Recently I've posted several comments about Israel here on dKos, almost all of these are in response to what IMHO is an increasingly hostile anti-israel sentiment on this blog.
But lately I've been feeling increasingly scared with this heightened hostility here on dKos. Anti-Israel posts have gone way beyond criticism of Israel but have resorted to vitriolic hateful rhetoric aimed at enraging people's emotions to get the better of their rational thoughts. If a supposedly smart blog can become rife with one-sided hatred, what could happen to the general populace?
Today in Seattle a women was killed and 6 others shot at a Jewish center (Haaretz Story, BBC Story). The gunman allegedly yelled about his gripes with Israel before firing off shots. I fear this story is only the beginning of a larger wave of deadly anti-Israeli sentiment.
And finding seeds of that hatred here on dKos not only saddens me but scares the hell out of me.
Let me begin by saying that I've never supported any Israeli occupation of Gaza or West Bank, I think Israel's reactions to the kidnapings and attacks in Gaza and Lebanon have been too harsh.
But here on this blog i've seen so many posts go beyond criticism of Israel, but instead are highly inflamatory, seething with hatred. It's been very common here to post graphic images of casualties which would only serve to make people's emotions flare up and overpower their rational thoughts. Comments that say absolutely nothing worthwhile except things like "Israel is a twisted evil nazi terrorist state" get recommended by several bloggers here.
So lately when I see some anti-Israeli comments that IMHO are misleading, erroneous, or not within context I'll respond. I've written several posts pointing out the complicated history of the region, that Israel isn't the only bad guy in the picture, that Israel also has quite a few legitimate gripes of its own, etc. Such comments have led others to assume I support Israel's methods wholeheartedly. I've been called an "Israelopologist", and "Israel Sympathizer", on other blogs I've been called a "Zionist Likudnik" which is ridiculous because I can't stand Likud just as much as I can't stand the GOP. But that doesn't matter, Israel has become the trendy liberal bogeyman. (It was like this in 2001-2002 as well, but it feels worse now).
Some of the anti-Israeli comments here are so one-sided that if you substitute 'Israel' for 'Iraq' the poster sounds almost exactly like Bush or Bill O'Reilly. Not a good sign for rational thought. But what bothers me aren't a few posters, but that these hateful one-sided posts are quite often recommended by many others.
I've responded in the past few days that it's scared me seeing such blind hatred against Israel here, because I know what such hatred can do. Some bloggers here are dehumanizing Israel as evil 'terrorist' monsters, just like the neocons love to do in Iraq and Palestine. And such dehumanization is nothing new, my ancestors have been attacked and killed during Pograms and the Holocaust, which at the time in those countries was socially acceptable due to dehumanization.
After 9/11, the liberal community (including myself) was vocal about spreading the word that Muslims aren't to blame, and that the actions of a few extremists don't speak for the majority. The same is true about Israel now, except somehow it's more acceptable here in the blogosphere to accuse anyone who even hints at writing something sympathetic with Israel as being an evil terrorist murderer, etc.
I've commented lately that my opinion of the liberal community has deteriorated significantly. I'm definitely not moving to the right, don't worry. But I'm more convinced that we have just as many close-minded wingnuts on the left that we do on the right. (And I'm not accusing anyone of anti-semitism here, I'm pointing out instead the hatred inherent in many anti-Israel comments and diaries).
I've commented before how every vitriolic hate-filled one-sided tirade against Israel only makes such sentiments more socially acceptable. And bloggers like this are doing their small part to help nurture the hatred that leads to such attacks like tonight in Seattle.
UPDATE - A few commenters below have accused me of saying that DailyKos and other blogs are responsible for the shooting. I don't believe this, and that is a horrible misrepresentation of my message. My point is that hatred and ignorance lead to shootings such as this, and that I've seen the increasing presence of hatred here on DailyKos.