Israel a "terribly retarded culture"

At least according to Dr. Aminadav Dykman, head of translation studies at Hebrew University.

And he's got the cure; what Israel really needs most is a Hebrew translation of the complete works of Shakespeare!

Oh my God! Stop that man before it's too late!

I don't know why, but the magic of Shakespeare has forever eluded me. Perhaps I am missing the Shakespeare-appreciation gene.

To my ear Shakespeare is dull, long-winded, confusing, and highly over-rated. As far as I'm concerned any culture that has escaped the Shakespeare infatuation is doing well.

Just recently a local group was organizing a bus trip to Stratford to view a presentation of The Twelfth Night, or possibly the Twelfth Knight. For the modest sum of sixty dollars, 120 if I were to take the farm manager along, I could rub shoulders with the local intellectual elite on a four hour bus ride, rub shoulders some more through a four hour play, and then rub shoulders some more on the four hour bus ride back.

For me this is a lifetime of shoulder-rubbing with a bunch of people who utterly love Shakespeare. I was lying when I said I'd think about it. Just trying to be polite.

I would pay thousands to escape such torment!

Normally I am in favor of diverting military spending into cultural pursuits. With Shakespeare I must draw the line.