The Vice-ing of Heeb
The magazine we all love to hate, Heeb, is under new management and the new editor, Joshua Neuman, “wants to turn Heeb into a lifestyle brand, much like another urban magazine phenomenon, Vice, which turned crude skateboarding humor into a multinational alternative-media empire.”
“The idea is that the magazine becomes an identity for the brand, and other ventures let us be profitable. I’m trying to emulate Vice in that this is more than a magazine, but a lifestyle. As Vice is to cocaine, we are to chocolate layer cake.”
Ah yes, Vice, a magazine that tests the value of semen as a skincare product. A lifestyle brand, indeed. Ya think this is what Spielberg had in mind when he bankrolled Jenn Bleyer?
I hope they fail miserably.
It’d just be nice if they actually delivered more than one issue every five years. I subscribed early on and had to e-mail their customer service staff to receive each issue.
Can you explain in a more verbose way why you love to hate Heeb ? I subscribe to it too, I think it’s hilarious sometimes, and IMO it’s good for young Jews to find ways to relate to Jewish culture other than through nationalism
Israel not high on young U.S. Jews’ agenda
“….WASHINGTON – Young American Jews can no longer be expected to supply sweeping support for Israel nor to refrain from expressing criticism of it, according to a new study on their involvement in the Jewish community and their concern with Israel in particular.
The study, conducted by Frank Luntz, a leading Republican pollster who visited Israel recently, indicates that 80 percent of American Jews of university age have no connection to the life of the Jewish community or to Israel. In fact, their attitude toward Israel is closer to that of other Americans their age than to that of their parents…”
heeb is “jewsploitation” — it serves only to capitalize on a young jewish market.
in doing so, it increases young jews’ own ignorance of their culture and heritage. it’s bad enough that most american jews are so disaffected from their judaism that they think being jewish means eating bagels and moving to florida. heeb makes being jewish into one big joke and it encourages negative jewish stereotypes.
i admit, some of the stories are funny, but the reality is that it paints a negative picture of jews over all, by touting pornographers and other putzes like 50 shekel.
if heeb were a black magazine, it would look like this: a pice on the world’s best watermelons, an interview with pam grier, a photospread of collector’s afro picks, how to get the most out of your foodstamps, etc.
get the picture?
heeb is shite.
Of course Heeb serves to capitalize on a young Jewish market. The purpose of every commercial magazine is to capitalize on some market or another. You’re right, to many secular American Jews, being Jewish – on a day-to-day – does mean eating bagels and moving to Florida. And to many Americans, being Christian means giving christmas presents and wearing funny hats on Easter. Oh well, to each his own I guess. My grandmother lives in N. Miami beach and I found the spread on Rascals delicatessen or whatever its called really funny, as well as the cover of issue #2 with the two women by the pool. For me, personally, being American and Jewish has nothing to do with religion, it’s
more cultural.
Well, sure, some of it is humorous and pokes fun at goofy Jews like Al Goldstein or Neil Diamond but is that so bad ? I think it has less to do with their Jewishness than their inherent goofiness, but maybe that’s just me. I don’t think Al Goldstein reflects on all Jews, he’s just one nut. New Yorkers know about him but I’m sure people from other places don’t, and he is unique.
On the flip side it’s not all goofy, they have published good, serious stories on Allen Ginsburg, Naomi Klein, Todd Solondz, etc
If Heeb were a black magazine maybe it would have the articles you mentioned (though I never saw anything in Heeb as offensive IMO as the watermelon thing or the foodstamp thing) but then it would also have profiles on Cornell West, Spike Lee, Maya Angelou mixed in with the exploitation type of stuff.
The purpose of every commercial magazine is to capitalize on some market or another.
heeb’s non-profit. it was funded by the joshua venture and bikkurim as a way to connect to disaffected american jewish youth.
If Heeb were a black magazine maybe it would have the articles you mentioned (though I never saw anything in Heeb as offensive IMO as the watermelon thing or the foodstamp thing) but then it would also have profiles on Cornell West, Spike Lee, Maya Angelou mixed in with the exploitation type of stuff.
perhaps that’s the case–but why package the diamond in the coal?
I guess what I’m trying to say – poorly – is that I think the magazine is surely not perfect – the magazine format is inherently flawed – but – giving alienated young people something they can relate to, that’s funny and irreverant and makes them feel like they’re part of something is a good thing. Once people are reading the magazine they can slip in more interesting stories that can help people actually expand their horizons.
Case in point:
Heeb actually introduced me to this amazing book It’s All Lies: Leaflets, Underground Press and Posters – The Fusion of Resistance and Creativity in Israel which I never would have heard of otherwise, and that made me feel happy to find more kindred spirits in Israel.
further thoughts…
but why package the diamond in the coal?
Well, I don’t know if that’s necessarily an apt analogy to use.
Is it bad for Jews to find humor in American Jewish culture, or Jewfros or to laugh at Neil Diamond? He’s funny. He’s such a 70’s goon. To me, that seems harmless enough. My European Jewish friends poke fun at American Jewish culture all the time.
Often, American Jewish culture isn’t any more profound than American culture as a whole – which is kind of watered down and homogenized. I’ve heard that Irish from Ireland snicker at what they think is the inauthenticity of how Irish-Americans celebrate their Irishness. I guess American culture, the melting pot, and assimilation tends to thin down culture until there are only remnants left after a few generations.
Upon finishing my first issue of HEEB about three months ago I prayed to the Lord above to please return to me the 30 precious minutes I wasted reading that trash.