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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: average joe who wrote (92962)	1/8/2005 8:13:01 PM
From: Lazarus_Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

I know what Hadassah is. I know some members too. Your point is? P.S. My world is restricted. I know no Nazis or KKKers. And don't want to.

To: average joe who wrote (92962)	1/11/2005 7:07:25 AM
From: Emile Vidrine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

Understanding the World Zionist Thought Police. The Zionist strategy of "rejecting dialogue" and intimidation is central to the Zionist strategy of creating a massive cloak of censorship over us all. But by the same token, if the tenets of Zionism must be fairly open to public discussion and debate, why not also Jewish power, Jewish history, and the cores of Jewish identity? Why not? Criticism of Christian power and Islamic power are open topics for everyday discussion. Criticism of the negative effects of Catholicism on the Irish nation is fair play. Why not the effects of the power of Zionism and Judaism on American culture? Wild accusations of anti-Semitism stoke fears, squelch debate, by George Beres, The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR), January 5, 2005 "Eugene is a university town, so it's natural to ask: From what does ``academic freedom'' need to be protected? The threats always have been there, but never more pronounced than today, according to a Dec. 25 Associated Press article suggesting that higher education is facing a simultaneous effort by a loose coalition of attackers - conservative extremists, Christian fundamentalists and pro-Israel lobbyists. Many of us safe in the shelter of Oregon mistakenly identify such attackers as cranks. They supposedly are all "out there somewhere," as in the case of a discredited New York Post columnist, Daniel Pipes. He wrongly accused University of Oregon instructor Doug Card of teaching anti-Semitism in his sociology classes. I have awakened to the unhappy reality that Pipes clones are alive and flourishing in our midst. The Dec. 2 Register-Guard reported a settlement of Card's lawsuit against Pipes. I wrote Card not to congratulate him, but to commiserate about a result that served Pipes' purposes. Pipes and his fellow defendant, Jonathan Schanzer, changed their original criticism of Card, now saying, ``He does not condone extremism in the classroom.'' Yet Pipes exploited the propaganda value of the situation by getting Card to publicly condemn anti-Semitism, as if the professor harbored secret views to the contrary. He also got him to condemn professors who use their classrooms to promote anti-Semitism, as if that were some common cancer on the campus. What those public comments accomplished was to strengthen efforts to mislead the public about alleged anti-Semitism by college teachers. That fits with what I've observed of Pipes' efforts to create a culture of suspicion in society, stemming from instructions given nationwide for letters to the editor to be written labeling as anti-Semitic anyone who criticizes policies of Israel. I've observed a related controversy on the UO campus as a member of the Pacifica Forum, created to discuss issues of peace and its absence. We have met on or near the campus for more than a decade. Participation is open to all. A year ago, one of our guests went to our sponsor, the Wesley Foundation, accusing the forum of having anti-Semitic programs. The foundation asked us to find another location. Pacifica was given no opportunity to confront its accuser. The sponsor wished to risk no ``complications,'' and Pacifica had to leave. The forum returned to campus to meet on Fridays in the Erb Memorial Union, because the Survival Center generously gave nominal sponsorship to Pacifica. Within weeks, the accuser confronted the center's student board with the same groundless charges. The center reacted without exploring the validity of the complaint. When Pacifica was granted a brief meeting with the board, the students said their decision was based on a Pacifica exhibit pamphlet, which suggested that some Jews were guilty of self-victimization. Did Pacifica endorse that claim? Or was it in the exhibit to illustrate demonization of Jews, which Pacifica opposes? The Survival Center will never know, because it did not ask. It was reacting to intimidation. The facts made no difference. The Survival Center and the Wesley Foundation are well-meaning, and generous with sponsorship. There was no smallness on their part in evicting Pacifica Forum. But there was fear - fear of further pressure from a tiny minority that alleges discrimination even in the absence of provocation. That minority wields power through fear. The tactic is used with equal effectiveness by Christian fundamentalists whose growing control of the federal administration is a strange variety of churchly proselyting - converting a supposedly godless democracy into a theocracy. The strategy is to reject dialogue - a means fine-tuned by the propaganda of Pipes and his fellows who seek to insulate Israel from criticism from any source. Professor Card and the Pacifica Forum are among local victims of that panic-mongering. The true victim is freedom of expression made voiceless when attacked with the weapon of fear by those with self-serving motives. George Beres formerly worked as sports information director and later as editor of the faculty-staff newsletter and manager of the Speakers Bureau at the University of Oregon. He hosts a weekly Community TV program, ``In the Public Interest.'' registerguard.com