Moderation as a Virtue

NIGEL KENNEDY, a seriously great violin player of english origins, has engendered controversy for the usual reasons: the way he dresses, the way he talks, (his accent), and the comments he makes. Not long ago he appeared in a concert with the "palestine strings", an excellent orchestra consisteing of palestinian young folks. They too are quite accomplished musicians. At the concert, Kennedy condemned what he called israel's policy of "apartheid", referring of course to their treatement of palestinians within their borders, who, in a sense, were trapped within those newely proclaimed borders in 1948 at the advent of the state of israel. This (kennedy's comment) caused all kinds of furor, for there are two types of people on earth: those who favor israel, and those who do not. Preseumably a middle ground can be found among those who believe the existence of israel is perfectly acceptable, but who have concerns about israeli policies with regard to its palestinian inhabitants. When Kennedy sounded off, the pro israeli crowd was outraged at the very thought that anyone could even conceivably offer any negative comment about the treatment of palestinians by israel, while those who feel that the palestinians have been and are being mistreated quite naturally applauded kennedy's forthrightness. We seem to live in a world in which people of political proclivities take extreme positions, and moderation is viewed as unacceptable nothingness. Late in his life albert einstein, perhaps the most famous jew in the world during his lifetime, was offered, incredibly enough, the presidency of israel, a largely ceremonial post, by then prime minister david ben gurion. Einstein was flattered by the offer, but very intimately understood that he was no politician nor political leader by nature. Einstein suffered from the same dooming political liabilities as, for instance, davy crockett; he was just too plain honest, outspoken, and independent to make a good political leader, and he knew it. david ben gurion reportedly breathed a sigh of relief when einstein declined. As long as there is man, there will be war, lamented einstein. As long as there is a middle east, there will be extremes of opinion, might be an added axiom. Obama is threatening to entangle the united states in yet another needless foreign war, say the american conservatives, who suddenly sound a lot like yesterday's liberals. Obama's threats of force, his "red line" is bringing the syrian government, and the russian governemtn, to the table to discusee eliminating chemical weapons, say today's liberals, who suddenly sound a great deal like yesterday's conservatives.Einstein pointed that the ultimate value of the new israeli state would be determined by the manner in which the new state treated its palestinian occupants. He might not be too terribly thrilled by events of the past sixty years. Similarly, we ought not be too happy with our insistance on taking extreme attitudes about every little thing of a political nature. Wasn't there a time when moderation was considered a virtue?