# 205-A – The Next Day

April 9, 2012

First, who actually reads this?…

I also have a Blog. It’s called ‘Message from the Universe’ and it can be found on the DTI (Dental Tribune international) website – or just go to ‘DTI Pohlmann’ and you’ll find the link. DTI is perhaps the World’s largest dental publisher/newspaper/e-study group/media organisation.

I happen to have been running a club for international dental people for almost 20 years now. That’s called ‘Dental Buddies of the Universe’. We have a magazine/newsletter that comes out every 3 months. It’s become quite ‘popular’.

But what does that mean these days? Who reads it?

I was recently at a dental show in Chicago. Met the very attractive lady who runs the online stuff with DTI. She was happy to meet in person the guy that writes those funny blogs. I asked her if she knew how many people actually read the blog. She said it’d be very simple to find that out; such information is easily available.

I balked. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to find out that I was among just 3 people who read my blog. That would be more devastating than the thrill of finding out that I am read by 25,000.

So, where was I?

I wrote yesterday about Günter Grass and his silly poem, published last week in Germany. “It’s not anti-Semitic” he claims, “only anti-Israeli policies”. In fact, against Netanyahu. Well, it IS true that he hid his Nazi past until quite recently. It is more than likely true that he IS anti-Semitic.

But why, I am rightly reminded by the more leftwing newspaper, Ha-Aretz, the knee-jerk reaction. Eli Yishai, our Interior Minister, has already declared Grass a ‘Persona Non Grata’ in Israel. (Grass has been here many times, but now, at his age of around 84, I doubt that he’s booked his next visit). Eli Yishai had perhaps never heard of the man before last week… Let the man in. Let him see what a great place this is. Let him witness the democracy here, where every screamer is given a chance to scream.

We’re a small country, but we’re bigger than that.

As one cartoon this morning illustrates, ‘I thought grass was already banned here’.

Stephen