TAPPED IS OFF ITS ROCKER today. First, it’s demanding Stephen Ambrose’s removal from his Emeritus slot at the University of New Orleans. That seems a bit harsh, since Ambrose, who is dying of lung cancer, isn’t supposed to last more than a few months anyway. And Tapped also accuses Ambrose of self-plagiarism. That’s an impossible crime. Plagiarism has its roots in the Latin word for “kidnapping,” and self-plagiarism, like self-kidnapping, is an impossibility.

Then, in the very next post, Tapped responds to the Likud vote against a Palestinian state by saying: “No one in this country can ignore any longer that the Israeli hard right stands for colonialism, plain and simple.” Um, Israel’s position on the West Bank isn’t that of a colonialist (unless you join with the neo-confederates in regarding the “U.S. occupation” of the former confederacy as neo-colonialism). The West Bank, after all, could be returned to Jordan (of which it was a part prior to Jordan’s ill-fated decision to take up arms against Israel in the 1967 war), which would be colonialism only if one believes that the West Bank has an inherent right to independence of any state — a view which the neoconfederates might very well share, but which seems a bit odd for The American Prospect. After all, another post disagrees with Berkeley’s Snehal Shingavi, who states that “the right of Palestinians to fight for their own self-determination is not up for debate.”

To Tapped, apparently, it’s up for debate — but you’ll be called a “colonialist” if you take the wrong side. This isn’t consistent with Tapped’s usually reasonable approach. What gives?

UPDATE: A reader notes that Egypt is apparently pro-colonialism, since it doesn’t want Gaza back. But, really, who would? I don’t think that the Israelis want either the West Bank or Gaza. I think they just don’t want people trying to kill them, unmolested, along their borders. Is this so hard to understand without trotting out hoary shibboleths like “colonialism”?

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Ken Summers writes:

Uh, just thought I’d ask, but if TAPPED wants Ambrose kicked out for self-plagiarism, what is their position on Michael Bellesiles? Oh, yeah – they don’t have one. But the post immediately below the two you cited gives some indication of where they stand (as if it weren’t already apparent). I checked, and still the only two articles mentioning Bellesiles are the original Bogus review (cheap pun intended) and one by Chris Mooney, which I
believe you have also mentioned before. Not sure if their search function includes the weblog.

Yeah, I don’t remember their calling for Bellesiles’ ouster either. Am I wrong?