Nastiness Appropos Nothing in Particular

The edition of the Economist still up online (until tonight, I think) has an article about how gloomy it is to be an Arab these days. So far as I can tell it's a reasonable piece of reportage and analysis. Then, at the back of it, they stuck a much smaller item about how the Israelis, also, are glum these days. It is pure speculation with no facts, and so far as I can tell, it's hardly connected to reality in any serious way, unless perhaps in a purely unrepresentative and anecdotal way. So why did they publish it? And why precisely now?

The only answer I can think of is for the sake of some sort of balance. In their table of contents (print edition) the subtitle to the glum Arab title is about how depressing it is to be an Arab, followed by a subtitle to the next item: "And an Israeli, too".

I used to subscribe to the Economist, which is generally an unusually intelligent magazine. Then I got fed up with their nonsensical reportage about Israel (not as bad as the Guardian, but you expect more from the Economist); recently I've been asking myself if it's safe to go back to them, but this would indicate not.