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Politics : War -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elmer Flugum who wrote (9612)	12/5/2001 4:06:19 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Respond to of 23908

len, The first thing I notice about most of the responses is that not only are they not right, they are not even wrong. They have nothing to do with what Mr. Schwartz was saying. They are mere irrelevancies and red herrings. By laying claim to Semitism as a Jewish Only affair, he de-legitimitizes the majority of Semites that are not Jewish "anti-Semitism" is the common English word for hatred of Jews, and Mr. Schwartz is using it in its generally understood meaning. From Websters: anti-Semitism n. 1. prejudice against Jews; dislike or fear of Jews and Jewish things 2. discrimination against or persecution of Jews. Railing against the etymology of the word, or claiming that using the word somehow delegitimizes non-Jewish Semites is patently absurd and has nothing whatsoever to do with Mr. Schwartz' arguments. In this spiritual age, you can yet be a Jew and not be observant, de-legitimitizing those that are. Mr. Schwartz never said this was a spritual age; on the contrary, he says just the opposite -- this is a non-spiritual age and thus non-spiritual forms of anti-Semitism are preferred. (You give such interesting clues to yourself with these misreadings. Have the haredim been picking on you?) What Mr. Schwartz fails to mention is that a good portion of those on the "left" were Jews themselves, but why quibble? The subject under discussion is anti-Semitism, not the actual distribution of Jews in the political spectrum. As we have seen in the last century, vicious anti-Semitism has sprung up in countries that have many Jews, such as Poland, and countries that had very few, such as Egypt. That there were or are Jews on the left says nothing about the nature of leftist anti-Semitism. I agree with Mr. Schwartz here, there is plenty of opportunities to find Racism, Xenophobia and related intolerance, but lets not try to divert our attention from Israel's form of xenophobia and colonialism. Here at least your answers are relevant to Mr. Schwartz' arguments -- you support them by giving a good example of the style he is talking about. There are plenty of opportunities to talk about racism, but it's "diverting our attention" to ever talk about anything but Israel's "xenophobia and colonialism"? Only Jewish sins may be discussed; the rest of the world must be held blameless no matter what they do or say. Those pictures of Jews with dripping fangs and swastikas were in your estimation constructive criticism of Israeli governmental policies? Blood-libel? Talk about old canards, he would not want this term to slip away from his arsenal, would he? Without the concept of blood-libel, what would he use to argue? I'm sure he'd love to let it slip away. Since it has been published openly in both the Egyptian and Syrian newspapers and press during the last year, it remains on Mr. Schwartz' consciousness, as it does on mine. Israel and it's financier, the United States, in effect de-legitimitized the concerns of the Arabs. De-legitimitization only goes one way? The Arabs' "concern" is to wipe Israel off the map. Israel's "concern" is to survive. Again, a great example of the anti-Semitic style he's talking about -- co-opt the terms of PC correctness and use them only against Israel and the Jews. Mr. Schwatrz seems to say here that it is not permissible to criticise Israel because it is ONLY about anti-semitism and has no basis in the political world. Saying that anti-Semitism masqarades as anti-Zionism neither says nor implies that all criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic. Another red herring. The most important part is to keep anti-semitism alive, so it must be re-defined and used accordingly. Say WHAT? Keep it alive? have you read anything in the Arab press for the last five years? Anti-Semitism is alive, well, and healthier than ever in all its crudest Nazi forms. For subtler echoes of the same arguments, you may read the Guardian or Le Monde. For not-so-subtle echoes, try the Spanish papers. By refusing to acknowledge that even the most virulent, open anti-Semitism is anything but legitimate criticism of Israel's "racism and xenophobia", you make yourself a great showcase for exactly the modern style of anti-Semitism that Mr. Schwartz is talking about.