actually, what do you suggest to do with Mosques?
But, in the UK Members of Parliament can openly vent their anti-semitism. The Guardian reports,
In the US, an anti-semitic screed like this would be totally unacceptible for a member of Congress. In the UK, his comment has given rise to criticism, but it’s not a career-ender, as it would be over here.
Sorry for the blown limerick. Here’s a better version.
Some posters don’t want to allow
Attacks on their pet sacred cow.
…Thinking outside the box
…Causes shivers and shocks,
Since they think they are holier than thou.
The Hijack: Reloaded At this point our plans are completely fluid. We’ve got a TON of catching up to do with our friends.(they’ve had a REALLY rough year. She was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, his fledgling law practice has had some struggles(mostly due to the extremely small town they live in just not having enough business to offer), he’s just joined a firm in Abilene(about a 30~40 minute commute), and there is uncertainty at the college she teaches at and they rely on her job for their medical insurance coverage(kind of important when you’ve just been diagnosed with MS). They live very close to her family, but his live in the Metroplex as do most of their friends so they get a bit lonesome as well) We could easily spend all our free time this weekend catching up. Still I promised them next time they came to town that dinner and a movie was on me(as well as room and board if they needed it), so they may try to take me up on it 
They certainly deserve a break and on top of it all their anniversary is the 12th, so some celebration is certainly in order. We’ve just got two more kiddos to find a sitter for. End The Hijack: Reloaded
Watch for our sequel The Hijack: Revolutions, coming soon to a thread near you!
Enjoy,
Steven
You know, I have to go with Mojo on this one. december can be annoying at times, but I’ve seen plenty of examples of his humanity and fairness. He doesn’t often express his personal sentiments, but when he has it’s led me to conclude that he’s really a pretty decent guy.
I’ll only give you one example, but there are others. In this recent thread, december surprised more than a few of us by saying this:
I think a lot of us are guilty of assuming that since december is one of the most prolific proponents of the hyperconservative agenda he also carries with him those unfortunate qualities of racism and homophobia that some other hyperconservatives display (including, IMHO, the ones running the agenda, but that’s another subject). These message boards are blessedly lacking in such characters except for those who drop by for an abbreviated stay. It’s important for all of us to acknowledge that.
Frankly, I like having december around. He supplies an invaluable service by setting up the bowling pins so that we can knock 'em down. And as elucidator pointed out, he’s inspired many of us to do our best work.
You’re not stupid. In fact, there is nothing inherently stupid in asserting that somebody is doing or saying something for partisan political reasons. You would, however, be incorrect to claim such in this instance, as I believe I convincingly demonstrated in the post with with the comparative numbers of Pit threads for december, yourself, and two other long-time conservative posters in this thread.
Bullshit. You launched a wholly uncalled-for assault on me and my motives, asserted pleasure in the possibility of metal deficiency on my part, and asserted–not asked–that I thought you were so stupid that I was “comfortable” saying horrible things about you.
And now that I think about that all over again, that reminds me: Fuck you, Scylla.
Yep. And it still reads to me like that. Of course, that’s hardly the only vicious thing you said about me in that unprovoked assault.
So I’m willfully misreading your posts, you take pleasure in the thought that I might be ignorant beyond belief, and you falsely assert that I must think you’re a real fucking idiot, but you hold me in respect?
I don’t have to be Aretha Franklin to hear how hollow that claim is.
Fuckin’-A, bubba. The absolute most I did before YOU started spewing bile and venom at me was to misunderstand the supposed subtlety of your argument. You ain’t getting jack shit from me as an apology for that.
Don’t let it rankle. Lib’s drive-bys are intended to spur introspection. In this case he seemed to be comparing your distaste for december to a bigots distaste for the object of their irrational hatred. In some sort of alternate universe this would help compel you to re-analyze your feelings and be sure your distaste for december isn’t as irrational as his distaste for his opponents. This serves to keep you pure of heart and mind so Lib thinks he’s doing you a favor by trying to cool your fervor. The reality is Lib’s drive-bys far more often come off as snarky, thinly-veiled insults.
I don’t think he intended anything rude by it, but if he did it won’t do any good to call him on it. He’ll get his feelings hurt and sulk while he nurses his martyr complex. FWIW
Enjoy,
Steven
huh?
And since I don’t want anyone to mistake my ire here as being directed in any way at december, my personal opinion on of him closely coincides with what Sofa King just said. While the people who get annoyed with him–and that sometimes includes me–certainly have legitimate reasons for that annoyance, I think he’s a generally okay guy.
Ace-O-Minty-Greenicus:
Very well. Since you seem to insist on being a histrionic offensible whining little pustule, that is how I shall treat you.
Furthermore, while I did not think you were demonstrating bad faith earlier, I think you are now.
You are so blinded by your egotistical hatred, that you have repeatedly ignored my attempts at conciliation, because to do so would force you to recognize the depths of immaturity you have displayed.
You are purposefully creating offense where none was given nor intended to justify your behavior after the fact.
Your accusations are bald knowing lies, and I suspect they are fooling nobody except possibly yourself.
That’s what an accusation of bad faith looks like when I make it.
It means that I now hold you in the contempt you seem to so actively have sought and that your actions so richly deserve.
That seems to be what you want. You’ve been baiting me for two pages. I hope your happy with it.
I’d just like to point out that the last quote was from me and that I wasn’t accusing december of doing anything except sounding like some other posters who believed they were being attacked due to their tendency to force us to face the “truth” against our wills.
Thank you.
I assure you, your opinion of me affects my happiness in exactly no way whatsoever.
For crying out loud, minty, let it go already, or start another thread! Sheesh! I don’t have a beef with either you or Scylla, but you guys are getting on my last nerve!
december-congratulations. You’re a bigoted fuckhead.
**december, ** maybe you can consider applying your poetry, such as it is, to your own daily existence?
FTR, if you want to argue that there is a problem with anti-Semitism in France, go ahead, knock yourself out. The way you went about it in the thread mentioned above was just chock-full of logical fallacies, however. That’s why I meant your OP was bullshit. You might start with finding some sort of semi-objective factual information that supports your point.
(Myself, I’ve always had a perfectly lovely time in France; in fact, the only strangers in France who have approached me on the street to be friendly were various North Africans and Iranians. And the scariest moment I had in France was the time I came a hair’s breadth from spending the weekend locked in the basement of the Centre de Documentation Juive in Paris - the Holocaust archive/museum - because the Jews who ran the place didn’t bother to see if anyone was down there before locking the place up for Shabbat. Never a dull moment in the Marais. But that’s another story. I do realize, however, that my experience is not statistically representative of French society as a whole.)
I’m perfectly willing to believe that there are problems with anti-Semitism in France, just as all countries with a significant Jewish population (and quite a few without one) have experienced anti-Semitic incidents, some even rising to the level of hate crimes, from time to time. It sucks, but there you have it. The example you picked for your OP, however, was a crappy one to prove your point in any case, as apparently the victims weren’t exactly blameless, and the only evidence you provided to support your point was an opinion column with some highly filtered snippets of interviews and a court judgement. That’s what I had a problem with.
And to add insult to injury, you went a step further than either the highly slanted newpaper articles, or your blogger-of-the-week’s highly slanted analysis of the “facts,” such as they were. You reached a conclusion that the French government is pervaded by institutional anti-Semitism, based on the flimsiest shards of information. Can you conceive of the idea that not all incidents in which Jews come out on the bottom are examples of pervasive societal anti-Semitism, or even individual anti-Semitism?
Geez, your superior opinion of Jews is enough to make a nice Jewish girl want to convert to Islam.
Thanks! I genuinely hadn’t a clue what he meant. It sounded like a jokey “ner ner” playground comment, so I thought he was spoofing the other sniping going on in the thread, but left the smiley off it. I’ll just forget about it.
Man, this is like a pay-per-view WWF wrasslin’ match with EVERYBODY jumpin’ in the ring!
Woo-hoo!!! Where’s mah cheese hat?
It’s noteworthy that you criticize my comments, which are based on cites, from your lofty moral position, although your opinions have no cites. That attitude is why the phrase “holier than thou” is in the limerick.
If you think anti-semitism in France is no different from anywhere else, please provide some evidence. Here’s some cites demonstrating what’s currently going on there.
**The marked rise in antisemitic violence since the last quarter of 2000 continued into 2001 and 2002. An unprecedented peak of more than 400 antisemitic attacks was recorded in the period fall 2000 to spring 2002. The reaction of the authorities was relatively muted, despite calls from the main Jewish organizations to enact strong law enforcement measures against the perpetrators, mainly Muslims of North African origin.
Note that the above article supports various points in the OP that you objected to. Here are some other cites confirming a wave of French anti-Semitism.
But that isn’t what she said. She said it was comparable to anti-semitism in other countries with significant Jewish populations. That’s not the same as saying it’s “no different from anywhere else”.
Let me see if I have this right. If someone says the government of the USA is too favorable to Israel then that is racism but if you say the EU is too favorable to the Palestinians then that is not racism but just a statement of fact. Interesting.
I’m going to have a hard time providing cites until Monday, as my search bar disappeared (see above), so I have no way to copy & paste links, and I have the day off today so I’m at home.
If the world is so full of cites on French anti-Semitism, however, why didn’t you provide them back when they were relevant to your O.P.? You were the one alleging anti-Semitism; I merely stated that I thought the story, as recounted in the cites you did provide, didn’t necessarily indicate anti-Semitism even on the part of the attackers, much less on the part of the French government. I never said that France had no problems with anti-Semitism, so I don’t see what I have to prove.
You seem to think we are terrified at the thought of losing you.
For some reason, the only time you seem to bring up your being Jewish is when are trying to bolster something negative you are saying about Jews or Judaism, (or something positive about Muslims or Islam). Like here.
The term “self-hating Jew” is possibly overused, but it just might be applicable in your case. Convert, and then at least be quiet about it already.
Two points:
-
The statement is NOT considered anti-Semitic because it asserted that the US is too favorable to Israel. Rather it is because it asserted that the US government is controlled by Jews. So you missed the boat already.
-
Whether that is anti-Semitic is a judgment call. If you believe it is true it is merely a factual statement. If you believe it is wrong but is a conclusion that a reasonable unbiased person might make, it in not necessarily anti-semitic. If you think it is so off-base that only a person with a bias might think so, than it is likely anti-semitic.
Personally, I incline to the latter view. Fact is that - as the article pointed out - there are no Jews in the upper levels of power in the US. The people being described as the source of Jewish influence are not occupying positions that have historically been given as much importance as is currently being attributed to them. I can’t prove this, but it seems to me that the reason people like Perle and Wolfowitz are being portrayed in many quarters as the real powers in the administration, presumably pulling the strings on Bush, Cheney, Powell, Rumsfeld et al, is the fact that they are Jewish. Secret cabal of Jewish elders, you know.
The same goes for claims that “the Jews” control the media in the US, made by many, including our very own London_Calling. Judgement call - same conclusion, IMHO.