I'm not so sure where to start this one, but I think there is a good place somewhere on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea that might serve as a useful catalyst for critical thought.
My internet access is somewhat limited in my current location (I'm on a computer with WinXP and...ugh..only 256MB ram, so no rampant surfing) hence this will be more me talking than my normal MO of quoting others to make my points.
That being said..read more for the analysis..
I think billmon has captured the zeitgeist (
heh) of the world most accurately.
I've felt many emotions about the Israelis before. I've admired them for their accomplishments -- building a flourishing state out of almost nothing. I've hated them for their systematic dispossession of the Palestinians -- even as they smugly congratulated themselves for being the Middle East's only "democracy." I've pitied them for the cruel fate history inflicted on the Jewish diaspora, respected them for their boldness and daring, honored them for their cultural and intellectual achievements. But the one thing I've never felt, at least up until now, is contempt.
But that is what I'm feeling now. The military and political leaders of the Jewish state are doing and saying things that go way beyond the blustering arrogance of a powerful nation at war. Not to put too fine a point on it, but they are behaving like a gang of miltaristic thugs -- whose reply to any criticism or reproach is an expletive deleted and the smash of an iron fist.
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full post]
Now there is something that needs to be addressed at this point, and I'll try and be as gentle as possible when doing so. The hyphenated and massively connotated phrase "anti-semitism" is wildly overused ("racism" would work nicely in most cases, as there is no special term for bigotry applied to blacks, hispanics, etc). Over the past 20-30 years, the meaning of the phrase "Anti-Semitism" has morphed from the notion that Jews are vermin and need to be exterminated (the Nazi version) to a label that is applied to anyone that dare criticize the actions of the State of Israel. This subtle, yet profound, shift has led many (in this country) to bite their tongue when they might otherwise wish to express dissenting opinions as to the morality of killing 538 (to date) civilians in retribution for the kidnapping of two soldiers.
One (o.k. may two or three) other quick note(s) on the current violent flare up in the ME. It wasn't started when the two soldiers were kidnapped by "The Party of God". We were set upon this course about six months ago when Democracy started to take a foothold in a formerly theocratic state.* You see, it was the democratic election of Hamas in the Palestinian Territories that has led to this developing disaster (and Lebanon removing Syrian troops that might have helped to supress Hezbollah).
Understanding the reason why they would elect such a group is easy to comprehend when you have a decent grasp of goup dynamics. It's the same reason the U.S. re-elected the Neocons in 2004: when a country feels it is being threatened with destruction by an outside element, they are going to elect the people they feel will be most qualified to fight for them. Those whom they feel will be the most effective and aggressive in defending their life, liberty and property. Sure, large groups of people often make mistakes and are prone to a herd mentality, but thems the breaks. We'll see slightly later in this post how democracy is also a wonderful solution to such mental lapses, but first let's look at why Mr. Gibson is apologizing.
TMZ reported it first, and the Los Angeles Times has confirmed its authenticity. A leaked police report on Mel Gibson's drunk driving arrest in Malibu on Friday quotes the "Passion of the Christ" director as spewing (in addition to threatening the arresting deputy and trying to escape) a grab bag of anti-semitic remarks, like: "The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world," and asked the officer, James Mee, "Are you a Jew?"
See, no mention of wanting to exterminate an ancient tribe, just a fairly frank and somewhat distorted analysis (alcoholics tend to have a distorted view of reality) of the current state of the Western world. Now, to be sure, he could have put it in a more..dimplomatic manner (
the U.N. is trying [and failing thanks to the U.S.] to do so as we speak), but it is somewhat of an accurate statement (as far as the Western World is concerned). If I was asked the two main reasons the U.S. is currently refereeing a civil war in Iraq (
like the general says) I would answer with two words (both brought to by the letters "I" and "L") : Oil and Israel. It is a testament to the vapidity of the American media system that these two main causes have not been the subject of debate. They are taboo, and that's why we are, for lack of a better word, fucked.
The good thing about this (and there always is one if you look hard enough) is that many, many people on this luscious rock of ours actually enjoy a good fucking from time to time, albeit under the moniker of "making sweet, sweet love." As I mentioned earlier, democracy is one of those amazing things that often is capable of sorting itself out, given enough time and a relative state of emotional peace. It is for this reason that we look to the example provided by another backwater of the civilized world, Kansas, for a bit of inspiration.
Supporters of evolution once again have a majority at the State Board of Education in Kansas as a result of primary election held on August 1st, 2006. Last November, the 6 to 4 conservative Republican majority had rewritten testing standards for public schools to include language recommended by supporters of intelligent design.
Five of the ten seats were on the ballot in Tuesday's primary elections, four of which had previously been held by Republican board members. The testing standards were switched to anti-evolution material in 1998 and again in 2005 as a result of a conservative majority at the Board.
The present classroom standards in Kansas state that evolutionary theory is challenged by fossil and molecular biology and that there is doubt over whether one species can lead to another over time. With the majority belonging to supporters of evolution at the Board once more the curriculum is likely to undergo change with a return to more traditional science standards.
And by "traditional" they mean "accurate as far as we know and can be proved to a high degree of certainty in a scientific environment by trained scientists."
There is also hope on the international stage, as Bush's favorite lapdog has enjoyed a moment of moral clarity and straight thinking.
Los Angeles, August 1, 2006 - British Prime Minister Tony Blair called for an "alliance of moderation" to counter the "arc of extremism" stretching across the Middle East, saying in a speech to be delivered Tuesday that a soft approach is as important as military action.
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"We will continue to do all we can to halt the hostilities," said Blair in remarks prepared for delivery in a speech later Tuesday to the World Affairs Council in Los Angeles. "But once that has happened, we must commit ourselves to a complete renaissance of our strategy to defeat those that threaten us.
"My argument is this: We will not win the battle against this global extremism unless we win it at the level of values as much as force, unless we show we are evenhanded, fair, and just in our applications of those values to the world."
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"It's still possible, even now, to come out of this crisis with a better long-term prospect for the cause of moderation in the Middle East succeeding," Blair said. "But it would be absurd not to face up to the immediate damage that has been done."
An "alliance of moderation" is needed to counter the "arc of extremism" now stretching across the Middle East, he said, emphasizing a softer approach which would accompany the military tactics already in place.
As a final thought, and perhaps to give you a bit of pause, I want to quote something from one of the books I'm currently reading, "Theodore Rex" by Edmund Morris. This book, BTW, is an excellent work of history and supplies a wonderful impression of the nature of the United States during the first part of the 20th century. Reading it I've been enlightened as to the parellels of the early 20th Century U.S. and early 21st Century China (and, unfortunately, the early 21st Century U.S. and early 20th Century Germany).
Anyway, here's the quote. This follows a larger discussion about the political and military maneuvering that kept the U.S. out of war with Germany over Venezuela.
And so, by polite agreement, the Venezuelan crisis faded from history. When Admiral Dewey thoughtlessly boasted that his deployment in the Caribbean had been "an object lesson to the Kaiser," Roosevelt summoned him to the White House for a reprimand. The sight of the old warrior in medals melted his anger, but he wrote seriously afterward, "Do let me entreat you to say nothing that can be taken hold of by those anxious to forment trouble between ourselves and any foreign power, or who delight in giving the impression that as a nation we are walking about with a chip on our shoulder. We are too big a people to be able to be careless in what we say."
That's my emphasis, now I only wish that the Neocons actually believed that history should be our guide to a better future, rather than a script to be endlessly recycled.
-fin-
Footnotes and Clarifications:
A: "heh" refers to a recent article in Wired by Stephen Colbert on how to "Be an Expert on Anything".
B: like the general says
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The top U.S. military commander in the Middle East told Congress on Thursday that "Iraq could move toward civil war" if the raging sectarian violence in Baghdad is not stopped.
"I believe that the sectarian violence is probably as bad as I have seen it," Gen. John Abizaid, the commander of U.S. Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. He said the top priority in the Iraq war is to secure the capital, where factional violence has surged in recent weeks despite efforts by the new Iraqi government to stop the fighting.
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C:
U.N. trying and failing to hold Israel (at least partly) responsible for the kinds of slaughter of civilians that leads to wider wars.When the U.N. Security Council tabled a resolution condemning Hezbollah's igniting of the war and Katyusha attacks, but also the excesses of Israel's reprisals, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton vetoed it. When a few congressmen sought to moderate a pro-Israeli resolution by adding words urging "all sides to protect innocent life and infrastructure," GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio ordered the words taken down.
Why? Because, says Zbigniew Brzezinski, AIPAC, the Israeli lobby, had prepared the resolution and wanted it passed the way they wrote it. Our Knesset complied. It sailed through the House, 410-8.
For two weeks, Bush seemed unable to find a word of criticism for what our friends in Israel were doing to our friends in Lebanon. He publicly sent more bombs to Israel. He and Condoleezza Rice emphasized that America did not want a cease-fire -- yet.
And because America provides Israel with the bombs it uses on Lebanon, and we refused to restrain the Israelis, and we opposed every effort for a cease-fire before Sunday, America shares full moral and political responsibility for the massacre at Qana.
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*: The way I saw it unfolding... Hamas was democratically elected, they continued their rhetoric and homemade rocket attacks on Israeli settlements. Right about the time they were going to fold into the PLO (which has already explicitly recognized Israel's right to exist), a Palestinian family was blown to pieces on a beach. Then the first Israeli soldier was kidnapped in response, then the tanks rolled back into Gaza in response, and THEN Hezbollah did their raid in response...then Israel carried out an already planned military excursion to destroy Lebanon's infrastructure and to try to terrorize the Lebanese people into submission. Sorry, but chasing away nearly 1,000,000 civilians from their homes by destroying entire neighborhoods can only be called "terrorism"...at least by sane people.
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[this article is mirrored on my main blog, aqui]