David Horowitz's Frontpage is featuring an article by Susanne Reyto admonishing Jewish leaders to stand up (or wake up). Many of these rabbis and leaders are refusing to acknowledge the threat that faces them and their people.
http://frontpagemag.com/2010/12/23/will-jewish-community-leaders-stand-up/
Ms Reyto's words strike me as sound advice. I would even venture that there are many Jewish "leaders" here in Orange County who might do well to read the article.
Christian "leaders" too, for that matter.
"The first half of an analogy is always easier than the second half, in which respect it resembles life, but not, of course, love."
ReplyDelete--1330 or so, Being An Apology for a Pedlar, by Nicholas Seares
Gary Fouse is probably scratching his head, asking what THAT has to do with this post. Analogy my dear sir. Observers of human history go oft astray by relying on analogy.
Millions of people around the world, thoroughly horrified by the senseless slaughter of WW I, refused until almost to late to support active measures against the Nazis, who, as it turned out, were not merely an attempt to revive the Imperial rule of the Kaisers.
Then, for fifty years after World War II, any attempt at diplomacy with fervent nationalists leading people longing to be free of foreign domination was denounced as "appeasement."
In both instances, the loud mouths were always ready and able to fight the previous war, and totally clueless to what was going on around them.
After the cold, calculated slaughter of the Nazis, a large portion of the world's Jewish population attempted to establish a national homeland where they could defend themselves through the agency of their own state and army, rather than depending on the good will of nations within which they were a cultural, ethnic, and religious minority.
That state, like any state, stepped on some toes. Because it is, by self-definition and origin, a "Jewish state," Jews around the world (some of whom do in fact support Israel) have become the targets of various people who do not like
(a) the existence of Israel, or,
(b) the current policies of the Israeli government.
Is this a replay of the 1930s and 1940s? Hardly. It is a totally different situation. It calls for new and different responses, which mindless analogies do not cultivate.
It is only natural that such unhelpful tripe should be published by David Horowitz, a notoriously naive leftist who has spent the rest of his life asking people to support him in the style he would like to be accustomed to, in order to hear him rave about what a fool he was. The man should get a life, or at least a real job.
umbrist? I like that word
The world according to Siarlys.
ReplyDeleteThe world according to Siarlys.
ReplyDeleteGary, you always respond with flippant little comments when your point has been thoroughly trounced.
Where, exactly, is Siarlys wrong in what he wrote? What's going on now is a different situation. Shoot, I agree with you that the threat of Islamic fundamentalism is real. I also agree that Israel has every right to not only exist but defend itself. Additionally, and more to the point of this, I think that anti-Semitism is a very real problem, and much of the blame can be placed on the Islamic world.
But comparing this to what happened in Nazi Germany is to have no sense of the situation. Siarlys' comparison to how people were still fighting WWI during WWII is apt. In other words, you hurt your own cause for not seeing it as the unique situation that it is.
Lance,
ReplyDeleteWhen I make analogies to nazi Germany, of course, the 2nd Holocaust has not yet happened. I am saying that the warning signs are there for us to see.
WHOOSH! Another point goes over the head of Gary Fouse.
ReplyDeleteLance and Siarlys,
ReplyDeleteSiarlys using the example of how the world shrank from confronting Hitler because of the horrors of WW I. Today many are shrinking from the current threat because of the horror of WW II. (Your own analogy).
As for Israel depending on the good will of its neighbors, that is laughable. In 1948, the UN mandated two sepatrater states. Israel accepted. The Arab world refused and attacked. They tried again in 1967 and 1973 and were beaten back. Then came terror directed against civilians.
How can you talk about Israel depending on the good will of its neighbors? They refuse to accept a Jewish state in their midst. Is it really about land-or is it about religion? Israel survives today because they became militarily strong.
Whoosh my ass.
Wow. This guy Siarlys is an expert on everything. Talk about "getting a life"?
ReplyDeleteSiaylis, Out of curiosity, is there someone at home that you subject your relentless "expertise" to or are you living in your parents garage?
Talk about unhelpful tripe. You remind me of the guy throwing touchdowns from his sofa on Sunday, Monday and every other night the game is being played.
That's it, Ted. Mock a guy for being smarter than you.
ReplyDeleteTed, you are talking about your self in your last sentence. I have never read an interesting comment from you, only your obnoxious critisism and accusing people of something that doesn't fit. I think that you are full of venom.
ReplyDeleteSiarly does his homework while you are sitting on the couch.
Ingrid: as a matter of fact, your statement has described you nicely.
ReplyDeleteLance, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Wow, Ted. What next? "I know you are but what am I?"
ReplyDeleteHow about the old "I'm rubber, you're glue...etc." one?
Hard to match wits with somebody of your intellectual caliber!
Typical Ted. What a bitter person he must be.
ReplyDeleteLance, maybe you should stick to what you do best, trying to match wits with your students or breaking Garys you-know-whats all day long.
ReplyDeleteAnd Ingrid? If the shoe fits....
The three of you, Lance, Sialis and Ingrid ought to take your know-it -all act on the road. Your a riot!
Your a riot!
ReplyDeleteThat should be "You're a riot", Ted. See, when you're using the contraction that means "you are" then you need the apostrophe and the "e" at the end. Otherwise, you're using the possessive form of "you".
Glad to see that you find intelligence so amusing, Ted. Maybe later I can dangle my keys in front of you. That ought to keep an intellectual giant like you busy for hours on end.
Don't waste so many words on Ted. All he has shown a capacity for is announcing loudly that he doesn't like what I said. Well, as H.L. Mencken wrote in response to every criticism he ever received, "Dear Sir, You may be right."
ReplyDeleteTed did ask one factual question, which I am happy to answer: I am self-supporting and live in my own home, paying all my own bills. I am a contributor to several reference works, most on historical events or biography, from five different publishers. I am quite familiar with standards for factual foundation, citation, and incorporating reliable sources into new work without slipping into plagiary. I am also medically certified for commercial transportation employment.
Now back to the facts. Gary was trying to make a factual argument, after Lance prodded him to offer more than a flippant dismissal. Gary teaches English as the college level, so if he is reminded firmly enough, he is capable of recognizing that he would never give a student a passing grade for an off-the-cuff remark devoid of facts, logic, or analysis.
There is no reason Israel should rely on the "good will" of its neighbors. Israel should rely on the usual carrots and sticks everyone relies on in diplomacy. Nations have interests. Nations succeed in diplomacy by vigorously demonstrating that
a) If you step on our toes, we can destroy a good deal of what you really would like to have intact, and,
b) If you exercise some restraint in what you do to us, you'll have a better life than if you don't.
To a great extent, Israel has been successful at this, but the currently dominant parties are too dense to recognize it. (Example of "success": Nasrullah publicly stated that if Hezb-i-u-Lah had known how Israel would respond to the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers, "we would not have done it." Good, that was exactly the point Israel was trying to make!)
Nobody is criticizing Israel because they are traumatized by the horrors of WW II. The best-founded criticism of Israel is that they are appealing for the sympathy of an underdog when they are a dominant regional military power that won the last three wars hands down and fought several other conflicts to a stand-still. When you win, you assume responsibilities for the impact of your actions on civilian populations. That's not pleasant, but it is real.
The Palestinian Authority is fragile, and could easily be swept away by more militant, and mindless, political and military currents. The current prime minister is forthrightly working to build a productive economy and a professional police and security force in the West Bank which will give the civilian population tangible incentive to settle down, get a job, raise a family, expect their children to live to a ripe old age, build a nicer house, etc. etc. etc. Israel is missing the ball badly by failing to aggressively support that initiative.
Lance, now you('re) confusing the ability to grade high school english papers and pontificating (read: breaking b--ls) on Gary blog, with intelligence?
ReplyDeleteBTW Ingrid, Lance is holding his own pretty well in the "venom" department.
Lance,I liked the key thing. It was funny.
I clicked on Ted's link to check whether, on his own blog, he has demonstrated capability to share an intelligent thought now and then. It appears he has neither profile nor postings of his own, he just has an identity to drop in on other sites and splutter. I must say, he reminds me what I keep coming back to Fousesquawk. Gary is a rational man capable of understanding reason and logic, even if he is infatuated with a number of false premises, and relies on some questionable sources for his sense of facts.
ReplyDeleteAs to my second question: Is there a Mrs. Sialis or some significant other at home, that you might be boring with your long winded,wordy opinions? I wonder if she/he appreciates your "intelligent thoughts"
ReplyDelete(Sialis If you didn't get it: In other words, don't you have a life?)
"I have answered three questions
ReplyDeleteand that is enough,
Said his father don't give yourself airs,
Do you think I can listen
all day to such stuff,
Be off or I'll kick you downstairs."
I drop by here for half an hour once every day, or sometimes two. In between, I do real work in the real world. And yourself?
P.S. Do you have any recollection of what Gary was writing about in the first place? Ted, you haven't said ANYTHING about "Jewish leaders warned to wake up." Everything you've said could be copied and pasted into any post on any site about any topic, and have about the same meaning and impact!