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OP-ED
COLUMNIST 
Jesus and Jihad
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
 f
the latest in the "Left Behind" series of evangelical
thrillers is to be believed, Jesus will return to Earth, gather
non-Christians to his left and toss them into everlasting fire:
"Jesus merely raised one hand a few inches and a yawning chasm
opened in the earth, stretching far and wide enough to swallow all of
them. They tumbled in, howling and screeching, but their wailing was
soon quashed and all was silent when the earth closed itself
again."
These are the best-selling novels for adults in the United States,
and they have sold more than 60 million copies worldwide. The latest is
"Glorious Appearing," which has Jesus returning to Earth to
wipe all non-Christians from the planet. It's disconcerting to find
ethnic cleansing celebrated as the height of piety.
If a Muslim were to write an Islamic version of "Glorious
Appearing" and publish it in Saudi Arabia, jubilantly describing a
massacre of millions of non-Muslims by God, we would have a fit. We have
quite properly linked the fundamentalist religious tracts of Islam with
the intolerance they nurture, and it's time to remove the motes from our
own eyes.
In "Glorious Appearing," Jesus merely speaks and the bodies
of the enemy are ripped open. Christians have to drive carefully to
avoid "hitting splayed and filleted bodies of men and women and
horses."
"The riders not thrown," the novel continues, "leaped
from their horses and tried to control them with the reins, but even as
they struggled, their own flesh dissolved, their eyes melted and their
tongues disintegrated. . . . Seconds later the same plague afflicted the
horses, their flesh and eyes and tongues melting away, leaving grotesque
skeletons standing, before they, too, rattled to the pavement."
One might have thought that Jesus would be more of an animal lover.
These scenes also raise an eschatological problem: Could devout
fundamentalists really enjoy paradise as their friends, relatives and
neighbors were heaved into hell?
As my Times colleague David Kirkpatrick noted in an article, this
portrayal of a bloody Second Coming reflects a shift in American
portrayals of Jesus, from a gentle Mister Rogers figure to a martial
messiah presiding over a sea of blood. Militant Christianity rises to
confront Militant Islam.
This matters in the real world, in the same way that fundamentalist
Islamic tracts in Saudi Arabia do. Each form of fundamentalism creates a
stark moral division between decent, pious types like oneself — and
infidels headed for hell.
No, I don't think the readers of "Glorious Appearing" will
ram planes into buildings. But we did imprison thousands of Muslims here
and abroad after 9/11, and ordinary Americans joined in the torture of
prisoners at Abu Ghraib in part because of a lack of empathy for the
prisoners. It's harder to feel empathy for such people if we regard them
as infidels and expect Jesus to dissolve their tongues and eyes any day
now.
I had reservations about writing this column because I don't want to
mock anyone's religious beliefs, and millions of Americans think
"Glorious Appearing" describes God's will. Yet ultimately I
think it's a mistake to treat religion as a taboo, either in this
country or in Saudi Arabia.
I often write about religion precisely because faith has a vast
impact on society. Since I've praised the work that evangelicals do in
the third world (Christian aid groups are being particularly helpful in
Sudan, at a time when most of the world has done nothing about the
genocide there), I also feel a responsibility to protest intolerance at
home.
Should we really give intolerance a pass if it is rooted in religious
faith?
Many American Christians once read the Bible to mean that
African-Americans were cursed as descendants of Noah's son Ham, and were
intended by God to be enslaved. In the 19th century, millions of
Americans sincerely accepted this Biblical justification for slavery as
God's word — but surely it would have been wrong to defer to such
racist nonsense simply because speaking out could have been perceived as
denigrating some people's religious faith.
People have the right to believe in a racist God, or a God who throws
millions of nonevangelicals into hell. I don't think we should ban books
that say that. But we should be embarrassed when our best-selling books
gleefully celebrate religious intolerance and violence against infidels.
That's not what America stands for, and I doubt that it's what God
stands for. source
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| Name: | Barry
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| To: | NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
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| Re: | It's your choice
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In response to:
Good vs EvilTruth vs Lies
Message:
If you want to follow the teachings of an illiterate baby raping murder, that is your business
| Name: | Just a friendly Reminder
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| To: | everybody
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Message:
It just isn't safe yet to vote for a democrat.
| Name: | Lord of Flies
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| To: | Forum Re 's
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| Re: | Sunken Skulls
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Message:
http://youliveyourlifeasifitsreal.blogspot.com/
| Name: | Editor
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| To: | The Hunting of the President
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Message:
I went to see the movie: "The Hunting of the President" last night. It is very important for every American to see this movie. While it is very damning against the Republican 10-year,$80 million persecution of the Clintons, all Americans must learn from this movie in order to prevent it ever happening against future politicians on both sides.
For 10 years Republicans kept Americans fixated on this modern-day witch-hunt and inquisition, while the world was suffering and the Taliban was prospering. Washington caught this vicious disease and almost all went insane. It's frightening to think that an educated elite got sucked into this insanity. Here are some of the reviews:
"Those squeamish about Michael Moore's methodology, however, should check out..."The Hunting of the President." Thomason's movie, with its revelations of how Susan McDougal was pressured to lie to incriminate Hillary Clinton, is substantively more damning than 'Fahrenheit 9/11.'"
--TINA BROWN, THE WASHINGTON POST
"Riveting and revealing, whatever views you have on the partisan issues involved."M
--DAVID STERRITT, THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
"Whatever your politics, it is a very, very powerful look at eight recent years of our history that I think we need to remember and reflect on. Harry Thomason, wonderful job!"
--CATHERINE CRIER, COURT TV
"In stringing the evidence together in one place, it makes a powerful case.
--JACK MATTHEWS, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
"incendiary... an alarming treatise on the political power of the media and personal interests"
-- ELIZABETH RICHARDSON and JOSEPH BEYER, SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
"...an eye-opening and occasionally chilling look at the lengths to which some will go to destroy someone they perceive as a threat to their way of life... The message is clear, and powerfully told. Extra credit should be given for managing to get Susan McDougal to tell the story of her ordeal and imprisonment in her own terms."
--PETE VONDER HAAR, FILM THREAT
"Fahrenheit 9/11...must be viewed in the context of another new documentary, the superb The Hunting of the President, that documents —irrefutably— the lengths to which the right went to destroy Bill Clinton."
-- David Edelstein, Slate
"This probing documentary... astutely allowing participants to tell their own tales... creates an emotional connection with people whose names are familiar from nightly news reports but whose intimate stories are not."
-- CATHY ROSS, AUSTIN CHRONICLE
"...when you combine "Fahrenheit 9/11" with another, less polemical, more straightforwardly frightening must-see documentary that's out now called "The Hunting of the President," which delineates the GOP's shockingly savage, calculated, historic attempt to destroy Bill Clinton, you've got a portrait of a Republican Party that makes the frayed ragtag fundamentalist nutballs of the Taliban look like the participants at some sort of Tupperware party."
--MIKE MORFORD, SFGATE
"The Hunting of the President," a potent screen translation of Gene Lyons and Joe Conason's bestseller, methodically compiles evidence suggesting there was indeed (as Hillary famously put it) "a vast right-wing conspiracy" waged against the Clinton White House. No matter one's party affiliation, this documentary is worth seeing for its eye-opening look at how disreputable characters can impact government -- and how easily the mainstream media can be duped into covering scandal-smelling leads."
--DENNIS HARVEY, VARIETY.COM
"The big draw was "The Hunting of the President," a funny, frightening documentary about the 10-year campaign to discredit Bill and Hillary Clinton."
-- JANE SUMNER, THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
| Name: | Scroll Mouse
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| To: | NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
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In response to:
"...No, I don't think the readers of "Glorious Appearing" will ram planes into buildings. But we did imprison thousands of Muslims here and abroad after 9/11, and ordinary Americans joined in the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in part because of a lack of empathy for the prisoners.
Message:
C’mon now Nicholas. Torture? I guess we now know from where you speak
| Name: | Gruber
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| To: | The Adamantly Beguiled
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| Re: | Eat at Joe's
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In response to:
"incendiary... an alarming treatise on the political power of the media and personal interests"
Message:
Irony at its very best!
| Name: | Liberal
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| To: | MIKE MORFORD
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| Re: | The Hunting of the Presidents
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In response to:
"...when you combine "Fahrenheit 9/11" with another, less polemical, more straightforwardly frightening must-see documentary that's out now called "The Hunting of the President," which delineates the GOP's shockingly savage, calculated, historic attempt to destroy Bill Clinton, you've got a portrait of a Republican Party that makes the frayed ragtag fundamentalist nutballs of the Taliban look like the participants at some sort of Tupperware party."
--MIKE MORFORD, SFGATE
Message:
Thank you Mike. History will not be kind to the Republican persecution of the Clintons. We can't see it now because those Republicans that participated in this persecution are too emotionally attached to see what they did, but their children and grandchildren will not be attached. They will read the history books and see this movie. They will understand what their grandparents supported, and they will not be proud.
| Name: | ET
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| To: | J. Hoagland Reiftwaggoner
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In response to:
Poor Scotty! Your inverted condition is probably related to your mother's early attempts to make a good ragpicker of you. In her gin-soaked delerium, she simply could not, and did not, realize the effect that the endless potpourri of fabrics, with their facinating variety of textures and colours and aromas, were inevitably having on you as a mere lad of three years age.
We mustn't rule out those odours, either. You had frequent, early contact with the unprocessed intimate garments of both sexes as you endlessly sorted and piled, ripped and shredded, folded and stacked. Opposite you at your ...
Message:
Get out of here you hateful sicko. We don't need your kind here.
| Name: | Da Nuze
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| Re: | Ya Wanna Talk About President Hunting?
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Message:
From the networks "miscall" 1 hour before the polls in Florida closed, to the urban legend about his low IQ.
Talking points on "gravitas" repeated ad nauseum in every newspaper and on all three major networks
"Bush Deserter" mentioned 4 times more often than Clinton's lack of Vietnam service.
Both Joe Wilson and Richard Clarke have been discredited by the 9-11 commission and their own books yet none of the major newspapers or networks have made corrections to their banner stories slamming the Bush administration
Have the news organizations done any in-depth investigation of candidate Kerry?
Why has every story about the economy improving segued into "but things are not so good for..."
| Name: | Scroll Mouse
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| To: | forum
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| Re: | Changing the tone between Left and Right
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Message:
News that
explains our world
Dennis Prager (archive)
In an interview with The New York Times Magazine, William
F. Buckley Jr., on the occasion of his taking leave from National Review,
the magazine he founded 50 years ago, was asked a series of questions. Needless
to say, given the politics of The New York Times and its interviewer, the
questions were nearly all challenging. But nothing quite prepared a reader for
this one:
"You seem indifferent to suffering. Have you ever suffered
yourself?"
In one sentence, a New York Times interviewer summed up the liberal view of
conservatives -- "indifferent to suffering." As I have long believed,
in general, conservatives think liberals are fools and liberals think
conservatives are evil.
"There are signs, too, even dramatic ones, that fissures are opening up
inside the Sunni-driven insurgency" (New York Times).
You needed to read to nearly the end of the article to read the above. The
world's news media are rooting against an American, meaning a George W. Bush,
victory in Iraq. But there are reasons for optimism regarding America's effort
to introduce freedom to the Arab world.
A major reason aside from the extraordinary work of the American military and
its courageous commander in chief is Iyad Allawi, the prime minister of Iraq. As
a rule, the world recognizes great people only after they have died, and Allawi
may turn out to be another Arab dictator. But based on what he has thus far
accomplished, on his anti-Saddam activities before that and on his extraordinary
courage in the face of repeated attempts to murder him, Allawi may be one of the
few great leaders in the world today. Even if you're an atheist, you should pray
for him. The bad guys, and they are very bad guys, hate him more than they do
President Bush.
The Connecticut branch of the ACLU, the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union (CCLU)
"informed the Windsor Locks (CT) School District that it would face (legal)
action if education officials chose to allow a presentation by clergy at Windsor
Locks High School on homosexuality and related topics."
The high school had previously invited a gay activist organization, the
Stonewall Speakers, to address students on homosexuality and same-sex marriage.
In order to attempt to present an alternate view, the school then invited clergy
to speak to the students.
Because "the clergy was supposed to offer a view based on religious
scripture," Annette Lamoreaux, a legal director of the CCLU, "reported
that the clergy presentation could violate the Establishment Clause of the
United States Constitution and the Connecticut Gay Rights Law, which prohibits
discrimination based upon sexual orientation. . . . She added that it would have
violated the rights of gay and students to equal protection . . ."
Here is another "smoking gun" illustrating the secular and leftist
brainwash American children receive throughout their school life. For no
defensible educational reason -- especially given the poor general education
that so many Americans receive -- a public school invited gay activists to
address students on behalf of same-sex marriage. But clergy defending man-woman
marriage are not allowed to be invited.
The story also illustrates what ought to be considered a truism: The threat
to an open society almost always comes from the Left. The most effective myth of
my lifetime has been that the threat to an open society comes from the Right. In
light of the fact that nearly every totalitarian regime in the 20th century was
of the Left, the effectiveness of this myth is all the more remarkable. Yet,
this successful attempt by the ACLU in Connecticut to stifle freedom of speech
is just one more example of the totalitarian temptation that lies at the root of
leftist ideals.
Finally, if civil libertarians now demand the stifling of speech on behalf of
man-woman marriage, imagine what will happen if same-sex marriage becomes legal.
Traditional Christians and Jews will increasingly be marginalized by the Left
in the media, academia and in law -- and declared as immoral as racists.
And a nationwide Canadian poll found that more than 40 percent of Canada's
young people consider America "evil." It is not possible to overstate
the destructive effect that the leftist education establishment and the leftist
news media have had on Western civilization. Combine this with a similar poll in
Europe that found Europeans believe that the United States and Israel are the
most dangerous countries in the world and you begin to understand the moral
havoc wrought by schools and news media.
| Name: | Ledford Cole
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| To: | Angy At The Wrong Persons
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| Re: | Absurd "Movie"
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In response to:
. Message:
Thank you Mike. History will not be kind to the Republican persecution of the Clintons. We can't see it now because those Republicans that participated in this persecution are too emotionally attached to see what they did, but their children and grandchildren will not be attached. They will read the history books and see this movie. They will understand what their grandparents supported, and they will not be proud.
Message:
Pure bullsh!t. Sensible people do not get their history from partisan hack chop-job movies! Now go watch "Farenheiht 9-11" again. It was made by a big fat hate-filled jerkoff just for gullible people like YOU.
In response to:
From the networks "miscall" 1 hour before the polls in Florida closed, to the urban legend about his low IQ.
Talking points on "gravitas" repeated ad nauseum in every newspaper and on all three major networks
"Bush Deserter" mentioned 4 times more often than Clinton's lack of Vietnam service.
Both Joe Wilson and Richard Clarke have been discredited by the 9-11 commission and their own books yet none of the major newspapers or networks have made corrections to their banner stories slamming the Bush administration
Have the news organizations done any in-depth investigation of cand ...
Message:
Oh stop complaining about mistreatment. You ain't seen nuttin yet! We coming to get you buddy. You guys on the right taught us all we know about how to screw the opposition and this time you will get yours.
In response to:
They will read the history books and see this movie. They will understand what their grandparents supported, and they will not be proud.
Message:
Did the movie debunk the Riady/Lippo/PLA connection? Did it debunk the Schwartz/DNC/PLA sweet deal? Did it explain the persecution of Dale? did it expLain Hillary's secret task force? Did it cover the FBI files? Or the missing billing records?
You get my point don't you? Politics is a rough game. Don't stand back like some innocent virgin and whine about persecution of your hero. Your hero gave them all the ammunition they needed.
| Name: | Dale Evans
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| To: | Quagmire
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In response to:
Oh stop complaining about mistreatment. You ain't seen nuttin yet! We coming to get you buddy. You guys on the right taught us all we know about how to screw the opposition and this time you will get yours.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Message:
Blow it out your vent, Chickenfart. JANET RENO IS NO LONGER ATTORNEY-GENERAL!!
In response to:
Pure bullsh!t. Sensible people do not get their history from partisan hack chop-job movies! Now go watch "Farenheiht 9-11" again. It was made by a big fat hate-filled jerkoff just for gullible people like YOU.
Message:
We have a new film genre, the flockumentary where a film-maker markets a film to a herd of sheep-like cultists e.g Farenheit 9-11, facts don't matter they only confuse the herd.
| Name: | History
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| To: | Ledford Cole
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In response to:
Pure bullsh!t. Sensible people do not get their history from partisan hack chop-job movies! Now go watch "Farenheiht 9-11" again. It was made by a big fat hate-filled jerkoff just for gullible people like YOU.
Message:
The history books, Ledford Cole, not the movie, will be the source that teaches your grandchildren what the Republicans did to the Clintons. The movie is just the harbinger of what the future will reveal. An $80 million investigation lasting 10 years to bring down the Clintons and all you guys got was a blowjob with an intern and lying to cover up - nothing!!! Washington went insane for all those years for nothing, nothing, nothing. Face it Ledford Cole, the Rublicans fidded with blowjobs while Rome burned.
And despite your evil witchunt President Clinton was the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second term. He could point to the lowest unemployment rate in modern times, the lowest inflation in 30 years, the highest home ownership in the country's history, dropping crime rates in many places, and reduced welfare rolls. He proposed the first balanced budget in decades and achieved a budget surplus.
Just imagine how much the world would be better off today if you left Clinton alone to do his job.
| Name: | Da Nuze
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| To: | left eye
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In response to:
Oh stop complaining about mistreatment. You ain't seen nuttin yet! We coming to get you buddy. You guys on the right taught us all we know about how to screw the opposition and this time you will get yours.
Message:
How about the truth for a change?
In response to:
You get my point don't you? Politics is a rough game. Don't stand back like some innocent virgin and whine about persecution of your hero. Your hero gave them all the ammunition they needed.
Message:
Hahaha - Your hero gave us all the ammunition we need too. The door swings both ways, short-sighted one.
If Republicans believed in Karma they would not behave as they do.
| Name: | Monika
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| To: | Beguiled
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In response to:
Just imagine how much the world would be better off today if you left Clinton alone to do his job.
Message:
Together, we got the job done.
| Name: | Reality
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| To: | Yourstory
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In response to:
The history books, Ledford Cole, not the movie, will be the source that teaches your grandchildren what the Republicans did to the Clintons. The movie is just the harbinger of what the future will reveal. An $80 million investigation lasting 10 years to bring down the Clintons and all you guys got was a blowjob with an intern and lying to cover up - nothing!!! Washington went insane for all those years for nothing, nothing, nothing. Face it Ledford Cole, the Rublicans fidded with blowjobs while Rome burned.
Message:
Clinton's own book contradicts his testimony and the stories told ad infinitum to repair his legacy. 80 million? boy that number goes up every time you guys talk about about it. Clinton himself could've stopped the entire mess by A)Not signing the independent counsel statute B) keeping it in his pants C)not perjuring himself D)settling it quietly E) firing Ken Starr F)Not lying to the nation and wagging his finger at us.
| Name: | Maureen Dowd
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| To: | Kerry flubbed again
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Message:
Hillary did what she does best. She brought the leader of the party to heel. And in giving her a prime-time slot, but only to introduce her husband, Mr. Kerry did what he does worst: Try to have it both ways.
In response to:
Clinton's own book contradicts his testimony and the stories told ad infinitum to repair his legacy. 80 million? boy that number goes up every time you guys talk about about it. Clinton himself could've stopped the entire mess by A)Not signing the independent counsel statute B) keeping it in his pants C)not perjuring himself D)settling it quietly E) firing Ken Starr F)Not lying to the nation and wagging his finger at us.
Message:
Wake up Reality. The persecution of the Clintons had gone on for several years before Bill wagged his finger.
| Name: | Scooter down on all four
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In response to:
Your condition is probably related to your mother's early attempts to make a good ragpicker of you, Scotty. In her gin-soaked delerium, she simply did not realize the effect the fabrics, with their facinating variety of textures and colours and aromas, were inevitably having on you, a mere lad of three years age.
We mustn't rule out those odours, either. You had frequent, early contact with the unprocessed intimate garments of both sexes as you endlessly sorted and piled, ripped and shredded, folded and stacked. Opposite you sat Dear Mummy, watching approvingly as you exerted yourself, str ...
Message:
Funny little toff..............
| Name: | Scotty
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| To: | finger hut fans
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In response to:
Keep in mind that "bald headed Nazi" gets chicks
Message:
Alot of women like that look.
In response to:
And despite your evil witchunt President Clinton was the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second
Message:
Put an honest to goodness fly-boy with combat props in as head of the Academy.
| Name: | Tito
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| To: | minorities!
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| Re: | Boo hoo.
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In response to:
the lowest inflation in 30 years, the highest home ownership in the country's history, dropping crime rates in many places, and reduced welfare rolls. He proposed the first balanced budget in decades and achieved a budget surplus.
Message:
Will we ever return to the days of the most qualified individual getting the yob?
Message:
WHY DOES THE WORLD HATE ISRAEL?
WHY DOES THE WORLD HATE ISRAEL?
by Herbert I. London
Townhall
July 18, 2004
| Israel
is a tiny nation, roughly half the size of Lake Michigan. Its
population is roughly half the size of the New York metropolitan area.
Despite being a Jewish state, more than twenty percent of its
residents are Arab and most Jews in Israel describe themselves as
secular rather than religious.
Yet if one were to read world press accounts or daily condemnations
from the United Nations or the recent decision of the ICJ criticizing
the construction of the fence, you might conclude that Israel is a
world power intent on destabilizing Middle East affairs.
Why, it might well be postulated, does the world resent this speck
of land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean?
Although my comments are speculative, I suspect they could be borne
out empirically if historical accounts were fair and objective.
Israel is a thorn in the side of the Arab world because it is a
remarkable technological phantasmagoria. Almost every Israeli is
engaged in a software scheme. The Jews in this arid nation have made
the deserts bloom; they have converted brain power into technical
marvels and consequent wealth.
By contrast every nearby Arab nation is dysfunctional. Their
governments are tyrannical; the people are poor and uneducated and
local officials have been unwilling to convert oil revenue into social
benefits.
Resentment is the natural result of this contrast. Afterall, Israel
has all of the geographic disadvantages of its neighbors and it
doesn't have any oil fields. Yet it prospers, while others falter.
Second, it should be hastily noted that Israel is a proxy for
anti-American sentiment. The misguided belief that the U.S. is an
imperial power eager to put its stamp on the Middle East is
demonstrated by the aid and support given to Israel. Rarely, is it
noted by U.S. detractors that American assistance to Egypt is equal to
aid for Israel. Moreover, American involvement in Iraq was neither
precipitated by Israel (Does the tail wag the dog?) nor has this
engagement influenced Israel's relations with her neighbors in any new
directions.
Third, the Palestinian question has awakened emotions on the
European left and in many Arab states. Yet remarkably the critique of
Israel is generally quite banal. Arafat, as putative Palestinian
leader, was granted 97 percent of the West Bank and some control over
holy sites in the negotiation at Wye Plantation. Yet he turned down
these generous Israeli terms.
In fact, there aren't any terms that serve the ambitions of Arabs
eager to destroy the state of Israel, unless, of course, national
suicide is a reasonable negotiating point.
Fourth, the fence has the metaphorical power of the Berlin Wall. It
is used for propaganda purposes to argue that Israel is intent on
"taking Arab land" and isolating itself from Palestinians.
What should be noted is that the Berlin Wall was created to keep
East Germans bound to the chains of communism, while the Israeli fence
is designed to prevent suicide bombers from continuing wreaking
bloodshed among Israelis.
Intifada II has resulted in at least a thousand dead Israeli
citizens since 2000 and others maimed as well. It is encumbent on any
leader of any nation to offer his people a modicum of security against
those bent on bloodshed. If the fence reduces threats and increases
security, Prime Minister Sharon should embrace it. His duty to protect
his own people transcends any obligation imposed on him from
multilateral organizations.
Fifth, the Palestinians have made their case to the international
court of public opinion more effectively than the Israeli government.
They have positioned themselves as underdogs against a mighty military
force from tiny Israel. They have persuaded many of their supporters
that the land Israel acquired after the ‘67 war is
"occupied" rather than "disputed" territory.
Hence, their sanguinic tactics are ignored by opinion markers normally
opposed to terrorist activity.
Sixth, the Palestinians manage their news media. There isn't an
opposition voice in the Palestinian territory and if an unpredictable
comment is made, it is often squelched with force. Reporters Without
Borders has reported numerous occasions where journalists were beaten
when they challenged Hamas or Hezbollah positions in print.
Israel, as an open and free society, entertains every point of
view, including anti Israel arguments. As a consequence, criticism of
Israel is widespread and criticism of Palestinian activity muted.
Seventh, the United Nations is now systematically organized to
criticize the United States and Israel. It is instructive that in a
statement emanating from the Secretariat's office condemning the
construction of the fence, not a word was mentioned about suicide
bombers who precipitated the construction.
As I see there is very little that can be done at the moment to
change international opinion. Israel has an obligation to its own
people to remain resolute against usually unfair and hateful
allegations. For the Middle East this is the Dark Ages. But if the
Arab world wishes to enter the 21st century – a far from clear
conclusion – it will have to adopt and perhaps emulate much of
Israeli life. On that slim reed, hope shall continue to exist.
Herbert London is president of Hudson Institute and the John M.
Olin Professor of Humanities at New York University. He is publisher
of American Outlook magazine and author of the recently published
book, Decade of Denial (Lexington Books) and is reachable through www.benadorassociates.com.
source
©2004 Herbert London
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