Out of Step

In addition to eating (which I have done incessantly since Wednesday night), I have used the Pesach/Easter long weekend to catch up on my reading. And I finally finished Jack Bloom’s Out of Step. We previously reported on the dreadful review this book received in the Star. ‘Better used for firewood’ was certainly not the only but perhaps the most telling criticism levelled against this controversial political treatise. I hope to give Mr Bloom a fairer hearing.

Mr Bloom begins by explaining that ‘this was not an easy book to write. It does not say easy things. But they do need to be said.’ And I concur with his self-analysis. Out of Step deals honestly with Jack Bloom’s often difficult life story. It recounts his unglamorous upbringing in working class Doornfontein; his lonely school career at the rough and tough Athlone Boys and his struggle with army service in the Apartheid era South African Defence Force. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on Jack’s university days at the University of the Witwatersrand and his intellectual rebellion against the Leftist indoctrination of the Social Science Faculty.

Despite these alien and often hostile environments, Mr Bloom has always managed to achieve success. The anecdote that perhaps best captures this is that Jack (a self-confessed capitalist) was the top student in his Marxist exegesis course despite the fact that his class mates included some high profile Leftists like Firoz Cachalia. He attributes this to the fact that his class mates ‘where too busy making revolution happen while he was applying himself to studying the theory.’

After university, Jack became involved with the Progressive Party. I am sure his difficult childhood must have played a large role in his decision to dedicate his life to fighting political bullies. For as opposed to the playing field, in the arena of ideas he certainly has an advantage. His political career has led him to becoming a senior Democratic Alliance member in the Gauteng Legislature.

In 2001, Jack attended the Durban United Nations Racism Conference. He describes it as his Dryfus affair. The Nazi like anti-Semitism directed towards the Jewish State that he witnessed there, has spurred him to devote much of his time to fighting anti-Israel bias in South Africa. The book goes into great detail about the numerous battles Mr Bloom has fought with the likes of Firaz Osman of the Media Review Network (a hostile anti-Israel think tank), Aziz Pahad (SA deputy Foreign Minister) and John Battersby (former editor of the Sunday Independent) on the pages of all of South Africa’s newspapers.

In this second half of the book Jack gives his political opinions on all topics from evolution to the War on Terror. His conservative views would make him a valuable replacement for the beleaguered Karl Rove in the Bush White House. At times I felt as if I was reading the in-depth guide to the Republican manifesto. It is unfortunate that Jack decided to cover so many political issues rather than focus entirely on his central topic -what he calls the 4th World War between the West and radical Islam.

Nevertheless, Mr Bloom does make some interesting points (certainly controversial/unpopular) about the current international crisis. He does not hold back in exposing the violent and oppressive history of Islamic Imperialism. He even goes as far as criticising some of the racist practices that the common interpretations of Sharia law sanction. This is extremely brave in the wake of the violent Muslim responses to criticism of their faith.

In addition to an extremely well researched analysis of the threat radical Islam poses to the West, this book also looks at some novel solutions. Mr Bloom believes that a type of reformation of Islam is needed if we are all to co-exist peacefully. He believes salvation lies in the ‘liberal’ minority interpretation of Islamic scholars such as Sheik Palatzi of Italy. He cites the Vatican’s change of Catholic dogma with regard to Jews after the Holocaust as a precedent for religious reform.

Jack Bloom is certainly no political conformist. He is clearly out of step with the political views of most South Africans and even many members of his own party. But he is not the type of person to shy away from his beliefs just because they may be controversial. He is refreshing in a society steeped in political correctness and certainly broadens the debate. I will try to entice him to write an article for IAS in the near future.

Comments

[amishav]

Too bad the only place the liberal "moderate" islamists have to speak is in the West.

[Gary]

I also have a review of Out Of Step on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0620353740/ref=cm_aya_asin.title/102-9816660-2012143?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155
Go to Amazon and drop a helpful vote please!