In Defence of Beauty and Intelligence

Nice combination, that; beauty and intelligence. Add talent and an indomitable spirit. Oh, a little minus in there for really dogged conservatism. She made a name for herself in journalism and she did it on the basis of her own intelligence and ability. Her second marriage to George Jonas had her co-writing a chilling account of a truly nasty event that caused a scandal in Alberta, the scion of an old political family brutally murdered his wife.

This woman had what it took to make her way in the rough world of journalism, to make a resounding success of it, as a journalist, editor, woman-about-town, critic, and defender of the State of Israel. All from a decidedly conservative point of view, but her critical insights into world affairs as well as internal Canadian events made her someone to be reckoned with. Like her current husband, she was accused of arrogance and of bitchiness, which she happily relates to.

But she also grew up with full knowledge of the tenuous place of women in the world of men, and all the more so as a Jewish woman. As one whose keen interest in world affairs had her commenting in her own inimitable way revealing her point of view, her words made for interesting and informative reading. As a Jewish woman whose formative years and thoughts were never far from the horrors of the Holocaust, she was always defiantly Jewish.

That does tend to stick with one, to help shape one's apprehension of the world and one's place in it. Through that early trauma it's easy enough to understand the genesis of a personal history-weary world view. A cynicism born of experience as a Jew, married to a Czech whose family escaped the Holocaust, but not the shock of the displacement, the realization of just how vulnerable is world Jewry.

She flaunted her femininity, her journalistic skills, her contacts with influential people. And she was considered a femme fatale for good reason. She caught the eye of Conrad Black, sharing with him a passion for journalism, a right-wing apprehension of the world, and a shared love of social climbing. She became his diamond stick-pin, and helped him to appreciate just how much fun living ostentatiously could be. He, heavy-jowled, portly, with hooded eyes and a grimly forced smile. She, the sylphlike beauty.

Is this digression? Yes, most certainly, but it is also helpful background, for as Lady Black herself has described herself: "I am a north London Jew who has read a bit of history. This means I know this: In a century that has seen the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian, British and Soviet empires, reversal of fortune is the rich bitch's reality. One might as well keep working and have the family's Vuitton suitcases packed."

Reminds me of that pithy, half-humorous, sweetly-bitter explanation for the presence of so many violin virtuosi among Jews. Certainly there were also ample brilliantly-capable Jewish pianists, but it was oh so much easier and more practical to escape politically-instigated spur-of-the-moment pogroms with a valued violin strapped to one's back, rather than a piano.

So Barbara Amiel was an aspiring socialite, an avid shopper, one who revelled in an elite lifestyle, surrounding herself with sumptuous appointments, elegant households and a coterie of servants in each, thanks to the largess of her wealthy husband. Like her husband she was capable of seeming haughty, overbearing, self-consciously entitled. And so what? It's her life, to live as she will. She is entitled to that.

Like him, she was a talented writer, actually a working girl, as a newspaper reporter, and a columnist with a decidedly right-wing bent. She had flair and presence; one attribute she could share with him - she would become his flair. There are many who declare her to have been his downfall, that prior to their marriage his lifestyle was monied elegance, not monied flamboyance.

Nonsense, pure and simple. Conrad Black aspired to titled positions all on his very own; she merely provided wifely encouragement. He was accustomed to being chauffeur-driven as a child, and if that's not a vital element of social extravagance, what is? She was not, in my opinion, as is claimed, a corrupting influence on the man; he was born corrupted in the sense that he felt he could do no wrong, although others, emulating his very actions, could, would and did.

His was the privileged background. It was he who was accustomed to flaunting his wealth and it was his dedication to increase it exponentially by any means possible or improbable that led to their current downfall. To his credit he recognized in her a likely partner for himself, rather than looking as so many emotionally-socially-immature men do, for a too-young inanely-lissome young beauty. They were a nicely matched pair.

She was a mature, experienced, still-lovely woman whose political outlook matched his own, a woman who had lived an enthusiastic half-century when they married. They took pleasure in sharing an extravagant leisure; she scintillated for his pleasure in a broad but very selective social-political atmosphere in the company of international elite; diplomats, heads of state, corporate heads; society's aristocracy.

She can stand proudly on her own, although she demonstrates at this low turn loyalty to a man of great ambition and greater aspirations to the acquisition of increasing wealth who doted on her and never hesitated to lavish costly gems, occasions and households on her. Of women like Barbara Amiel who prove themselves accomplished professionals, proudly feminine beauties the equal of any man, I say good on her.

Excess is an unfortunate tendency of unbridled human greed. It all too often leads to our downfall. The woman has been through turmoil in her life; upsets bookending the grand lifestyle she led in the mushy middle. She has withdrawn subtly from the front-and-centre stage she always revelled in. This is an interregnum. Life will resume. Her health, it would appear, is compromised; the stress of the trial and the ignominy associated with it won't have improved her frail condition.

One doubts she has gone 'barmy'. Just fed up, as sophisticated and self-centred people often are, with an unfortunate unmasking leading to the disruption of a comfortable life. She will survive. She deserves to.