I Stand Corrected
I write to correct an error I made in my Jan. 12 Collecting Jewish History column, “The Man Who Made the Beatles,” in which I credited Beatles manager Brian Epstein for conceiving and implementing the “Paul (McCartney) is Dead” hoax.
In support of this proposition, I relied on an article by Bruce Spizer, a respected Beatles historian and author of many critically acclaimed books on the Beatles. However, Spizer is also known for writing spoof articles on April Fools’ Day, and I failed to notice that the article I cited originally appeared in Goldmine Magazine on April 1, 2004. (I thank reader Martin Lewis, an expert on Epstein, for pointing out my error.)
While the “Paul Is Dead” hoax did create quite a tumult among Beatles fans, Epstein had nothing to do with it.
Saul Jay Singer
(Via E-Mail)
Credit Where Due
While I agree with Brent Bozell and Tim Graham (“Spielberg Spoils The Press Rotten,” op-ed, Jan. 12) that Hollywood movies usually lean left and look to praise the news media, not bury it, there are exceptions.
The authors ask sardonically, “…imagine a movie where The New York Times lets Jayson Blair invent stories out of whole cloth in 2003.”
But a similar movie was made. And it was made by Hollywood starring Hollywood actors. The 2003 film “Shattered Glass” – starring the likes of Hayden Christensen, Peter Sarsgaard, Chloë Sevigny, and Steve Zahn – depicted the real life Stephen Glass, a young hot-shot reporter at The New Republic who made up a bunch of his articles, just like Jayson Blair.
While the movie may not have been as big a hit as, say, “All the President’s Men,” Bozell and Graham should still give credit where it is due and acknowledge that sometimes Hollywood can throw darts at liberal darlings.
Carl Roberts
(Via E-Mail)
Two Worldviews
Jacob and Esau represent two different worldviews. Esau’s view had come to dominate much of Western culture – not completely, but a lot. This has impacted psychology, psychoanalysis, and psychiatry. For years a dominant strain has been Freudian, but there has been a movement toward a Judaic psychotherapy.
Psychologist Dr. Kalman Kaplan has been active in the move toward Hebraic psychology and psychotherapy. In collaboration with historian Matthew Schwartz he published A Psychology of Hope: An Antidote to the Suicidal Psychology of Western Civilization.
Although I am not a doctor, psychologist, or neuroscientist, I was so inspired by the work of Kalman Kaplan and others for a Jewish psychology that I wrote Bruno Bettelheim and the Chazon Ish: Toward a New Jewish Psychotherapy, which was published in 2001 in the Journal of Psychology and Judaism.
Also of note, Kaplan and Paul Cantz have written Biblical Psychotherapy: Reclaiming Scriptural Narratives for Positive Psychology and Suicide Prevention, just published by Lexington Books.
Reuven (Raymond) Solomon
Forest Hills, NY