Crossing a line

Today is International Women's Day. This is exactly the right time to give Haaretz columnist Benny Ziffer what he wants and condemn his latest provocative piece, which borders on incitement to criminal acts, and which was published in the paper that supposedly caters to the thinking public.

Ziffer wrote that we lowly women, and our sons and daughters, are supposed to "sacrifice" ourselves to the higher species: artists and creators, most of whom are men. We should be the ones to pay the price for their lofty art. The moral laws that apply to us do not apply to them; we humble people are supposed to fulfill their wishes, their perversions, and give them a free pass to live a wild, unrestrained, bohemian life. The main thing is not to be boring.

Ziffer's column disgraces the man and the paper that agreed to run it for a handful of ratings points. There is no justification for sacrificing minors, girls and boys, and women in general -- human beings -- for the benefit or satiation of another person. And precisely now, when we hear about sex and exploitation scandals from all sectors of the population on a daily basis, from online pedophiles to senior police commanders to reports about the father of singer Eyal Golan and the performer himself, who has not been indicted but whose interview on the subject discomforted many -- this is whom Ziffer is protecting, amazingly.

Ziffer and his newspaper have crossed all the lines for a little attention. Giving a piece like that a platform is not democracy at its best, as Haaretz newspaper pretends it is presenting, and as it made a pretense of presenting at the crazy spectacle known as the "Cultural Conference" that featured anything but culture. It legitimizes sexual violence toward women and men, teenagers of both genders, boys and girls. We should all get back to blessed routine and to good taste. Because sometimes boring isn't a bad word.

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