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Revision as of 08:43, 13 September 2005 by Conch Shell (talk | contribs) (restoring sections that had disappeared)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Debbie Schlussel (born 1969) is an attorney, radio talk show host, columnist, MENSA member, and, since May 2005, blogger.
Early life
Schlussel was born in 1969. Her grandparents were Holocaust survivors, her mother born in a concentration camp, and her father a Vietnam War veteran, which helped form her views.
Her activities during her teenage years included winning medals in the Maccabai Games and representing the United States in the Maccabiah Games in Israel. She got her political start, however, as a Young Republican, winning the title of “Outstanding Teen Age Republican in the Nation” in 1987. She later became the youngest female and youngest Jewish delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1988 and worked on many campaigns, including her failed vote for the Michigan House of Representatives, which she lost by one vote (had she won, she would've been the youngest person to win the post).
Professional life
Aside from her political campaigning and actions, Schlussel has become best known for her journalistic endeavors, especially her conservative-oriented columns. Her most notable achievement occurred while with the Detroit Free Press, where she went undercover into a mosque and reported on her findings, many of which angered the Muslim community as she presented examples of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism. She continues to be published in the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the Detroit Free Press.
Her journalistic endeavors also made waves with columns she wrote about Russell Simmons and his ties to Palestinian terrorism, the "radical Islamic ownership" of Caribou Coffee, and the awarding of an American citizen with ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, causing then-FBI Director Robert Mueller to revoke the award.
She also hosted a radio program, "The Debbie Schlussel Show" in 2002 and 2003. She became a regular guest on other radio programs as well, ranging from Howard Stern to Sean Hannity.
Controversy
Schlussel receives criticism because of her tendency to routinely target Muslims for most of her political rants, many of which were viewed as anti-Muslim. She also tends to label people who support Palestine, or others who disagree with Israel, "terrorists", though she has never actually done so to a person who advocates peaceful support or disagreement (for example, Arab-American comedian/columnist Ray Hanania). Howard Stern, who frequently has her as a guest on his radio show, has jokingly called her column "Six Degrees of Separation to Al-Qaida". In the most extreme example, on her new blog, she equates being a fan of either Michael Jackson or soccer with supporting terrorism; using the loose association that a majority of Americans do not support either, whereas both are quite popular in many Islamic nations.
She occasionally targets feminists, as well, causing Ms. magazine to regard her as "Public Enemy #1". She particularly likes to criticize women's pro sports, especially the WNBA; at one point her own cousin (a very young writer for a newspaper in Rochester, New York) wrote an editorial in disagreement with her on this subject.
She has been compared to Ann Coulter, another Conservative columnist, but has yet to achieve the same degree of mainstream exposure. However, her Yahoo fan club site is more popular than Coulter's. Interestingly enough, on July 20, 2005 the two columnists in a rare disagreement gave opposing views in their columns on Bush's nomination of John Roberts for the Supreme Court.
Recently, Schlussel achived some notoriety because of an editorial in the Wall Street Journal accusing Morgan Spurlock of the documentary series 30 Days and film Super Size Me of unbalanced practices in achieving the results for the television show, mirroring many criticisms that people have of his movie. Spurlock has not responded.
Schlussel has also attacked the phenomena that she refers to as the Holocaust Industry. Like Norman Finkelstein she criticises attorneys and others who did not suffer under the holocaust yet financially gain from it, while many holocaust survivors live in poverty.
External links
- Debbie Schlussel's Homepage
- Detroit Free Press - 'Debbie Schlussel of Southfield amps up the conservative volume.'
- Wall Street Journal - 'Unreal for 30 Days,' an editorial where Schlussel criticizes Morgan Spurlock's methods for his documentary program.