The News Minute| August 5, 2014| 12.00 am IST
A blog by a woman called Rachel Weinstein on the Israeli Times has stirred a controversy. The blog titled, ‘Does this war make me look fat?’ has Rachel worrying about her waistline.
She says, ‘Try as may, I cannot stop rockets with M&M’s. Hershey’s syrup doesn’t stop the sound of booms, Cocoa Pebbles don’t stop sirens, and chocolate, glory be thy name, doesn’t stop war. I have tried in earnest to employ all of these methods and alas, Operation Tzuk Eitan is still in full swing. My name is Rachel and I am a chocoholic.’
The blog further goes on to describe hw Rachel did ‘war-shopping’ for food. ‘I was one of those people who admittedly blurred the lines between practicality and OH MY GOSH WE’RE NEVER GONNA EAT AGAIN! It had nothing to do with the starving children in another country, but the mere possibility that we’d run low on coffee before the snow had melted. Honestly, I can’t really tell you what I accomplished by war shopping other than to feed my increasing anxiety about living through it. I assure you that our grocery stores have not shut down, no one has starved, and we, thank G-D, still have plenty to eat.
Rachel concludes that, ‘War really is bad for the waistline but it also wreaks havoc on the mind and soul.’
The blog has started much debate, with many outraged over Rachel’s remarks. One comment says, ‘Not sure how self obsessed you need to be to even think this rubbish, let alone going to the trouble of writing it all down. But to publish it? Jeeesh, what an awful person you must be. You have my pity’.
Another says, ‘The author's self-absorption is mind boggling. Well over a thousand people are dead, most of them civilians...but maybe they just don't count as people to her?’