelings.
But, it should be okay to talk openly about a party where everyone is invited.
The NBN JBlogger conference is open.
The people complaining about it being exclusive aren’t kvetching about not being invited (because all they need do is sign up), but rather that they weren’t asked to be on the panel.
It’s like saying, “How dare you invite me to a birthday party that isn’t thrown in my honor.”
Or, “I wouldn’t go to your party because I don’t like your company, but I’m offended that you didn’t offer me a ride there, anyway.”
I’m disappointed that I can’t go, and wish I could. But I’m looking forward to experiencing it via webcast and vicariously through the blog posts that result.
P.S. LOVE the title of this post.
yikes. I had no idea the JIB circle had so much drama….
Duly noted.
If you would do a bit of research, you’d notice my first post about the conference was after the Ha’aretz story ran.
Ha’aretz contacted me and asked me a few questions. I responded with the quote you see printed there.
I did not cite the blogging awards, which is why you don’t see that in quotes.
Let me also point out that I led the American version of AUJS, served on its executive and on the North American executive for years, ran conferences of Jewish students far larger than NBN’s upcoming blogger’s conference and, when I did so, I managed to make sure the left, right and center politically and religiously were represented fairly.
I spent years responding to anti-Israel propaganda. I lived in Israel.
I write this not to display my ego but, instead, to point out to you that your characterization of me is false and misleading.
Dave,
Spot on.
I’m actually hoping Lisa will show up.
But if I get to meet you, that would be really cool.
Shmarya,
I had not been to your blog, and did not see any post of yours on the conference. I based my comments on the Ha’aretz article, which makes it sound like sour grapes on your part. You might want to take that up with them.
Now I have read your post, and it does not change much. You believe NBN somehow owe you something, perhaps not because of the JIBs or MSM citations, but because of your past life in Israel etc etc. Well, how would NBN know this?
Certainly, you have to see the logic in having bloggers who clearly blog about Israel and Judaism in loving terms as being good candidates for the panel and/or the NBN flights.
For the record, I was NOT offered a flight either, but Ha’aretz won’t be hearing from me.
Carl,
I happen to like Lisa as a person, and even like her writing (despite our political differences). I am speaking solely of her statements to Ha’aretz.
It’ll be great to meet you too.
Aw. Lisa Goldman is such a sweetie. She didn’t say the NBN conference was lame or anything, just that it wasn’t her thing. Which is fine. And even Shmarya’s issues I am pretty sure boil down to a semantic thing. In any case, it’s a 4 hour get together. Such not a big deal. Can we all just get along?
ck,
Yes, Lisa is a sweetie, which is why her statements disappointed me.
I appreciate your conciliatory approach, but I felt the need to respond to the unfair criticism of the conference. I experienced similar things when running the JIBs, and can empathize with the organizers of the conference.
I had not been to your blog, and did not see any post of yours on the conference. I based my comments on the Ha’aretz article, which makes it sound like sour grapes on your part. You might want to take that up with them.
Now I have read your post, and it does not change much. You believe NBN somehow owe you something, perhaps not because of the JIBs or MSM citations, but because of your past life in Israel etc etc. Well, how would NBN know this?
Certainly, you have to see the logic in having bloggers who clearly blog about Israel and Judaism in loving terms as being good candidates for the panel and/or the NBN flights.
Ha’aretz didn’t do anything wrong, Dave. It reported accurately.
My point was that I did not bitch about the conference. I gave my opinion when asked.
Past that, the idea that “blogging about Israel and Judaism in loving terms” – i.e., the Orthodox and right wing spin on these issues – should determine the makeup of a conference that bills itself as the international conference of Jewish bloggers is obscene.
It is dishonest and deceitful.
So, by the way, is dismissing complaints about this deceitfulness as ego driven.
You don’t know me. When you wrote your post, you had no idea if I had written about the conference or if I was driven by ego or other concerns.
All you knew was that I’m an “anti-Orthodox” blogger. And that was enough for you to smear me.
You didn’t even have the courtesy – or the honesty – to investigate.
Semantics.
Which is relevant as I described in my post. A pro-aliyah conference is hardly going to ask a controversial, divisive blogger like you to be on a panel, and certainly not be on a NBN flight and blog about a family (perhaps an Orthodox one?) making aliyah.
You smeared the conference and motivations of those organizing it. As for your contention that I somehow did not investigate, I cited the Ha’aretz article upon which I based my post. What investigation did you perform when you made your opinion known to Ha’aretz?
Your contention that “blogging about Israel and Judaism in loving terms” is “the Orthodox and right wing spin on these issues” is not only wrong; it also incredibly offensive, and smears those who are neither Orthodox nor Right Wing, but who are pro-Israel. Like the blogger My Shrapnel, who is on one of the panels.
I did not smear you. I stand by my “opinion” that you seem driven by ego, based on the statements you made to Ha’aretz. And your comments here do little to dispel that.
>>>>All you knew was that I’m an “anti-Orthodox” blogger. And that was enough for you to smear me.<<<<
Which is relevant as I described in my post. A pro-aliyah conference is hardly going to ask a controversial, divisive blogger like you to be on a panel, and certainly not be on a NBN flight and blog about a family (perhaps an Orthodox one?) making aliyah.
Please.
What you mean is, NBN has a certain spin it wants reported, and stacked the conference to make sure that happens.
Your contention that “blogging about Israel and Judaism in loving terms” is “the Orthodox and right wing spin on these issues” is not only wrong; it also incredibly offensive, and smears those who are neither Orthodox nor Right Wing, but who are pro-Israel. Like the blogger My Shrapnel, who is on one of the panels.
NBN has a token non-right wing, non-Orthodox blogger. Big deal.
I stand by my “opinion” that you seem driven by ego, based on the statements you made to Ha’aretz. And your comments here do little to dispel that.
Really?
Let’s see:
1. You misread the Ha’aretz piece.
2. You didn’t even bother to check out my site to see what I may – or may not – have written.
3. By your own admission, you did no investigation at all – except misread Ha’aretz.
4. From this all this hard “work” you did, you decided that I was acting out of ego.
You’re a poster child for what is wrong with the NBN conference.
Pray tell how I misread the Ha’aretz piece? You confirmed it was accurate. And since when does all information from a person get cited in quotes in an article?
Nothing I have read on your blog or on here dispels the notion you are acting like a kid with a wounded ego. You continue to smear the conference, not to mention “Orthodox, Right Wing bloggers.” And you still seem to think you should have somehow been personally invited as a panelist/NBN blogger.
My post was not an investigative piece. I’ll leave that to you. But if you continue to insult the owner of this blog like you did at the end, you might be well qualified to do your own investigative piece on bloggers who get banned from commenting on other people’s blogs.
But if you continue to insult the owner of this blog like you did at the end, you might be well qualified to do your own investigative piece on bloggers who get banned from commenting on other people’s blogs.
Don’t take a challenge well, do you, Dave?
Shmarya, please provide me with a challenge. You have done nothing beyond prove my point, coupled with a nice ad hominem attack at the end.
I have a rule about comments and it can be articulated thus: feel free to disagree with me, but stick to the argument. Attack me and you are no longer welcome. It’s my place and those are the rules.
Shmarya wrote: “Past that, the idea that “blogging about Israel and Judaism in loving terms” – i.e., the Orthodox and right wing spin on these issues – should determine the makeup of a conference that bills itself as the international conference of Jewish bloggers is obscene.”
Oh Shmarya. Obscene?? I mean even if that’s what they did, it’s hardly obscene. You need to work on your adjectives I think.
Also, haven’t we already conclusively demonstrated that this conference is not the right-wing Orthodox wank fest you seem to think it is? I really don’t want to get into who is and who isn’t “frum”… but I know most of the panelists and of the ones I know, only 2 are frum and even so, they’re left wing frum.
Again, I’m fairly certain you’re barking up the wrong tree here. Seriously, this whole thing is ridiculous.
Wow! So many opinions from a handful of Jews.
Who could’ve known!
CK wrote:
but I know most of the panelists and of the ones I know, only 2 are frum and even so, they’re left wing frum.
I suppose that would be true if you divide the Orthodox world in half at Lakewood.
But Gil Student, for example, is by no means left wing frum.
Past that, both you and Dave appear to lack simple moral outrage against a stacked deck.
The conventions I helped run and that I participated in were planned by people who were right wing politically and religiously – and that included me.
Yet we managed to make sure that Peace Now, Yesh Gvul, the Reform Movement, etc, all had a place. We staged debates between right and left, religious and non-religious, etc.
If NBN had simply held a conference named Conference For Bloggers Who Support The NBN Agenda, or NBN Propaganda Gathering For Bloggers, I wouldn’t care.
But NBN claims to be holding the first ever International Jewish Bloggers Coference – and that should be quite a different thing.
~~~~~~
Dave, my argument is that you attacked me first, which you did. Your argument is that I don’t have the right to hit back on your blog.
I think that’s pretty cowardly.
Here’s Jameel’s take on this.
It’s not just Jbloggers who feel like this.
Mark Spitz feels the same way.
I somehow doubt that. You wrote this on your blog:
That, and your Ha’aretz interview, indicates you were upset at having not been contacted directly for a panelist/NBN flight position, rather the name of the conference like you now claim.
By the way, the second panel of the day has a majority of non-Orthodox, non-Right Wing bloggers, namely Oleh Girl, My Shrapnel and WhatWarZone. How does that fit your argument?
With all due respect, your perception of what is and not cowardly hardly concerns me, given your “heroic” attack in Ha’aretz on the hard work of the conference organizers, all because you felt snubbed.
Heck – my blog name is Jameel @ The Muqata, and Lisa Goldman’s not happy?! What more of an arabic name could she want?
Aussie Dave: Spot on. (Kudos to Juggling Frogs for the back and forth hyperlinks to these 2 posts!)
I discussed this last week as well; I don’t get Lisa Goldman’s complaint about a lack of Arab representation whatsoever. Even if one thinks that the convention should for some reason “have to” include every viewpoint, where do Arabs come into play? It’s a Jewish blogger convention, not an Israeli one.
Most importantly, the convention is open to all – the complaint can’t be about that, but about the panelists only. And NBN isn’t stupid – they’re going to get panelists that will help promote their agenda, period.
Chiming in to disagree with your interpretation of Lisa’s blog (and not just because she’s a friend of mine.)
I’ve never perceived On The Face as promoting “Arab-Israeli dialog”- Lisa clearly enjoys it herself, but her blog (much like all of our blogs) appears to not “promote” anything beyond her exploits (and her book, ok!) as opposed to an actual agenda. In the Haaretz article she states, quite reasonably, that she’d personally prefer to go to an Israeli bloggers conference which includes Arabs rather thank one sponsored by an Aliya org which is unabashedly pro-Zionist in nature, although it claims to be representative of all bloggers… Reading the article, it would seem Haaretz were looking for some controversy and stuck her (and Trep et al) in the respective corners.
The conference won’t be my cup of tea politically either, but I’m still going- looking forward to the free meat buffet, myself!
Good post.
Yes, NBN has its agenda. There’s nothing wrong with promoting aliya. It’s not their “fault” that there are more religious than non-religious Jews making aliya. Those are the statistics, plain and simple.
If people have problems with it, then those people have trouble accepting reality.
If it seems like “too many jbloggers are religious and Right-wing,” that’s also just the situation on the ground. We don’t get paid to blog. Internet and computer costs are the same for all.
As you stated, the jblogger conference is open to all. Very few are on panels. Those of us off the stage may get even more opportunities to f2f, than those who must stay seated.
Even if I think that I have better ideas, I’m glad that someone else is doing the hard work, and I very sincerely thank them.
As one of the people organizing the convention, I want to thank you for expressing your well-placed sympathies.
There are some 1000+ (possibly as many as 2000) active Jewish bloggers. I’ve sent out invitations to many, many hundreds of them (possibly even a full 1000) from all ends of the spectrum be it religious, political, or whatnot – over a period of a few weeks (yes, even Lisa was sent an invitation at some point in the past month).
We assumed (correctly) that the bloggers I didn’t/couldn’t reach directly saw the ads, press releases, other blogger comments and registered to join.
Our time and financial constraints limited us to a specific amount of bloggers for the flights and participants for the panelists and conventions.
There are plenty of people I/we wanted to be panelists and on the flight, but that is simply impossible.
I have heard every single complaint as to why the conference is slanted this way or that way. My favorite so far is “why are all the female panelists not religious and leftists?” and “why is it only open to bloggers?”
And of course certain bloggers that are complaining didn’t have the courtesy – or honesty – to investigate if their claims of this being a “frummy” or right-wing convention were true or not before they posted anything, and simply posted whatever they wanted to say, insulting bloggers like Jack, My Shrapnel, OlehGirl, Esther Kustanowitz, WhatWarZone, CK,and others.
Nor do they have ANY knowledge whatsoever of what went on behind the scenes, such as who else was invited (and supposed) to fly or speak which makes those comments even more “obscene” and “deceitful” and might I add “hate-filled” to that list of adjectives.
As to ONE of the agendas of this convention… this convention is hosted by NBN, and what of? They have an agenda, just like most bloggers have. If you don’t like it, then don’t make Aliyah.
We may organize an Israeli or Israeli/Arab or Arab blog convention in the future (the one in Jordan this week isn’t ours unfortunately), and we’ll select a different set of bloggers accordingly, and they’ll have their own agenda – and you know what, they’ll bitch and moan there too.
And Please God, we’ll run the 2nd Int’l Jewish Bloggers Convention next year and select different panelists and subjects, and then the 3rd year will be even completely different from that.
Some people like to kvetch, and blogging is such an easy medium for it.
[...] Anglo-Israeli blogger and upcoming Jerusalem blogging conference panelist Benji Lovitt was on Israeli television discussing [...]
…there are predictably those who see it as a great opportunity to bitch and moan.
To the bloggers who believe they should have been invited to the conference (instead of registering like us common folk) or should have been invited to be a panelist, I say get over yourselves.
How dare you slander me in such a way, you Likudnik/Kachnik/Chardalnik scum! If the conference organizers had any sense of decency, I would have been invited to speak. But I have no desire to attend your Zionist-racist blog conference anyway.
I’m really trying hard how to get a word in edgewise here. I’m on a panel but nobody, even my wife, mentions me. Does that mean everybody acknowledges my natural choice to be there or is everybody ignoring me? Or maybe they haven’t noticed me yet? Ot does everybody assume I’m the proverbial elephant in the room: your right-wing, fanatical nationalist Yesha Zionist just recently declared persona non grata at official UK embassy events (although four UK diplomats paid for my lunch yesterday for the privilege or haranguing them)? Should my ego be as bruised as Failed Messiah? How many people bother to complain about how the Hebrew University stacks its academic conferences as radical, left-wing post-Zionist ones, mainly (for which people are brought all all-paid, et al.)? And if someone is not putting up money for soemthing, does he/she have a right to try to destroy an even like this conference by badmouthing it in…Haaretz?!
Shmarya, you are doing great work there with Agriprocessors. Don’t take out your frustrations from there on the NBN-sponsored bloggers conference. There’s always next year. Having been invited free, all expenses to Limmud UK some four years ago but never invited back, I know, these things can hurt. But there is a life outside the cybervelt. Enjoy it.
Yisrael Medad –
I’m not hurt, my friend. I probably would not have been able to come even if invited.
And, despite Dave’s ranting, I my real concerns are just what I wrote:
1. The political and religious imbalance of those invited and,
2. The claim of the conference to be THe International Convention of Jewish Bloggers.
That’s it.
I think the responses of organizers and their friends shows my criticism to be largely correct.
Anyway, ck, I hope it goes well for those who do attend.
Those NBN guys are deceptive in more ways than one. We at Jewlicious already had the First International Jewish Bloggers Convention. And it lasted more than 4 hours. And it included everyone except for right wing religious settler types. You can read all about it here: http://www.jewlicious.com/?p=4854
We would have streamed the sessions but all that came through on the tapes was drunken laughter and David Kelsey making fart noises with his armpits at a session that otherwise was a fantastic source of information on the SEO industry.
I think we can deduce that Aussie Dave is definitely frum. How do we know this? He threatened to ban those who disagree with him on his opinions of him.
Aussie Dave described Shmarya as an “anti-Judaism” blogger. This is CLEARLY the opinion of someone who conflates a right-wing Orthodox interpretation of Judaism with Judaism period, OR is the writing of someone who did not bother to research Failed Messiah properly.
Either way, this is unacceptable, and an apology is in order.
Aussie Dave wrote,
My post was not an investigative piece.
That is no excuse for not doing a bare minimum of due diligence.
DK: I preferred it when you made fart noises with your armpits…
[updated]
DK,
Nice bit of investigative reporting. Alternatively, you could have simply clicked on the About page.
However, you need to do your homework.
1. I threatened to ban Shmarya after he decided to name call, not for disagreeing with me. As stated above (feel free to count the number of posts he has in these comments, all of which disagree with me).
Incidentally, Shmarya’s blog has similar commenting rules:
How’s that for investigative reporting?
2. Regarding the “you should have investigated” argument, the Ha’aretz article was very clear. And a subsequent look at Shmarya’s blog post only serves to reinforce my viewpoint. As stated above.
I see you also kvetched about the conference, so it is easy to see why you don’t think the unjustified attack on the conference in Ha’aretz is what merits an apology.
any attack on Haaretz is justified heh
Hey, who says I’m not Orthodox? In the States, I fasted TWO days for Tisha B’av (you know, the whole walled city thing.)
Heh
Oh my G-d, I so have to buy my wife a big piece of jewelry for convincing me not to blog about the Haaretz article. What a nightmare.
All I can say is that I already called to take the ‘journalist’ who wrote the article to task for feeling the need to mention that I live in “Efrat (on the west bank)” when nobody else’s place of residence was mentioned. It was like this neat little short hand message to the Haaretz readers that ‘this guy’s a settler so we all know where he’s coming from, right?’ When I confronted him he said it was a ‘Journalistic judgment call’ to mention my residence and not Lisa’s, Shmaya’s or Gil’s. What a tool.
trepp,
I have no regrets whatsoever about blogging about this. The hatchet job done on NBN, the conference organizers, and those described “Orthodox bloggers with right-wing political leanings” is disgraceful.
Well — I’m looking fwd to seeing you all there!
[...] Aussie Dave felt that Failed Messiah should not have been invited because he is an “anti-Judaism blogger.” [...]
I’m the token black hatter to give the convention legitimacy in Bergenfield and Brooklyn.
I feel so used.
Gil – tokens aren’t bad although I think you can;t use them anymore to get you on a subway train (that’s the undergound for those whose English is British).
(btw, any Brits coming?)
Trep (whew, I almost wrote Trip) – re: Haaretz, Begin always used to say that the last time a Haaretz editorial ever was pro-government was when the Mandate was around. So, as for “settlers” – remember, my term is revenants – what could you have expected? Did you notice that Gideon Levy is their correspondent in Georgia? So, not only does he not speak or understand Arabic (his girlfriend is a Pal.), but he also reports from another place whose language he doesn’t know.
CK – International? the UWS is a ghetto as far as I know. Besides, it wasn’t even theoretically open to all. But over 60 comments is impressive. And maybe your site should be Jewluscious?
See you at the Conference.
Oops, forgot Shmarya (notice that Jewliscious spelled your name incorrectly?) – thanks for the friendship. If I remove my kippah while sitting down at the panel, do I lessen the level of my religiosity? Ah, probably not. But, despite being a Yankee fan, as we say, there’s always next year (wait, isn’t that in the Hagada?)
And Jameel, a story about “looking forward”. During the first intifada, Richard Carleton, the late Richard Carleton of Australia’s 60 Minutes, had me on a panel (no, wait, this isn’t a panel story) with another Israeli vs. two Pals. It was either 88 or probably 89. (This guy mentions it: http://timblair.net/ee/index.php/weblog/comments/richard_carleton/#120272 – anyway know this Jono guy?). Anyway, he tells me before the show, which was broadcast live at the American Colony hotel, that Aussies know very little history so don’t mention anything ancient. Well, at one point I just had to say something in comparison to pre-67 and as I started to say, “well, prior to 1967…”, he says abruptly, “Mr. Medad, look forward please”. I, under pressures of the camera, the kleig lights and 250 screaming Arabs, simply leaned forward and looked at the camera and he saud, “no, no, I mean let’s look forward in time”. Bit of an embarassment that.
[...] their agendas, or more accurately, for having agendas that don’t mesh with the party line. One commenter (who seems to be connected with the convention’s organization) on the aforementioned blog [...]
[...] the wake of my post on the upcoming Jewish bloggers’ conference in Jerusalem and my criticism of those who seek [...]
The claim of the conference to be THe International Convention of Jewish Bloggers.
It is an International Convention of Jewish Bloggers. That is an indisputable fact. I suppose that we could continue to focus on narishkeit and debate this.
It reminds me a bit of people who claim that MLB shouldn’t call the championship the World Series because it doesn’t involve the world.
There are more important issues than to argue about whether it is the first or truly international.
Just to reiterate Steve’s point in an earlier comment, I am one of a number of bloggers who was invited who is not Orthodox.
But I suppose that one of the best ways to gain traffic for your blog is to start a blog war.
Please.
The complaint is, NBN calls this THE International Conference of Jewish Bloggers and yet those invited and those on panels are OVERWHELMINGLY Orthodox and/or right wing politically.
No one – including Dave – has brought any information to disprove this.