Max Blumenthal
Encyclopedia
Max Blumenthal is an American author, journalist, and blogger. A senior writer for The Daily Beast
, he is the author of the New York Times bestselling book Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party.
Blumenthal's opinion pieces and investigative journalism have been featured in a variety of major media outlets. He has produced several short video reports that he has posted on YouTube
, among other websites. He works for the progressive
organization Media Matters for America
.
in 1977, the son of former Bill Clinton
administration presidential aide Sidney Blumenthal
. He received a B.A.
in history from the University of Pennsylvania
in 1999.
's 'Independent Feature Award' for his article in Salon.com
, "Day of the Dead." The piece stated that the killing of hundreds of women in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico
was connected to the policies of the corporations with factories in the border city.
Blumenthal made a short video which he titled Generation Chickenhawk. It featured interviews with convention attendees at the July 2007 College Republican National Convention in Washington, D.C. Blumenthal asked why they, as Iraq War supporters, had not enlisted in the United States armed forces
. In 2007, Max Blumenthal made a short video which he called Rapture Ready which was about American Christian fundamentalists support for the State of Israel
. He also attended the June 2007 "Take Back America Conference" (sponsored by the Campaign for America's Future
), interviewing Barack Obama
supporters and 9/11 conspiracy theorists
. Blumenthal says that conference organizers were angered by Blumenthal's video, and refused to air it.
In 2008 he interviewed a famous holocaust denier David Irving
, who is described also as a white supremacist and fascist, Also in 2008, he posted video footage from 2005 of Christian
preacher Thomas Muthee
praying over Sarah Palin
(then a candidate for Governor of Alaska
) and asking God to keep her safe from witchcraft
.
In an online article called "The Flotilla Raid Was Not “Bungled.” The IDF Detailed Its Violent Strategy In Advance" Max Blumenthal said that the content of Israeli newspapers, published a week before the IDF raid
, about a planned strategy to intercept incoming ships bringing aid to besieged Gaza along with planned rules of engagement
published in Maariv
as approved by top Israel government figures.
. The youths used expletives and racist rhetoric about Barack Obama
and Arabs, which included referring to Obama as a "nigger" and suggesting that he is "like a terrorist". According to The Jerusalem Post
, the video "garnered massive exposure and caused a firestorm in the media and the Jewish world." Haaretz
described the video as "an overnight Internet sensation".
Blumenthal has claimed that the video was "banned" from YouTube
, Vimeo
and the Huffington Post. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency
quoted Blumenthal as stating, "I won’t ascribe motives to Youtube I am unable to confirm, but it is clear there is an active campaign by right-wing Jewish elements to suppress the video by filing a flood of complaints with Youtube." YouTube said that company policy forbids comment on individual videos, while asserting that its policies are applied "uniformly and not as the result of external pressure."
Blumenthal has claimed that he faced death threats for his publication of the video. He identifies the radicalism of the interviewees with the "indoctrination" of Birthright Israel
tours, a program in which several of the interviewees were participating. The filmmaker, himself Jewish, had participated in a Birthright tour in 2002.
, who asserted that "the fear of freedom propels anxiety-ridden people into authoritarian settings". Blumenthal says in Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement That Shattered the Party, that in his view a "culture of personal crisis" has defined the American "radical right". Blumenthal's conclusion in the 365 page book is that "those who wrap themselves in the flag fear freedom the most" because of their own personal demons and insecurities, making them "pathologically supportive of an authoritarian state" that can provide them with the "emotional security of being a cog in a white Christian hierarchical machine."
His book received mixed reviews. A reviewer Hendrik Hertzberg
, of The New Yorker
described the book as a "riveting account of a religio-political subculture that’s even weirder than you thought it was", remarking that "Republican Gomorrah is an irresistible combination of anthropology
and psychopathology
that exerts the queasy fascination of let’s face it something very like pornography." In a review that also criticised the book, Rick Perlstein
, in the New York Times Book Review gave the work some praise, declaring Blumenthal "a brave and resourceful reporter adept at turning over rocks that public-relations-savvy Christian conservative
leaders would prefer remain undisturbed."
The Daily Beast
The Daily Beast is an American news reporting and opinion website founded and published by Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker as well as the short-lived Talk Magazine. The Daily Beast was launched on October 6, 2008, and is owned by IAC...
, he is the author of the New York Times bestselling book Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party.
Blumenthal's opinion pieces and investigative journalism have been featured in a variety of major media outlets. He has produced several short video reports that he has posted on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, among other websites. He works for the progressive
Progressivism in the United States
Progressivism in the United States is a broadly based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th century and is generally considered to be middle class and reformist in nature. It arose as a response to the vast changes brought by modernization, such as the growth of large...
organization Media Matters for America
Media Matters for America
Media Matters for America is a politically progressive media watchdog group which says it is "dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media." Set up as a 501 non-profit organization, MMfA was founded in 2004 by journalist and...
.
Background
Max Blumenthal was born in BostonBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
in 1977, the son of former Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
administration presidential aide Sidney Blumenthal
Sidney Blumenthal
Sidney Blumenthal is a former aide to President of the United States Bill Clinton and a widely published American journalist, especially on American politics and foreign policy....
. He received a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in history from the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
in 1999.
Blogging and online journalism
Blumenthal won the Online News AssociationOnline News Association
The Online News Association , founded in 1999, is a 501 non-profit organization made up of more than 1,800 members. Its mission: Inspiring innovation and excellence among digital journalists to better serve the public....
's 'Independent Feature Award' for his article in Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
, "Day of the Dead." The piece stated that the killing of hundreds of women in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
was connected to the policies of the corporations with factories in the border city.
Blumenthal made a short video which he titled Generation Chickenhawk. It featured interviews with convention attendees at the July 2007 College Republican National Convention in Washington, D.C. Blumenthal asked why they, as Iraq War supporters, had not enlisted in the United States armed forces
United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
. In 2007, Max Blumenthal made a short video which he called Rapture Ready which was about American Christian fundamentalists support for the State of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. He also attended the June 2007 "Take Back America Conference" (sponsored by the Campaign for America's Future
Campaign for America's Future
Campaign for America's Future is an American political organization with a strongly progressive orientation. Its main issues of concern include the environment, energy independence, health care reform, Social Security, and education...
), interviewing Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
supporters and 9/11 conspiracy theorists
9/11 conspiracy theories
9/11 conspiracy theories are theories that disagree with the widely accepted account that the September 11 attacks were perpetrated solely by al-Qaeda. These theories arose because of what proponents of the conspiracy theories believe to be inconsistencies in the official conclusions or some...
. Blumenthal says that conference organizers were angered by Blumenthal's video, and refused to air it.
In 2008 he interviewed a famous holocaust denier David Irving
David Irving
David John Cawdell Irving is an English writer,best known for his denial of the Holocaust, who specialises in the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany...
, who is described also as a white supremacist and fascist, Also in 2008, he posted video footage from 2005 of Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
preacher Thomas Muthee
Thomas Muthee
Thomas Muthee is a Kenyan preacher and bishop. During the 2008 United States Presidential campaign, his visit to the Wasilla, Alaska Assembly of God in 2005, including a blessing that he gave Sarah Palin, was widely discussed. His prior claims of successful spiritual warfare in Kiambu, Kenya...
praying over Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
(then a candidate for Governor of Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
) and asking God to keep her safe from witchcraft
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
.
In an online article called "The Flotilla Raid Was Not “Bungled.” The IDF Detailed Its Violent Strategy In Advance" Max Blumenthal said that the content of Israeli newspapers, published a week before the IDF raid
Gaza flotilla raid
The Gaza flotilla raid was a military operation by Israel against six ships of the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla" on 31 May 2010 in international waters of the Mediterranean Sea...
, about a planned strategy to intercept incoming ships bringing aid to besieged Gaza along with planned rules of engagement
Rules of engagement
Rules of Engagement refers to those responses that are permitted in the employment of military personnel during operations or in the course of their duties. These rules of engagement are determined by the legal framework within which these duties are being carried out...
published in Maariv
Maariv
Maariv is a Hebrew language daily newspaper published in Israel. It is second in sales after Yedioth Ahronoth and third in readership after Yedioth Ahronoth and Israel HaYom. In a TGI survey comparing the last half of 2009 with the same period in 2008, Maariv saw its market share fall slightly...
as approved by top Israel government figures.
'Feeling the Hate' controversy
In 2009, Max Blumenthal posted a short video on YouTube titled "Feeling the Hate in Jerusalem on the Eve of Obama's Cairo Address".http://www.mojvideo.com/video-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-on-eve-of-obama-s-cairo-addres/aea441d039edf753afe0 The video was a montage of footage of drunken Jewish-American youth in Jerusalem in June 2009, shortly before Obama's Cairo addressA New Beginning
"A New Beginning" is the name of a speech delivered by United States President Barack Obama on June 4, 2009, from the Major Reception Hall at Cairo University in Cairo, Egypt. Al-Azhar University co-hosted the event...
. The youths used expletives and racist rhetoric about Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
and Arabs, which included referring to Obama as a "nigger" and suggesting that he is "like a terrorist". According to The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post is an Israeli daily English-language broadsheet newspaper, founded on December 1, 1932 by Gershon Agron as The Palestine Post. The daily readership numbers do not approach those of the major Hebrew newspapers....
, the video "garnered massive exposure and caused a firestorm in the media and the Jewish world." Haaretz
Haaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
described the video as "an overnight Internet sensation".
Blumenthal has claimed that the video was "banned" from YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, Vimeo
Vimeo
Vimeo is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, share, and view videos. It was founded by Zach Klein and Jake Lodwick in November 2004...
and the Huffington Post. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency is an international news agency serving Jewish community newspapers and media around the world. The JTA was founded on February 6, 1917, by Jacob Landau as the Jewish Correspondence Bureau in The Hague with the mandate of collecting and disseminating news among and...
quoted Blumenthal as stating, "I won’t ascribe motives to Youtube I am unable to confirm, but it is clear there is an active campaign by right-wing Jewish elements to suppress the video by filing a flood of complaints with Youtube." YouTube said that company policy forbids comment on individual videos, while asserting that its policies are applied "uniformly and not as the result of external pressure."
Blumenthal has claimed that he faced death threats for his publication of the video. He identifies the radicalism of the interviewees with the "indoctrination" of Birthright Israel
Birthright Israel
Taglit-Birthright Israel is a Jewish Israeli registered charity that sponsors free 10-day heritage trips to Israel. Birthright Israel's goals are to diminish the division between Israel and Jewish communities around the world and to strengthen participants' personal Jewish identity and...
tours, a program in which several of the interviewees were participating. The filmmaker, himself Jewish, had participated in a Birthright tour in 2002.
Republican Gomorrah
Blumenthal says that his book is inspired by the work of psychologist Erich FrommErich Fromm
Erich Seligmann Fromm was a Jewish German-American social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was associated with what became known as the Frankfurt School of critical theory.-Life:Erich Fromm was born on March 23, 1900, at Frankfurt am...
, who asserted that "the fear of freedom propels anxiety-ridden people into authoritarian settings". Blumenthal says in Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement That Shattered the Party, that in his view a "culture of personal crisis" has defined the American "radical right". Blumenthal's conclusion in the 365 page book is that "those who wrap themselves in the flag fear freedom the most" because of their own personal demons and insecurities, making them "pathologically supportive of an authoritarian state" that can provide them with the "emotional security of being a cog in a white Christian hierarchical machine."
His book received mixed reviews. A reviewer Hendrik Hertzberg
Hendrik Hertzberg
Hendrik Hertzberg is an American journalist, best known as the principal political commentator for The New Yorker magazine. He has also been a speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter and editor of The New Republic, and is the author of ¡Obámanos! The Rise of a New Political Era and Politics:...
, of The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
described the book as a "riveting account of a religio-political subculture that’s even weirder than you thought it was", remarking that "Republican Gomorrah is an irresistible combination of anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
and psychopathology
Psychopathology
Psychopathology is the study of mental illness, mental distress, and abnormal/maladaptive behavior. The term is most commonly used within psychiatry where pathology refers to disease processes...
that exerts the queasy fascination of let’s face it something very like pornography." In a review that also criticised the book, Rick Perlstein
Rick Perlstein
Eric S. "Rick" Perlstein is an American historian and journalist. He is a former writer for The Village Voice and The New Republic....
, in the New York Times Book Review gave the work some praise, declaring Blumenthal "a brave and resourceful reporter adept at turning over rocks that public-relations-savvy Christian conservative
Christian right
Christian right is a term used predominantly in the United States to describe "right-wing" Christian political groups that are characterized by their strong support of socially conservative policies...
leaders would prefer remain undisturbed."
External links
- Blumenthal's website
- Max Blumenthal Interview November 2009 on Robert W. McChesneyRobert W. McChesneyRobert Waterman McChesney is an American professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication. His work concentrates on the history and political economy of communication, emphasizing the role media play in democratic...
's Media Matters - Story Archive at AlterNet
- Blog Archive at The Huffington Post
- NPR Audio Interview with Max Blumenthal + Book Excerpt
- Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party by Max Blumenthal - report at Democracy Now!Democracy Now!Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...
- Republican Gomorrah discussion at Berkeley Arts and Letters, September 2009
Video reports by Blumenthal
- CPAC: The Unauthorized Documentary & Part Deux: Conflicted Conservatives In Crisis
- Generation Chickenhawk: The Unauthorized College Republican Convention Tour
- Rapture Ready: The Unauthorized Christians United for Israel Tour
- Theocracy Now!: The 2007 Value Voters Summit
- "Get the Government Out of My Social Security!": Inside the 9/12 Teabagger Rally