Beth Arnold

Is Elisabeth Hasselbeck Too Dumb to Be on The View?

This column first appeared on HuffingtonPost.com.  Comments not included here.

by Beth Arnold

Is Elisabeth Hasselbeck too dumb to be on The View? This is the question I've gotta ask myself -- and have many times -- and what do I come up with?

I have to admit that I'd been out of the country and don't watch reality television anyway, so I'd missed the Survivor show on which Ms. Hasselbeck was a contestant. Thank God. It would not have made me feel any better about her replacing dynamic Lisa Ling on this television show I used to love, to discover Ms. Hasselbeck became a celebrity because she ate worms. And as the American dream works these days -- for example, Paris Hilton -- she became a bigger celebrity because she was a celebrity. The blondes even look alike. Do they have similar views? Oddly enough, with Ms. Hilton's past antics, it would be odd to think of her as having a higher IQ than anyone, but Ms. Hasselbeck graduated from college and had a job before she reached the heights of stardom by grubbing for survival and voting people off her island.

An interview with Bernard-Henri Lévy

This interview was previously published by Spiegel Online and Salon.com.

French provocateur Bernard-Henri Lévy on how the left is being destroyed by tolerance -- and the Europeans' fascination with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

By Beth Arnold

PARIS -- Since he began his career 35 years ago, self-described leftist, philosopher and journalist Bernard-Henri Lévy has never been caught without a cause or opinion. He has flamboyantly articulated these in more than 30 books (including the much discussed "American Vertigo"), countless television appearances, articles and even films that he's written, produced, directed and/or narrated. Lévy is a kind of intellectual Robin Hood, going where there is totalitarianism and/or war. He has been a passionate advocate of Bosnia, smuggled himself into Darfur to report on the Sudanese genocide and followed the perilous trail of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl into Pakistan to write the New York Times bestseller "Who Killed Daniel Pearl?"

Heading to London? Check out the Actors Temple

VENT: A PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION

Beneath the surface is a world of  vigorous emotion

From the 11th - 16th November 2008, The Crypt Gallery, Bloomsbury, will host a compelling collection of photographic work culminating from an 18 month collaboration between Photographer Cameron McNee and Actor/Director Dominic Kelly. VENT fuses the rawness of reportage photography with the beauty and composure of portraiture.

Hate Baiting: Winky, Blingy, and Nod

This column first appeared on HuffingtonPost.com.  Comments not included here.

by Beth Arnold

Those who can make you believe absurdities
 can make you commit atrocities.
-- Voltaire, Author and Philosopher 1694-1778

Ever since Barack Obama became the Democratic candidate, John McCain has been desperate. He must have been shaking in his shoes while Obama rocked our political world with his tidal wave of 21st-Century leadership, which was not directed at tearing us down individually and collectively as has been the case in the sad and terrible Bush years. I can see why McCain might be darkly afraid of losing his last chance at the presidency, because Obama's call to leadership truly echoed our deepest fundamental values which had seemed irretrievably lost during McCain's party's governance. John McCain and his fellow Republicans proudly led us to the valley of the shadow of death and told us this is where we now lived so put on your armor, while Obama lifted us up and told us he could see the way back to an America that worked for us, individually and collectively, and that by coming together we could make it there.

Letting you know: Sorbonne Confidential, A Paris Book Launch

Dear Beth,

I would like to inform expats of an event which will take place on October 14th which might interest your readers who live in or near Paris.

Last year I wrote a book about taking the agrégation d’anglais exam to become an English teacher: Sorbonne Confidential. Published in French by Fayard in 2007, it is now coming out in English at WH Smith on October 14th. 

If you know of anyone who might be like to come, I’d be most grateful if you could pass on the info.

Many thanks and best regards,

Laurel Zuckerman