Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
This one sentence lies at the root of what America is, of what makes America great, of the core values our ideals are built on. These are ideals we all should grasp dear to our hearts, to fight for and provide space for. Otherwise, all you end up with Rush Limbaugh's and Bill O'Reilly's.
And you get the current state of American political debate when it comes to Israel. Because even here, where 80%+ of those responding to diary polls think Israel has too much influence on American politics, there is a vociferous minority that trots themselves out to crap on and hijack any diary that attempts to bring up anything that they deem to by unflattering to Israel. That they deem to be "anti-semetic".
And one of them even has a list of diaries and comments deemed "anti-semetic".
One responded to me in comments the other day: "You must be confusing me with someone who talks to anti-Semites. Nice show you put on in hiddens yesterday."
Huh? My response over the fold...
Respectfully, I disagree, but that is your choice, miss. Please realize unless you constructively engage me in debate, you have zero chance of having me agree with you. And throwing donuts at constructive comments makes me even more unlikely to respect your views.
When it gets to the point that you can't even use the term "Zionist" without being accused of being an "anti-semite", it's becoming ridiculous. For the term Zionism was created by Birnbaum and popularized by Herzl to describe the creation of a Jewish state, a Jewish homeland, preferably in Palestine.
But let's forget the subject of Israel, Zionism, and anti-semitism for now. Instead let's look at some specific examples of flagrant attempts to prevent real discussion of such subjects here on DailyKos. To do so I will use my two recent diaries on Chas Freeman's appointment and subsequent withdrawal to head the National Intelligence Committee: Israeli Lobby Re-asserts Control Of Obama Admin and Quick--Who Preceded Chas Freeman At MEPC?.
BTW, Do you know who preceded Chas Freeman at the MEPC? George McGovern.
When I published that first diary, less than an hour or two after the Freeman withdrawal was made public, it was jumped on in minutes. My tip jar, entitled "Why can't we have a real debate on this issue?", was quickly troll rated into temporary oblivion. The infamous "FAIL BOAT" soon made an appearance. And less than a dozen or so commenters once again tried to hijack an I/P diary that was substantive, that discussed the Chas Freeman appointment and its pushback, and compared his role at the MEPC to Dennis Ross's role at JPPPI.
And they did it with comments like these, always uprating each other and troll rating anyone that disagreed with them:
How about "bewert breaks wind"? < 7+ / 2- )
I'd love to help you out, but you're still here. (6+ / 2-)
And Lefty Coaster as always a TRing schmuck (1+ / 3-)
Another faux leftist on DKos with the censoring heart of a wingnut -- and the IQ as well.
You are no one to lecture ANYONE on shame (0+ / 0-)
You are a disgusting thug who uses the rating system here to supress opinions you don't approve of -- you despise dissent as passionately as the worst wingnut. [Quite ironic coming from someone who troll-rated my tip jar.]
Um, no, it's always been an epithet. (4+ / 0-)
And I'm sure you know that.
At least when non-Zionists have used it. (4+ / 0-)
99% of the time to mean "Jew"
Dear Diarist... (23+ / 0-)
Yea! The failboat! (5+ / 0-)
I was wondering how long that might take.
Three minutes...less than the time it takes to (6+ / 0-)
actually read the diary.
And then, amazingly:
Spreadsheeted. (16+ / 0-)
Since I have to document this so I can link to it
It turns out that one of this like-minded crew had actually created a spreadsheet of diaries and comments he deemed "anti-semetic".
Which at first I found stunning, then later thought rather pathetic. Especially after this user made his formerly openly published Google spreadsheet private, available only to those deemed worthy. Some of whom had made their approval known:
Absolutely bullshit. (2+ / 0-)
Luntz has spelled out exactly what the spreadsheet is for.
Some people just don't want to be accountable for what they say.
So for the heck of it I hit the button requesting access to this "list". The response was sadly funny:
Will you shut up about it if I let you view it?
Folks, we are hitting bottom here if this kind of commentary consistently hijacks debates about such an important subject. A subject that is arguably the most important foreign policy issue the US faces. One that most of the world disagrees with us on, in which the US is regularly on the losing end of 150-6 votes in the UN. One that costs the American taxpayers over $10 billion per year, not counting the costs of a war pushed by the same groups that killed the Freeman appointment. One of whom even sent around a congratulatory email.
I sincerely believe that we need this debate. Some of it even started happening in the comments in that first diary, after the initial onslaught of hijackers. I would prefer to see more of the facts presented be linked to backup, but seeing some give and take without ad hominen attacks is a good start.
I will listen respectfully to you if your arguments are presented respectfully and preferably have links to back them up. You have the choice of doing the same, or returning to middle school days and being one of the "cool kids".
Personally, I would rather engage the debate. It's a debate that desperately needs to openly take place in America.
UPDATE: Discourse has been incredibly civil for an I/P diary, so far. Thank you all.