The great thing the blogosphere has made possible is the publication of independent voices to a worldwide audience, without having to get through the gatekeepers of the old media. That is music to the ears of all outliers from mainstream thought. Like us.

The downside is that all manner of scurrilous opinion (that is, ones we don’t agree with, but also, ones that don’t have to live up to the usual journalistic fact checking standards) can get aired. The only way to counter factual inaccuracies in this new world is for citizens to pounce on them and correct them, in comments and on their own blogs, and in wonderful Wikipedia and like collective constructs.

That isn’t actually the reason we have started this blog–our goal was not to correct inaccuracies about ourselves but to promote a worldview we share with many others: the view, in my colleague Alana Price’s words, “that in this appalling and beautiful world, love can be embodied and become the basis for social relations.”

But let’s correct some inaccuracies along the way, anyway. Here’s the first:

Way late, I came across this post today by Philip Weiss, who gives Michael Lerner a slap on the wrist for criticizing those on the Left who are overly demeaning of Israel. He repeats a meme that has been spread around:

Recall that Tikkun printed a defense of the Gaza slaughter a couple months back. I wonder if Rabbi Lerner isn’t going wobbly on us.

My comment in response:

Well I’m way behind the times here, as I have been busy creating a blog for Tikkun, which debuted this week at www.tikkun.org/daily and I only just came across this, but I am astonished that Lerner could be judged as being in any way in favor of the Gaza invasion. That is truly irresponsible journalism, Philip. No wonder you didn’t link to the supposed pro-Gaza Invasion piece: it would have contradicted your point, or at least forced you to explain why Lerner’s publishing of the pro-invasion piece as an example of an approach he detests was the wrong thing to do. Maybe it was, but then you would have to say it was also wrong of him to publish the much longer anti-Gaza invasion pieces he published in the same issue, because of elements in them that he also detests.

Here it is: http://www.tikkun.org/article.php/mar09_lieb2 . Read Lerner’s intro. If you go the table of contents of that issue here http://www.tikkun.org/article.php/mar09_toc you find that the short pro Gaza invasion article is sandwiched between much longer articles against the invasion, each introduced by the same Lerner intro in which he disassociates himself from both writers’ failure to get into the mindset and psychology of the other side.

The ability of both sides to tell each others’ stories with empathic understanding is key to finding win-win solutions in any conflict. Think about that statement in regard to some conflict you have no personal passionate feeling about: maybe the Sri Lankan conflict, N. Ireland, or whatever it might be for you. As regards those, the statement may seem fairly obvious. Outside observers can tell that both sides have been terribly hurt, both are mired in their own pain and litany of the other side’s crimes, and the precise assignment of blame is a never ending obsession that can prevent each side from understanding the other’s viewpoint and suffering. When Lerner says he is pro Israel and pro Palestine, and when many Israeli and Palestinian peace activists find inspiration from his writing, it may be because he is far ahead of the normal debate. Try reading his intro to Tikkun’s “Israel at 60″ issue from last year, which just won a 2008 Rockower Award from the American Jewish Press Association. http://www.tikkun.org/article.php/Lerner-israel60…

So of course I am feeling hurt at the lack of understanding, especially of some of the commenters who seem to be throwing around misjudgments of Lerner with fine abandon. We at Tikkun, I know, have not always been known for diplomacy, good behavior and accurate assessments of others: Michael Lerner abjures us to attack and defend ideas, what someone says, not the person, but we aren’t always walking our talk. Hopefully, on our new blog, we will do! Let us know when we don’t.