DailyKos is a partisan site. We all appreciate that.
But can we trust Kos when it comes to the question of Israel? Is it the military bias that shuts down debate here on Kos? Is it politics? Or is it just plain old pro-Israel bias by any other name?
Can we trust Kos to allow a debate about it? Can we trust Kos on questions of the Jewish faith and it's impact on our policy? Kos seems to be quite comfortable discussing Christianity's impact, and I'm glad about that. But why shut down the discussion of Zionism or the pro-Israel argument?
And finally, what does that mean about Kos' position on Feingold for example? If we can't trust Kos to allow debate, how can we trust Kos' agenda? It's worrying. With Kos at the helm, are we just lashing ourselves to Israel even more securely?
And while I'd love to vote for Feingold, Kos' refusal to discuss the pro/anti-Israel question makes me think twice about his agenda here. Cause I want the U.S. out of Israel's business, out of the weapons game and out of the Middle East. I don't care about what someone's religion is until it affects their policy. Is that what will happen with Feingold since Kos won't discuss this issue? Are we going to make the U.S. stake in the Middle East even worse by following Kos? All of this is possible. And I say so merely after witnessing the totally irrational behavior of the site administrators in hiding my reasonable comments. Instead of arguing, they hush it up. But why is that? And what will happen if it continues?
Kossacks and the Kos adminstration shut down my anti-Israel viewpoints. This is pretty hypocritical, and pretty transparent and weak to most people who visit this site.
During the short time I have been here, I've written a diary and a number of comments that were, while totally unoffensive, banned by the site administrators because of their bias against my anti-Israel argument.
One of these people were bright enough to point out that Jews voted 75% for Kerry in 04. Maybe Kos is afraid of pissing off the wrong people? And that makes sense. But in so doing, not only have the site administrators broken their own rules on ratings abuse, but they've stifled any debate on whether the U.S. should back Israel or not. The Kos adminstration should be ashamed. I'm ashamed of them. And some of the things they've written... wow. Pretty shocking and pretty eye opening wrt the pro-Israel bias that's cemented into the structure of this site.
My arguments are simple and 100% unoffensive. No one can argue with any legitimacy that I'm against Jews or Israelis. Such claims are strawmen put up by pro-Israelis in order to avoid having the debate.
Likewise, the pro-Israelis here at Kos will argue that I want to see Israel destroyed. Silly. Nowhere have I said any of those things, and in fact I've gone out of my way to say the opposite.
My position is simple. Feinstein, Lieberman, and Harman are demonstrated NeoCons. They have a record and they've created it themselves. I give Lieberman the same benefit of doubt I give Santorum when it comes to religion. I give them the same amount of rope to make solid logical secular policy. They've failed, and they've hung themselves with that rope. Same goes for Feinstein and Harman. Feingold, another pro-Israel figure with religious ties to the country however seems to be able to temper his approach in the Middle East; though one wonders if that will last, particularly after seeing Kos' extreme bias.
My feelings are identical when it comes to Christians, Jews, Muslims, etc. Anyone who lets their religious values trump America's national security, they need to be forced from government by a well informed vote; a vote where this topic is discussed.
Cause when it comes to religion, people as we see here on Kos, lose their minds, and act very irrationally. That's not good for our National Security either. Pro-Israel Kossacks trollrate people with strong valid arguments such as myself simply because no one can argue with them. So far, other than the above strawmen, no Kossack has had any valid argument with my posts. And I've had very few arguments even with many balanced pro-Israel views. Mainly it comes down to the mistaken view that being anti-Israel means I want Israel destroyed. This is a problem with the pro-Israel side's thinking and it's disingenuous, because in most of the world, being anti-Israel means nothing of the sort. And they know that. But they keep that strawman as a backup, should all of their other arguments fail. But pro-Israel bloggers have nevertheless resorted to trollish behavior and ratings abuse in order to get me banned, so that they don't have to have this argument.
It's sad that the Kos site administration is biased on this issue and is hiding comments where I explain my position. These comments are totally unoffensive. But they've been hidden I can only imagine so as to hide from the 75% who voted for Kerry, the fact that Democrats needs to pay attention to the problem of the pro-Israel view in our government.
Kos doesn't want to have that discussion in an election year, or seemingly at all.
The Kos administration, with Kos' backup we can only assume wants to slant the dialogue and ban those with reasonable anti-Israel positions, not because we are trolls, or offensive, but because we aren't politic.
This is Kos' site, and no one should ever forget it. Someday, if Kos decides he's against discussing impeachment or discussing not voting for Hillary should she get the nomination... you will be banned.
That's not Democracy. That's not anything that can create Democracy.
Kos needs to decide whether his site will be a fraud or whether it'll be a real site for dialogue. Kos needs to decide whether he's just another marketed product, or something meaningful.
So far, he's failed that test on the Israel issue; probably the single most important facet to the U.S. disengaging from the Middle East.
The idea that Kos can address the problems in the Middle East without addressing this topic is quite wrong. And most Americans are actually smart enough to see the gaping hypocrisy in this site's actions wrt anti-Israel bloggers.
Kos can declare that his site is pro-Israel and that no anti-Israel or discussion of the topic can take place.
But does that sound like a website with a valid viewpoint? More and more, I wonder.
So, rather than addressing the topic at hand, I'm sure the pro-Israel brigade will troll this diary. That's their job.
They'll call me a troll to disguise your own trolling. Standard pro-Israel/Dino/Republican M.O. So enjoy yourselves.
Nothing I've said is offensive and none of it deserves being trolled by Kossacks. But go ahead, however according to the rules of this website, all of those who do so should be banned.
So why won't they be? Why won't Kos do what he says? Why won't Kos have the integrity to allow an open debate without hiding my comments and allowing that 75% to see that yes, there are Progressives who are not pro-Israel. Lots of them.
Kos may think that he and his site can avoid the issue as America has always done and retain that 75%. But our problems in the Middle East won't change until we address the problem and discuss religion and culture's impact on this country's policy.
Republicans are guilty of imposing their Christian agenda. So are many pro-Israeli folk. And both need to be forced from our government for doing so. This is not a Theocracy.
Kos should be ashamed for covering this fact up. And Americans should hold him to account if/when they finally catch wind of Kos' pro-Israel bias and his abuse of the issue on his website.
I apologize to Kos if he was unaware of his site administrator's abuse. If he wasn't, he should become so, and he should fire the site administrator and hire someone who can act without an agenda. But certainly I don't apologize to Kos if he was in on all of this. And I certainly have no illusion that he'll even discuss this topic. And that's the problem of course.
Obviously I don't much care that the pro-Israeli bloggers on this site hate me and don't want me around. They'll say so of course I'm sure... they'll say I should quit and go away. But no, the agenda here needs to be exposed. So I'm sure Kos will ban me soon enough, and until then, I'll do what I can to force this discussion on Kos, no matter how much he and his people don't want to discuss it. That's why he made this public blog I can only assume, to allow an open debate if it's kept unoffensive. Now we'll see what Kossacks are really made of. Sadly, being Americans, I don't have any illusions that they'll be all that reasonable or rational.
Just as a side note, I won't be posting anything below. The site administrators will erase it anyway, if it's an argument they can't allow to be seen. So if anyone has a point worth arguing about, I'll respond in updates to this diary. It's sad what Kos has become that this is necessary. But such is the nature of fascism... it spreads like a virus.
UPDATE: The Kos Adminstration has deleted my tipjar or hidden it from me, so it begins... the irrational trollish behavior of DailyKos Administrators is further exemplified. I wonder why it is that this administrator is doing these things and whether he's got Kos' backing? I wonder what his agenda is? That would be interesting to understand.
UPDATE II: The way people respond to rational diaries like this one in such irrational ways (as seen below), with attacks and so on... well, obviously it only increases my concern that this problem is even more serious than I had imagined. Each time, the pro-Israel goes a bit more over the top.
Is this relfective of the U.S. National Security policy that Kossacks will put forward wrt Israel and the Middle East? God help us all if so.