Yo, Claire!
It is late Sunday night in California and, if my math is right, Monday morning in Istanbul. I'm about to shut down the machine and go to bed and I assume our much-admired Berlinski is scrambling an egg or whatever. I've just finished reading her lyrical and haunting piece in City Journal, at which we're both contributing editors, "Weimar Istanbul":
What is a Weimar City? It is a city rich in history and culture, animated by political precariousness and by a recent rupture with the past, vivified by a shocking conflict with mass urbanization and industrialization; a city where sudden liberalization has unleashed the social and political imagination—but where the threat of authoritarian reaction is always in the air.
Weimar Cities are not freaks of nature. They may be expected to arise under certain social, political, and historical circumstances. World War I destroyed both Imperial Germany and the Ottoman Empire. The remnants of both entities succeeded in imposing alien new social orders on themselves, fragile experiments in democracy. The Turkish Republic has lasted far longer than the Weimar Republic, but the stories do not differ in the fundamentals; they have merely been telescoped or expanded by contingent events.
What I'm thinking is: "Yo, Claire! What are you, nuts? Get out of there. Really. History is mesmerizing--like a snake. Then, very suddenly, it devours you. You've had some fun. Good for you. Now cash in. Get out."
Read the whole piece here, Ricochet-sters. Tell me I'm wrong.
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Comments :
Aug '10
Re: Yo, Claire!
Don't worry , the government is keeping close tabs on her through her new cable connection and Internet hook.
May '10
Re: Yo, Claire!
Well, from what I know the worst aspect of Weimer Germany was price inflation, hence I believe a city or nation must be in a similar position in order to qualify as a Weimer area. Specifically, it must have serious debt and recessionary problems and a government willing to monetize the debt and/or expand the supply of credit in order to "stimulate the economy." Otherwise, I don't know.
Re: Yo, Claire!
Andrew, do you think the world would be a better place if every journalist working in a country with elements of instability were to say, "I'm cashing in and getting out?"
Oct '10
Re: Yo, Claire!
That's a good point, Claire. You still have the grit and determination that I lost shortly after I hit age 30.
Then again, though I like to think of myself as being high, dry, and safe here in West Texas, a North American Afghanistan simmers on our southern border. And bordertowns like my ancestral home of Laredo find themselves increasingly under siege. "Interesting times" abound worldwide.
Sep '10
Re: Yo, Claire!
The worst problem of the Weimar Republic was that it was a republic with too few republicans. Thoroughly liberal societies don't turn to totalitarian rulers even when they are confronted with great economic problems.
Edited on Dec 13, 2010 at 7:19amRe: Yo, Claire!
Yeah, that's a response worthy of you and the one I was expecting. Still, your (really excellent) piece spoke to me of a fascination with the febrile creativity of decadence. And if I'm reading that right, I do understand that we benefit from your fascination through your coverage. But, uh, grab the cats and get out.
Jul '10
Re: Yo, Claire!
I think journalists at risky locations should function like soldiers. Go in with a fixed tour of duty, say 2-4 years, and if the physical security aspects are still above a certain threshold, rotate the heck out. Spend a bit of time doing the talking head thing and placing long articles analyzing the place they just escaped while lining up something a bit safer for the next tour.
May '10
Re: Yo, Claire!
I've been telling her for months that this is the time for her to move to NY and spend time with both her grandmother and Brian Anderson.
Not only is personal safety an issue (Claire seems to be very attached to her martial arts gym...), it seems to me that her growing celebrity as a result of the Ricochet connection has kind of put the brass ring within better reach now than it has been. She can do all those cable shows and be the reigning talking head expert on her current part of the world. Who would you call, if you are Roger Ailes- Dr. Berlinski, or Michael Rubin? She can always visit Istanbul three times a year.
Aug '10
Re: Yo, Claire!
Andrew Klavan
But, uh, grab the cats and get out. · Dec 13 at 7:27am
But Andrew, Claire clearly likes to live dangerously. It's part of her mystique. And the only way to explain so many cats.
Nov '10
Re: Yo, Claire!
Andrew Klavan
[T]hat's a response worthy of you and the one I was expecting...But, uh, grab the cats and get out.
Claire, you are not simply a journalist; you are a Jewish woman living and working in a Muslim country teetering on the brink of chaos. If things go sour, you are going to be in serious trouble. In order to keep you alive, your loyal Turkish friends will probably have to stuff your petite figure into a suitcase, toss you into the trunk of an old Mercedes, and smuggle you into Greece or Bulgaria — at considerable risk to their own lives (something else for you to consider).
Ever since I joined Ricochet, I have scratched my head over your apparent infatuation with Turkey. I read "Weimar Istanbul" carefully. If Turkey succumbs to Radical Islam, all that "febrile creativity" you admire is going to disappear like dew in the desert. Frankly, I think you have lost perspective (and a certain degree of journalistic objectivity).
Edited on Dec 13, 2010 at 10:14pmOct '10
Re: Yo, Claire!
Claire, Are you a journalist or a writer? Journalists suffer their time as journalists. They, almost without exception, yearn to be writers. As soon as they write something that sells they forsake the 'Journalist' label. After all it doesn't pay as well or provide the sense of accomplishment that actually selling your work to a free market does.
Andrew, like many of us, thinks a lot of you. You are something special because of your willingness to push the envelope and describe it, as well as your writing skills. We would hate to lose your explanations because they make us all understand the world better. Mostly, we would hate to lose you.
If things are likely to become unstable in Istanbul you should find another place to live. The comments about the challenges you face in an Islamic country are real.
Please reconsider.
Sep '10
Re: Yo, Claire!
Claire,
I know you know that I think very highly of your writings (the ones I look forward to the most) and that Charlie thinks you're his most photogenic angel but there are better dry needling and martial arts services available elsewhere. You will always be Bill Walsh's and my Lady Anatolia In Exile, but, like, take off, eh?
Re: Yo, Claire!
Pseudodionysius: Claire,
I know you know that I think very highly of your writings (the ones I look forward to the most) and that Charlie thinks you're his most photogenic angel but there are better dry needling and martial arts services available elsewhere. You will always be Bill Walsh's and my Lady Anatolia In Exile, but, like, take off, eh? · Dec 13 at 8:07pm
Please, “Lady Thrace”. : )
I think you guys may underestimate the degree to which Our Girl in Istanbul (İstanbul'daki kızımız for those of you scoring at home) really, really, really likes tumult and overwhelming overwhelmingness.
That said, here at RicMinInform we keep a UH-60 Blackhawk with seven cat carriers gassed up at all times in case we have to fly in and get Claire off a roof. But that's even when she's in Snoqualmie. Stuff just happens to her.
Re: Yo, Claire!
But that doesn't strike me as a really noble use of whatever talents God gave me. I've got nothing against trying to explain what I know on cable television, in principle. But the thing I know best, after living here, is that the people who are trying to explain it but not living here are missing a lot. I go back and forth about whether to stay. I'm not especially worried about my safety. There's nowhere in the world that's "safe," that's just a fantasy. Compared to Istanbul, American and European cities have unbelievably high rates of violent crime right now, as opposed to "If things get worse." I do sometimes worry about my sanity, because Istanbul can be so stressful. But right now, I definitely feel safer walking alone here at night than I would in London or Washington DC.