You're the one who just doesn't get it. There is nothing wrong with being critical of Israel or its government. In Israel and in the US, and in other free nations, freedom of speech, allows each and everyone of us to be critical. Diversity of individual opinions is what makes up the public opinion. That public opinion is a reflection of the freedom from which it comes and debate, healthy and honest, leads to expression of the common ideal.
The vast majority of Americans have supported a strong Israel, knowing that it is costing them tax dollars, and this support has been pervasive in both the people and the leaders, irrespective of critics, whatever their agenda. Whether that be because of the Holocaust or because Israel is fighting a lonely battle against Jihhadist terror, or whether Israel is a tiny strip of land in a huge neighborhood of misdirected wealth and tyranny, or whether it is a considered a front line in the battle to protect our freedom, or some combination of all that, the simple fact is what it is. No amount of lobbying or charade will change the truth. Israel has much in common with the US and the people recognize that. Seeking to destroy cowardly terrorist leaders as opposed to using suicide children, decrying terror directed at civilians, are all traits that bring us nearer to the values of Israel and which continues the support in today's dangerous world. There is much to be critical of in Israel and there is much to be critical in the US and its government. In both nations, one can be critical. The real enemies of freedom know that and seek to take advantage of this as a weakness. Yet, it is a strength. With this strength, also comes the strength of rejection that faces the bigot, the tyrant, the extremist who seeks to impose his views on others.
Again - your expression of criticism - is extreme, but encouraged as a voice that has been rejected over and over.
What you don't get is that your criticism comes from a religious fanatic's vein, a blood thirst to show that others who believe differently from you, are somehow "wrong," beneath contempt, responsible for the wrongs done to you personally and to You, as representative of your faith or group, groups and faith, which you as definer, define as that which is "right."
When you post that Jews control the media, banking, the world, or something similar, you are doing exactly what Hitler, the KKK, and others have done for decades, centuries and even millennia. You are taking your religious fervor, defining it yourself as being the only "way," and attempting to subject your target to scorn, ridicule and corporal punishment as a scapegoat for your problems. Without that scapegoat, you truly believe that your problems will pass, that you will achieve your earthly goals and your heavenly salvation. You are not the first nor the last who uses religion to justify hatred and bigotry.
You portray yourself as a victim when others expose these truths and hatreds. You only victimize yourself, not willing to learn from others and not embracing the love of others, even those who believe, look or act differently. You prevent yourself from learning and you prevent yourself from finding peace.
Thank (fill in the name of your respective deity) that there are so few of you here in the USA, those who would use religion cynically and ironically, as a vehicle of hatred.
As I watch the funeral of President Reagan and see former adversaries coming together in peace, leaders of differing countries, political leaders across the spectrum, I continue to hope that the freedom which brings them together will continue to find common good and the rejection of extreme messages.
I wish you no ill will. I wish you the freedom to express your views, knowing that you are also free to be the subejct of criticism. When you or others cross the line and demonize a group because of their beliefs, their race, their origin, then it is the duty of all good men and women to recognize that, to be critical, and to reject those views.
I have no fear in your weakness. I wish you the strength to change. As I wish the same on myself, to learn from others, to accept others for their differences, to recognize good and evil, and to accept that I may be wrong in my judgments, but better to be wrong, than to be unable to change and to recognize that error. |
