Friday, April 30, 2010

The sanction of the victim and the guiltiest man in the room - Ayn Rand and the Jewish State

That creed has lasted for centuries solely by the sanction of the victims—by means of the victims' acceptance of punishment for breaking a code impossible to practice.
--John Galt, chief protagonist of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged

I think that Hizballah represents the hope. They are fighting to defend their homeland, they are fighting to defend the independence of their country...and I consider it to be genuinely to be an honor to be in their presence.
--Norman Finkelstein

How can the foul taste of death become sweeter than honey? Only through conviction, ideology, and faith, through belief, and devotion.
--Hasan Nasrallah, head of Hizballah

In fact, if Christ himself stood in my way, I, like Nietzsche, would not hesitate to squish him like a worm
--Ernesto 'Che' Guevara


____________________________________________


ANTI-THESIS


Who is guiltier, the professional murderer or his sacrificial victim?

Regular readers of this blog will recall a previous article where we explored the bizarre obsession of academics, journalists, self-professed "liberals" and even clergy to perpetually fault Israel and the Jews for the escalating rocket attacks and violence that ended up culminating in the Gaza War of last year. The conclusion we came to was that no matter how violent and barbaric Palestinian terrorists were in the pursuit of their goals, in the end it was irrelevant because the rest of the world viewed their cause as just. All the while Israel's right (or perhaps "struggle" would be a more accurate word) to protect its citizens and simply EXIST was secondary at best, unnecessary and unjust at worst.

It didn't matter what was happening to the citizens of Sderot and Ashkelon and Ashdod and all of southern Israel in the years since the disengagement just like it didn't matter what had happened to the residents of Acre, Haifa, Nehariya and all of northern Israel during the 2006 Lebanon war. Nor did matter what had happened to Jewish residents of the Galilee in the years preceding the 1967 war, the Jewish victims of the Palestinian Fedayeen in the years preceding the 1956 war, the Jews of Hebron, Jerusalem, Kfar Etzion and all of Israel preceding the 1948 war and the Jews of Iraq, Yemen and the whole of the Arab world AFTER 1948. And what about that Gilad Shalit guy? STILL in captivity but who cares about him anyway, right?

Likewise irrelevant were the countless, unending (whether they be Jewish or not) victims of Palestinian riots, intifadas, knife attacks, bus bombings, airplane and boat hijackings, restaurant attacks, hotel massacres, disco infernos, highway shootings or other terror attacks over a century of upheaval.

None of this matters to the outside world because - as my earlier post argued - they believe that the Arabs are right and the Israelis are wrong. This has been the case at least since the UN resolution demanding the Arab refugees' "right of return" not just to the West Bank and Gaza but to Israel proper. Zionist experiment over, time to go back to the status-quo that existed before the Holocaust...sorry Jews, that was a nice run you had but who were you kidding trying to build a state and army of your own? How dare you try to ignore 2,000 years of historical dominance over your miserable nation?

Make no mistake, when you support people who support a policy that approves of the 4 million or so Arabs who today call themselves "Palestinian refugees" that is exactly what you are saying. When you support movements that have this as one of their stated (or unstated) purposes, regardless of what else these movements seek to accomplish - this is what you are getting.

And make no mistake, this phenomenon is not limited purely to the Arab-Israeli conflict. It doesn't matter that the Communists had a great space program, Mussolini made the trains run on time or that the Nazis were lovely environmentalists...they were all murderers whose evil far outweighed their good.

Yet today how many times do you see Americans and often Jews



wearing a shirt with this guy on it? Or do you see posters of Che Guevara in their college dorm rooms? Who cares if he hated the exact system that allowed your parents to save up and pay for the college education that taught you about Cuban history and Marxism? What does is matter if that system is precisely what Che wanted to destroy? And that if given the power he would have gladly rounded your parents up and had them executed at one of his "revolutionary tribunals" as he did to countless Cubans before trying to export his revolution to Africa. Buy the t-shirts, wear them with pride. If it's anti-establishment it MUST be cool, right?

Nor is this limited to long-dead, mythical, historical figures. Hugo Chavez must be totally wicked awesome if he denounces President Bush...nevermind the fact that he supports insane, nuclear-obsessed lunatics like the Iranian mullahs or that his government arms and funds FARC terrorists that kill innocent Columbians or that he incites anti-Israel hatred and creates an escalating climate of hostility towards Jews or that he destroys freedom of speech, shuts down political opponents and threatens them with bloodbaths.



Or that he apparently can't multiply...

So with that in mind, what difference does it make that Yasir Arafat or Saddam Hussein were as likely to behead you as they were to embrace your support? Keep wearing your kefiyyahs and anti-Israel t-shirts. Keep supporting countries that treat murderers as heroes and have parades for them. Keep demanding an end to the "occupation" and the installation of theocrats and dictators instead of the liberal democracy that is there today.


And is STILL the ONLY place in a 2,000 mile radius that guarantees the safety of ALL minorities, including gays.

This picture, taken at an anti-Israel rally during last year's Gaza war is essentially the ANTI-thesis statement for what must become the new focus of truly pro-Israel movements and movements that claim to espouse Jewish pride. This girl is the opposite of everything we need to be.

When we pretend that the moral high-ground can be achieved by sympathizing with the forces that will hunt us down and destroy us, no matter how pathetic or mainstream they may appear to the rest of the world, we become our own enemy. We sanction our own destruction and we become guiltier than the murderer that seeks to kill us - whether in Israel, America, Europe, India or elsewhere.

Therefore, in response to the original question of who is guiltier - the professional murder or his sacrificial victim, the answer is the victim because:

a) if the victim didn't sacrifice him or herself , the murderer would not be able to succeed and

b) one who makes a habit of murder reaches a point when he or she is not redeemable...the victim, on the other hand - should know better. And yet somehow, we Jews after all we've been through, apparently still do not know better.

This simply cannot continue.

____________________________________________


They are willing to bear nothing. You are willing to bear anything. They keep evading responsibility. You keep assuming it.
--Francisco D'Anconia

If it is now believed that my fellow men may sacrifice me in any manner they please for the sake of whatever they deem to be their own good, if they believe that they may seize my property simply because they need it—well, so does any burglar. There is only this difference: the burglar does not ask me to sanction his act.
--Hank Rearden

We will return to Jaffa, to Acre, to Tel Aviv, to Jerusalem, to Ramle. We'll play soccer, Saraa. I'll be happy when we go back there.
--Hamas puppet "Nassour" to young girl host of children’s program

Until victory, always.
--Ernesto 'Che' Guevara



____________________________________________


SANCTION


For a long time I thought that simple ignorance of reality was what drove these people to embrace the paradox of their own demise, but it goes much deeper than that.

Because you see, the Jewish lesbian who supports Hamas (who if they had their way would execute her, which eliminates her support for them - hence the paradox) in all her absurd irony, answers the life-changing question posed by Francisco D'Anconia to Hank Rearden about midway through Ayn Rand's epic, Atlas Shrugged:

If the things I said are true, who is the guiltiest man in this room tonight?

While it is hard to boil down a 1,000+ page book into a single sentence - for the purpose of this article - the Francisco/Hank exchanges say it all. If you haven't read the book yet, go now and read it. I'll wait right here, patiently until you return.

While Atlas Shrugged is host to many themes, messages and subplots, the storyline that I always most identified with was that of Henry "Hank" Rearden. Rearden, a self-made, multi-multi-millionaire is a ruthlessly confident businessman and consummate professional with only one major weakness...he (like the entirety of the American society presented in the book) has been taught his entire life that it is his responsibility to support everyone who does not support themselves. His wife, family and the general public deride him as a greedy, selfish bully whose only concern is the bottom line - all the while living off the fruits of his labor even as they abuse him at every opportunity. Rearden's personal life is a truly miserable one as he is bound by a morality whereby he feels that by suffering at the hands of his tormentors and appeasing them, he is somehow a more virtuous person.

Even as society and the economy is decaying around him as the "looters" and "moochers" seize more and more of his wealth, property and freedom, Rearden continues to suffer and work harder because he loves his work and is driven by a desire to produce and progress - even though by the end he is producing almost exclusively for the thieves and murderers that make up the government in the book. The irony of course is that the people condemning him as being greedy and selfish NEED him to continue to produce because THEY themselves are incapable of it and without him they would be lost. Since everyone around Hank lives off of his production, if he refuses to produce, refuses to be "greedy" and behaves in the way his enemies pretend to want him to behave, they would ALL starve to death.

His willing subscription to their morality, his tolerance of their evil, his continuing to play their game with their rules is the only way they can destroy him. His enemies cannot succeed without the sanction of their victim. And it is thus the same with our enemies.

Since the first halutzim (pioneers) began working the fields and improving living conditions in what would become the modern state of Israel, Arabs against the Jewish state have demanded they vacate the land and "return" it to them.



Really? Where were these claims when Israel was a barren, backwater desert administered by the Ottomans for half a millennium? All of the sudden the Jews bring irrigation, highways and Tel Aviv to Israel and Arab residents who for 1500 years of foreign Turkish domination never even knew how to spell "nationalism" became the world's greatest political refugee problem.

You don't think the Jewish presence in Ottoman and British Palestine significantly improved conditions for the native Arab population? How else would you explain 64,790 Arab immigrants to areas that became part of 1948 Israel? From the Middle East Forum:
The Arab Palestinian populations within those sub-districts that eventually became Israel increased from 321,866 in 1922 to 463,288 in 1931 or by 141,422. Applying the 2.5 per annum natural rate of population growth to the 1922 Arab Palestinian population generates an expected population size for 1931 of 398,498 or 64,790 less than the actual population recorded in the British census. By imputation, this unaccounted population increase must have been either illegal immigration not accounted for in the British census...
That means that 14% of the ENTIRE ARAB POPULATION of British Mandate Palestine was made up of IMMIGRANTS from just the nine years between 1922-1931! If the Zionists were so bad for the natives, why move to be CLOSER to them? End the occupation? And do what? Turn the entirety of the West Bank into Gaza City? Or into the pre-Israel swamp and desert that the Galilee and Negev were, respectively?

And lest you think that these migration patterns ceased in the 20's and 30's...every single day anywhere between 68,000 to 115,000 Palestinians cross either legally or illegally into Israel to work for their supposedly racist Israeli employers...or work for the very West Bank settlers who they claim to seek to displace! Apparently Zionist occupiers and Jewish settlers pay much better than Arab "freedom fighters". Just to put this into perspective, this means that approximately 10-20% of the ENTIRE West Bank labor force is employed by Jews or Israelis.

What happens when Palestinians work in Israel or for Israelis/Jews? They pay taxes on that income to the Israeli government...which then hands the money right back to the Palestinian government. When the 2nd Intifada broke out and when Hamas came to power Israel caused an international uproar by withholding the estimated $50-$60 million a month that they transfer to Fatah and Hamas. For those mathematicians not named Hugo Chavez, that works out to between $600 and $720 million per year.

If you clicked the link that had to do with the West Bank labor force, you would have read on the CIA Factbook that the ENTIRE PALESTINIAN REVENUE COLLECTION for 2006 was $1.63 billion. That means that nearly HALF of the TOTAL Palestinian intake (which is then used to purchase guns that kill Israelis, print schoolbooks that talk about eliminating Israel and fund TV programs that brainwash children into thinking that they should throw rocks at Israeli tanks) is funded by the VERY PEOPLE they seek to destroy. And oh, by the way, in 2009 an additional $900 million was pledged to them by the US and A State Department.

How about the case of route 443, a road that links central Israel to Jerusalem? Or any of the "Jewish-only" roads that I'm sure you've heard the people crying crocodile tears about for that matter. Since the 2nd Intifada, several roads through the West Bank have been closed to Palestinian traffic due to DAILY shooting attacks on Israeli civilian vehicles that left many innocent civilians dead or injured. My own cousin's car was firebombed while he was driving home from Jerusalem with his wife and baby girl.

Since the closure, this has for the most part ceased to be an issue. Now the Palestinians are demanding that this road be open to their traffic and in fact, the Israeli Supreme Court has ruled in their favor. Soon, the new rule will go into effect and many Israelis will be avoiding this road out of fear that their families will be targets again. The road (like the rest of the infrastructure in Israel) by the way, was built by Israelis. What's that you say, Israelis shouldn't be able to drive through or live in the West Bank? But if Israel closes its borders to foreign Palestinians after a terrorist bombing, that's "apartheid" right? Interesting...

Want more? Because we have it. Along with the "end the occupation!" refrain which we seem to have had since time immemorial, the newer, hipper catchphrase of the late 00's was the "end the seige!" mantra - referring of course to Israel's closure of Gaza in response to daily rocket attacks against Israeli civilians. From the Sderot Media Center:
Most English dictionaries define siege as an “act or process of surrounding and attacking a fortified place in such a way as to isolate it from help and supplies...”

Indeed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website has reported that in the year 2009 alone, Israel allowed for 703, 224 tons of humanitarian aid and 105,600,128 liters of fuel to be delivered into the Gaza Strip following Operation Cast Lead.

“The IDF invested major resources to enable the flow of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip” stated Col. Moshe Levi, the head of the IDF’s Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration, in November 2009. According to Levi, humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip increased by 900 percent compared to the previous year. Over 22, 893 humanitarian aid trucks entered into Gaza throughout 2009.



Aid trucks ready to enter the Gaza Strip in the background. (Photo: Jacob Shrybman/Sderot Media Center)

Source: Blockading the Truth: Getting the facts straight on the ‘Gaza Siege’

Let's for now grant that "humanitarian aid" is just that (ignoring the propensity of Hamas to seize medical supplies in order to sell them and use the money for guns and rockets that kill civilians) and just think about those 100+ million liters of fuel.

What basic thing do all militaries need in order to operate? The ability to move. What enables a military unit to move quickly, set up a rocket and then flee the scene before the return fire lays waste to it? An automotive of some kind, be it a car, truck, van, motorcycle, rocket sled, whatever. What do all of these things need to operate? FUEL. Who gets first dibs on all the fuel that comes into Gaza (as well as everything else)? HAMAS. What does Hamas do with their fuel? KILL ISRAELIS. Who provides Hamas with fuel? ISRAELIS. Who provides the vast majority of electricity and water for the population that put Hamas into power? ISRAELIS. What do 68% of Palestinians think is a legitimate way to defend Islam? SUICIDE BOMBINGS AGAINST CIVILIANS. What people do 77% of Palestinians have an unfavorable rating of? AMERICANS. Who are the loudest supporters of Palestinians? AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENTS.

Who suffers for all of this? Israelis. Americans. Jews. Who allows it to happen? Israelis. Americans. Jews. Who, often FUNDS and ENCOURAGES their own suffering? Israelis. Americans. Jews.



Sanction of the victim.

Is it starting to click yet? In the end, it's not about Palestinian radicalism, Palestinian corruption, or ineffective Palestinian "leadership". The guiltiest man in the room isn't Hasan Nasrallah, Ismail Haniyeh, Mahmoud Abbas or even Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.

It's you. It's me. Like Hank Rearden WE are the ones that perpetuate this situation. WE are the ones that allow it to happen. And it is our fault because we should KNOW BETTER. And it isn't even that Barack Obama or Hilary Clinton's or Ehud Olmert's misguided policies allow the other side to succeed. Who put these in power? WE DID.

And by we I mean Jews who overwhelmingly swept Obama into power by giving him 77% of their vote and continue to defend their decision STILL TODAY, even as Iran continues to move towards nuclear weaponization and Israel's future hangs in the balance. This isn't to say of course that everyone who voted for Obama doesn't like Israel, but it's hard to claim you are a pro-Israel activist if you don't do the most basic thing you can do in a democracy if you care about something.

That is to VOTE for the people who will support it as opposed to people who will throw it under a bus.

This should be so obvious to us and yet still we pretend that it somehow makes us more virtuous to work (or at least vote) against our own best interests even as our actions directly or indirectly aid our would-be murderers.

This HAS to change. The clock is ticking.


____________________________________________


However, we should recognize that the policies of Hamas are more forthcoming and more conducive to a peaceful settlement than those of the United States or Israel.
--Noam Chomsky

Our main goal is to occupy all of Palestine and to push Israel to the sea or back to their countries. We are over 10 million refugees, but we will return home soon.
--Talal Nasser, Hamas PR Director

It is the complete opposite; he [Ahmedinejad] wants peace and not to destroy the Jewish nation, that’s what he explained to us.
--Rabbi Yisroel David Weiss, Neturei Karta

We have manufactured missiles that allow us, when necessary, to replace (sic) Israel in its entirety with a big holocaust.
--Mohammad Hassan Rahimian, Senior Iranian Official


____________________________________________


PERPETUATION


There can be little debate on the fact that the Jewish nation as a whole has had a historically destructive habit of aiding the very people who seek to destroy it. However, this suicidal tendency was by no means invented by the state of Israel, assimilationist/secular Jews or godless Zionists. In fact secular Zionism - the movement that founded (and serves as a basis for) the State of Israel was arguably the first time victimized Jews refused to give their sanction to their destroyers and chose to take control of their own destiny since the Bar Kochba rebellion of nearly 2000 years earlier.

Nor was Bar Kochba the first to stand up to his oppressors of his own volition. One needs only look at the stories of Chanukah and Purim - the two holidays that were most recently added to the Jewish calendar - to see examples of Jewish heroes like Judah the Maccabee and Queen Esther.

So we know that at some point, the perception of the Jew shifted from being that of a brave warrior-scholar...



...like Judah the Maccabee, one of The Nine Worthies - who along with people like King Arthur and Alexander the Great were the historic exemplars of chivalric code...




...and instead became the pathetic, docile, self-deprecating, Woody Allen nebbishes we are today. How (and why) did this happen? It if imperative that we answer these questions because if we are to ever change this suicidal docility, we must first understand the mentality that allows it to exist in the first place.

What causes Richard Goldstone to devote so much time to destroying Israel's legitimacy? What causes the Jewish lesbian to go out and protest in FAVOR of a regime that would have her beheaded, shot or stoned to death? Why do Jews all over the world like Adam Shapiro and Peter Trainor advocate for the destruction of Israel, the only hope Jews have had since Biblical times of protecting and defending their own interests, whether within Israel or without? What drives people like Jon Stewart and Sarah Silverman to embarrass and attack themselves, their culture and their legitimacy? How can Jewish parents be "happy" when their child grows up to become a Muslim fundamentalist and terrorist sympathizer? Why are Jews SO COMPELLED to always prove to the world that they aren't just looking out for other Jews or Americans or Israelis, that rather they are citizens of the entire world?

Often these people are labeled as being "self-hating" Jews...an allegation they vigorously deny. After all, how can you be self-hating when Fiddler on the Roof is your favorite movie?

Oh and don't be fooled into thinking that this suicidal tendency is prevalent only in the Jewish Left. Perhaps the worst offenders are the DECIDEDLY RIGHT WING Neturei Karta group.





Basing their hatred for Israel on the Talmudic commandment not to re-establish the State of Israel without a God-sent messiah as found in the tractate Ketuvot, page 111a, the Neturei Karta site states the following:
Jews shall not use human force to bring about the establishment of a Jewish state before the coming of the universally accepted Moshiach (Messiah from the House of David). Furthermore it states that we are forbidden to rebel against the nations and that we should remain loyal citizens and we shall not attempt to leave the exile which G-d sent us into, ahead of time.
Nor is this approach to foreign policy limited to fringe lunatics like the Neturei Karta. Indeed several extremely conservative (but much more mainstream) Jewish groups are also extremely anti-self-determination. While the Neturei Karta are the most visible and most active (in several cases actually CONSPIRING with Arab terrorists against other Jews) other anti-Zionist/Israel or non-Zionist groups exist that take a more passive view. The hasidic Satmar group for example, along with many other long-peyos-sporting Jews, still to this day prefer the shtetl (be it in Williamsburg, Lodz or Me'ah She'arim) to the kibbutz.

While they do not actively work against the state of Israel they absolutely reject its legitimacy. Few things in life are as paradoxical as the shtreimel-wearing haredi residents of some Jerusalem neighborhoods who refuse to vote or participate in Israeli society (often conducting massive protests against it) but still rely on the police and military to protect and defend them. It should be noted that not ALL haredim are anti-Zionist/Israel and that in recent years that there have even been signs of integration between these groups and the State.

Now, most secular Jews (especially those who voted for Obama) would never be caught dead hanging out with religious fanatics like the Neturei Karta. In fact, if she was caught being "queer" under a Neturei Karta regime, our Jewish lesbian friend from earlier would likely find herself in the same predicament as under a Hamas or al-Qaeda regime. That is, stoned to death.

And yet, it is this VERY POLICY - as quoted by the Neturei Karta and enacted by the post-2nd Temple rabbinic authority - that was based on a desire to appease the Romans and whoever the conqueror-du-jour of Judea was, that has been an accepted Jewish way of life for almost TWO THOUSAND years. All through the centuries of persecution, pogroms, Inquisitions, crusades and Holocausts there was NEVER an organized movement to re-establish a Jewish homeland in Israel or anywhere else for that matter. Since the Bar-Kochba revolt there were almost no examples of Jews even so much as FIGHTING BACK against persecution until the very height of it, the Holocaust. And even then it was far too late by the time we took up arms.

For thousands of years we were taught to be docile, to be pacifists, not to upset the balance and to be good citizens of the world wherever we went. This pragmatic, "man-without-a-country" mentality has allowed Jews to succeed in ways few other minorities have been able to in the United States and Europe but it also created a victim-mentality that still pervades Jewish culture to this day.

It really isn't about an emotional feeling of self-hatred...it's that this self-PRESERVING, pacifist behavior is so completely ingrained in our collective psyche that we don't even realize it's there anymore. And up until fairly recently in historical terms, this behavior was necessary - how else were we to survive in a world where we were always at the mercy of our host countries?

Why else do we constantly hear from Jews that they don't vote for "Israel's interests" but rather for the good of whatever country they live in? Why is there this need to constantly demonstrate our loyalty to our host countries even though (with the exception of the United States) they have committed unspeakable atrocities against us in basically 100% of them? Whereas at one time this was the only way for our people to survive, today it is something akin to national suicide.

Why is there such an aversion to demonstrate real Jewish pride and support for ZIONISM - which is essentially nothing more than a Jewish self-protection movement? Why does every other minority in the United States claim "minority" status, while Jews are listed simply as Caucasians? The Jewish experience has absolutely NOT been the same as the Spanish, French, English, German or other European nationalities. Why do we allow ourselves to be lumped in with them?

You Jews who are reading this...ask yourself these questions. Can you answer them? Does it bother you that you are thought of as a pushover by the rest of the world? Do Jewish stereotypes bother you? What have you done to break them down? Why do you behave the way you do? Do you like the fact that the most well-known Jews are self-hating, embarrassments like Woody Allen, Sarah Silverman, Noam Chomsky and the rest of the bagels-and-lox brigade who thrive on the image that you're just a kvetching, oy-vey spewing, no-tipping cheapskate whose cousins steal land from Arabs? Does that define you? If not, then WHY do you accept it?

I'll tell you why - it's because you've been indoctrinated to accept and perpetuate it by 2,000 years of self-deprecation in the face of anti-Semitism. Whether you're Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, Humanist or completely secular you all share a common foundation and that is page 111a in Ketuvot - the part where your ancestors decided on your behalf that it was best to grin and bear it and wait for God to forgive us and bring us out of exile.

Then when your great-great-grandfather crawled to America in search of streets paved with gold, he found a place where he could cross the street without being trampled to death by some angry Cossack and wow, was it nice. So what if they wanted him to work on Saturdays, as long as they didn't send him back to Lodz or Oddessa or Kiev and burn down his synagogue he would grin, bear it and provide for his family.

This is what he taught your great-grandfather, who taught your grandfather, who taught your father who TRIED to teach your mother - who was born a Catholic and got a Reform conversion to make your grandmother happy - but she didn't quite understand what all the fuss was about. Hey at least she likes pastrami from Katz's deli just like your father does, so she's like 99% Jewish anyway, right?

Right?

And so today, you think the the main purpose of Judaism is tikun olam (fixing or improving the world) which in your mind means voting for social justice programs that benefit the "real" minorities who didn't have the benefits of your father's NYU law-degree-assisted salary. All those rules and regulations are just outdated mysticism that doesn't apply in the 21st century and besides, you're never giving up your grandmother's delicious chicken parm that she makes every year for Christmas/Hanukkah.

Certainly no JEWS need any help anywhere in the world because their fathers are also all accountants or lawyers or doctors or investment bankers like you and your friends are. And if you look at the Middle East, you see a bunch of white Israelis on CNN (and they MUST be white because there was no "Jewish" or "Israeli" option on your FAFSA form) living in beautiful apartments and working in huge skyscrapers surrounded by a bunch of starving Arabs who live in mud huts.

Obviously the Israelis must be the oppressors and the Arabs must be the oppressed because the Jews have it all and the Arabs have nothing. Therefore the Arabs need our help and besides weren't they there before the Zionists came and stole their lands? After all, you DID learn in your Arab-Israeli conflict class (that you only took to impress that cute Egyptian girl that you met at the interfaith mixer the weekend you moved into your dorm) that there weren't any Jews in Israel before the 1800's, right?

Right?

And your grandfather always told you that the only way to survive was to fit in...you wouldn't want anyone to think you support ISRAELI interests over AMERICAN interests. That's what makes everyone hate us. Our job isn't to fight it's to stay quiet and go with the flow. Who even needs a Jewish state anyway? It just makes people hate us even more with their crazy wars and apartheid. And besides, we have America! We have Sandy Koufax! We have matza balls and gefilte fish! Who needs Israel?? Gilad who? Forgotten Refugees what? End the occupation! End the seige! Free Palestine!





Congratulations you're a Neturei Karta.

You may THINK you're bravely choosing to fight for the oppressed or Tom Joad or whatever other nonsense Zach De La Rocha told you you're doing but really you're just acting the way you've been trained to act by 2,000 years of oppression, massacres and beat-downs. You've perpetuated the most right-wing, conservative interpretation possible of the culture your Democrat-voting, liberal father always told you was silly mysticism. Grow out your sideburns and put on a black hat. And then stone yourself for having pre-marital sex.

You idiot.

____________________________________________


If we searched the entire world for a person more cowardly, despicable, weak and feeble in psyche, mind, ideology and religion, we would not find anyone like the Jew. Notice, I do not say the Israeli.
--Hasan Nasrallah

I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.
--John Galt

וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם אֶת-חֻקֹּתַי וְאֶת-מִשְׁפָּטַי, אֲשֶׁר יַעֲשֶׂה אֹתָם הָאָדָם וָחַי בָּהֶם
Ye shall therefore keep My statutes, and Mine ordinances, which if a man do, he shall live by them:
--Leviticus 18:5

Better to die standing, than to live on your knees.
--Ernesto 'Che' Guevara



____________________________________________


ANTHEM


So now we know the issue, we know the how and we know the why.

The ISSUE is the perplexing, self-defeating behavior of Jews throughout history, the HOW is the aid given to our enemies that gives them the ability to fight and kill us and the WHY is because we have been hard-wired by 2,000 years of oppression, pain and sorrow to be docile and think that it is righteous to not resist our enemies.

The big question now is WHAT do we do about it? Because there is only so far a culture of acceptance and quiet kvetching can take you...and the result is a malaise that has been steadily creeping over Jews for the past several centuries.

It is that which cannot be said. Everyone knows it's there, but no one dares to speak openly about it.

We all try to blank-out, to pretend it's nothing but an uneasiness about us. We banish the feeling to the backs of our minds, to fill our heads with American Idol and Dancing with the Stars and Tiger Woods...trying ever harder to doublethink it away...but we can't, deep down we know it's there. You know what I'm talking about...that quiet, unsettling feeling of something being somehow...incorrect...that you can't quite put your finger on...something uncomfortable...almost as if there's something you're doing that you're not really proud of, even when you're not really doing anything at all.

We ignore the reality that it is this very same unspoken feeling of melancholy and emptiness that has driven young Jews to seek Islam or Buddhism or Christmas trees or Marxism or pathetic attempts to emulate hip hop culture or blind pursuit of hedge fund success at the expense of their pride and heritage. And it makes sense that this would happen...because WHO could be attached to a culture that glorifies docility?

This is why early Zionists changed their last names, forced everyone to learn Hebrew and mocked Yiddish as a language of the oppressed. It was a clean break from the embarrassment of 2,000 years of abuse at the hands of our hosts. This is also why today it is so hard for Israelis to clarify the justification for going to war to protect themselves...to them it should be self-evident to anyone reads history!

And this is why Che Guevara and Yasir Arafat are so attractive to misguided "liberal" American youths. For years I thought that it was simple ignorance that caused college students to follow these barbarians but it actually goes much deeper than that. While they often are ignorant of what their heroes are actually guilty of, even when the truth is brought to them they often STILL follow them...because even a flawed hero is still a hero.

Who are the modern Jewish heroes? Where are they? Ask the average American Jew and what would they say? Jon Stewart? Steven Spielberg? Adam Sandler? Ari Gold?



Famous? Sure. Successful? Filthy rich? Absolutely. But you're not exactly going to be studying them in college as revolutionary figures or instruments of social change, are you? In fact the only one among them you could perceive as "strong" or "brave" or "intimidating" is a completely fictional character! You're not going to get young Jews excited to emulate these people. When children and teenagers have no one to emulate, they're going to look outside the box for them and they're going to be ripe targets for missionaries, demagogues and worse.

They're going to leave their culture and idolize other cultures instead. And all the money their parents spent on Hebrew schools and bar mitzvah lessons will be wasted when Adam comes home with a beard and tells his family he's going to "study" to Pakistan. Or Rachel decides to go on a "humanitarian mission" to Gaza and doesn't understand why her parents are so upset when she tells them. This is of course assuming the parents even bothered to care about the cultural identity of their children...a trend that has been distinctly on the negative side for the past three generations at least...which not-so-oddly also coincides with the declining size of the community.

The future certainly looks grim for non-Orthodox Judaism.

As if this wasn't enough of an issue there is still the Talmudic prohibition against re-establishing a state and army in the absence of the messiah. Because we sinned and have been exiled, the rabbis who survived the disastrous Bar Kochba revolt surmised that we had best sit quietly and try to get along with our new overlords.

And so it goes...we continue to tread water...doing just enough to get from one generation to another...taking unimaginable losses all along the way...paralyzed by our own indifference and just hoping not to finally get swept under a tide that gets higher and more dangerous with every passing day.

What is the answer to this malaise? How do we break out from 2,000 years of docility? Or do we give up? Accept our own victimhood and impending doom? Sanction our own destruction?

No my friends, this is not the answer. The time has come to put this policy to bed once and for all.

First on the religious level. While Judaism's docility has been well-established over the years, there is a very strict RELIGIOUS prohibition against suicide or suicidal behavior. There also exists a concept in Judaism of פיקוח נפש (transliterated as pikuach nefesh) - literally "saving a soul/life" which overrules almost all other commandments...even many of the 10 Commandments themselves.

There is no QUESTION that the State of Israel has saved the lives of thousands, if not millions of people who would otherwise be doomed to persecution, oppression, starvation and. And lest you think that this service provided by Israel is limited to just Jews - ask yourselves this question...why would a cash-strapped Jewish state that is embroiled in a perpetual state of war with its neighbors spend resources to assist with tsunami and earthquake search and rescue efforts? Please note the earthquake link was about a specific team of ULTRA-ORTHODOX Israeli Jews who had voluntarily travelled to Haiti and were violating the sabbath to save the lives of people that under normal circumstances should never have even come across.



In fact, it was widely reported that for days, Israel's field hospital was the only one able to perform at any acceptable level in Haiti. So Israel saves lives, both Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and non-religious. That alone should be enough of a reason for all Orthodox Jews (and everyone else for that matter) to embrace a state that everyday provides a literal life-saving function for people all over the world as well as a cultural, religious and spiritual life-saving function for Jews who would otherwise be lost to the tide of assimilation. It may not be the religious, messiah-driven state they crave, but for now it sure serves a purpose that they should rush to embrace (and many - but not all - do).

Furthermore, our pact with the nations we were exiled to was supposed to be a two-way street. We were supposed to behave like good little refugees and they were supposed to let us be. It's time to face the facts (as early Zionists did in the 1800's) that they did NOT hold up their end of the deal. Not taking steps to protect ourselves is a violation of the commandment against suicide. Giving up our lives to adhere to a rabbinical decree from 2,000 years ago is not only insane, it is a DIRECT VIOLATION of Jewish law. This is FACT. In a post-2nd Temple world this decision made sense...in a post-Holocaust world it no longer does. The Neturei Karta, for all their black hats, white beards and Talmud-quoting signs and pamphlets are WRONG. This is also FACT.

So religiously we can follow God and take inspiration from the Bible. But what to do about the secular Jews? Where do they get their inspiration from? How do we replace Guevara and Chavez and Arafat if all we have are Sandler, Spielberg and Stewart? Or worse, total useless wretches like Chomsky and Finkelstein. Where are our revolutionaries? Where are our warriors and heroes? And what can we do about the perception that we're all nerdy accountants?

Well, first we start out by pointing out that the perception is WRONG.


We're not ALL Woody Allen clones

You see we DO have our own strong heroes, revolutionaries and role models. They're just currently labeled as "Zionists" rather than Jews and are part of "Israeli history" instead of Jewish history. Theodore Herzl. David Ben-Gurion. Golda Meir. Why wear a Che Guevara t-shirt when Vladmir "Ze'ev" Jabotinsky was twice the warrior he was with none of the communist dictatorship baggage?

And furthermore, why do we need to continue to behave as if we just sprang up out of the earth in the United States? We came from somewhere just like every other immigrant group. We might have taken some detours before we got here but all of us have common roots in Israel. Just like Italians have Italy, Brazilians have Brazil...we Jews have ISRAEL. Even if we don't live there or have never been there, why can't we idolize these Zionists, these Jews, these non-victims? You don't see Italians being shy about hanging Italian flags from the rearview mirrors - why shouldn't we do the same with Israeli flags? Why be shy about where we come from?

Unabashed, unafraid, unapologetic ZIONISM is the answer to our Jewish malaise problem. Real JEWISH nationalism, an impossible 2,000 year old dream that has actually been REALIZED is the answer. We don't need to be victims anymore. We don't need to play their game anymore. We don't need to play by their rules anymore!

"If it is now the belief of my fellow men, who call themselves the public, that their good requires victims, then I say: The public good be damned, I will have no part of it!"
--Hank Rearden


I will no longer be a victim.

I will no longer apologize for my success, nor feed into the myth that my success somehow comes at the expense of someone else.

I will no longer be afraid to stand up for myself and defend the Jewish homeland, MY homeland, Israel.

I will no longer feel that I have to prove my loyalty to whatever country I live in by going against my homeland of Israel.

I will support Israel because it is my ancestral home AS WELL as because Israel has brought substantial gains to the United Sates as well as the rest of the world.

I will no longer allow the hypocrites around me to make me feel as if I need to prove my docility.

I will no longer abide by everyone else's nonsensical, politically correct definitions of right and wrong or their expectations for Jews, for Israel and for me.

I am NOT a Jewish American who is pro-Israel.

That is a passive statement similar to saying that you're pro-freedom or pro-money or pro-food or pro-happiness. Of course I am in favor of a Jewish country...that should be a given for EVERYONE regardless of who they are or what their political ideology is.

What I am, is a JEWISH AMERICAN ZIONIST.

I believe that Jews are no longer the world's victims, to be used and abused as they were throughout history. I believe that the Jewish homeland is Israel even if I don't live there and never intend to. I believe that just as the Italian national home is Italy regardless of where an Italian lives, so to is Israel the Jewish national home regardless of where a Jew finds him or herself. I believe that I must actively take steps to prevent myself, my family and my friends from being abused. I believe that I control my own destiny and no one has a right to choose my path for me, but me.

And I believe that it is not my responsibility to clean up the messes created by others. It is not my fault that other ethnic groups have also been beaten down over time. I will have solidarity with them, empathy for them and do whatever I can to help them to reach the levels of success that I have achieved.

But it is not my obligation and it will NOT achieved at my expense. I will NOT sacrifice my own future for a parasite that will end up destroying both of us. And I am finished with allowing others to guilt me into believing that there is something wrong with this way of thinking. I will no longer be the guiltiest man in the room because I know better and I will act on that knowledge.

אִם אֵן אַנִי לִי מִי לִי
וּכשְׁאַנִי לְעַצְמִי מָה אַנִי
וְאִם לֹא עַכְשָׁיו אֵימָתַי


If I am not for myself, then who will be?
When I am only for myself, what am I?
And if not now, then when?
--Ethics of our Fathers


This is my belief. This is my pledge.

And this applies to Israeli Jews as well as non-Israelis. Just because the Palestinians got the short end of the stick after the British and French carved up the Ottoman Empire and created a bunch of artificial states that were doomed to failure from the start, does not mean that the residents of Sderot need to live in a perpetual state of terror. Just because the Palestinians were abandoned and sold out by their disorganized Egyptian, Syrian, Jordanian, Saudi Arabian, Lebanese and Iraqi cousins does not mean that a Jewish family should not be allowed to live in Hebron. Just because a Palestinian's great-great-grandparents didn't think to hold onto their land deeds under the Ottomans or that their grandparents thought they'd be better off trying to push the Jews into the sea doesn't mean that I should sacrifice my capital to atone for it. Just because they couldn't live next to the Jews and instead started THREE wars that they lost doesn't mean that I need to allow the creation of yet another terrorist, dictatorial regime that wants to eliminate a liberal, pluralistic democracy.

It's not my problem. Just because I am successful, it does not mean that I deserve to be sacrificed to those who are not so that they should live and I should not.

It is only if the Jewish community of the Diaspora adopts this same mentality, this anthem, this pledge to leave the shackles of victimhood behind that it will be able to reverse what appears to be an inevitable decline and disappearance into the irrelevance of assimilation. If not now...when?

These rules that we think we've set for ourselves but really have been set FOR us by faceless ancestors are impossible to follow. This game we've engaged ourselves in is impossible to win and if we continue to play it we are doomed to fail.

But the beauty of life is that we always, always have a choice.

Like Hank, I finally choose NOT to play their game.

And neither should you.

Spread the word, we shall be victims no longer.


________________________________________________________________________



That's what I think...what's YOUR reaction?

Post a Comment

Share

Like what you read? Check out the RONMOSSAD store on cafepress!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

UNBELIEVABLE: Is the Obama Administration REALLY trying to eliminate/overthrow the Benjamin Netanyahu government?!

Welcome to regime change, Obama style:

Bibi be gone: Obama team plotting overthrow of Israel's Netanyahu

Sources in the administration and Congress asserted that the White House and State Department have sought to destabilize Netanyahu's government by forcing him to agree to an indefinite freeze on Jewish construction in the West Bank and most of Jerusalem as well as the establishment of a Palestinian state by 2012. They said the campaign sought to replace Netanyahu with opposition leader and former foreign minister Tsipi Livni.
No way.
"Bibi is extremely vulnerable to pressure," a source familiar with the White House effort said. "We know this from his first term in office and believe he will collapse this time as well."
No freaking way.
The sources said the administration's strategy aimed to de-legitimize Netanyahu in his government and right-wing constituency. They said Obama and his aides have sought to portray Netanyahu as a weak and unstable politician who will destroy relations with Washington as Israel seeks U.S. support for a military option against Iran.
What the hell!!!!!!!!
The sources said the administration's campaign has included invitations to Defense Minister Ehud Barak to the White House, where he met with Obama on April 26. Barak has been regarded as the most pro-U.S. minister in Netanyahu's Cabinet and has been lobbying ministers to accept Obama's proposals.
Read the full story at the World Tribune if you don't believe me.



Look, I'm not big on conspiracy theories - BELIEVE ME I'm not. But is it really so out of the question that this administration would try to sort of push a guy they don't like out of the way? It would certainly explain the astonishingly bizarre behavior coming out of the Obama camp, since very early on in the presidency. It would also explain why there is such a close alliance between President Obama and "just because we like Israel doesn't mean we like Likud" traitors like J Street.

And by the way...say what you will about Bibi, but "weak and unstable? Really? Take a look at this clip of Netanyahu on the Bill Maher show:



You tell me if Netanyahu is anything resembling "unstable" on a show that generally IS NOT on his country's side. This isn't Hannity, it's Bill Maher for Christ's sake. Even BILL MAHER knows better!

It's gotten to the point that in addition to retired generals feeling the need to remind Obama who his real friends are, you have several DEMOCRATIC Congressmen and women publicly speaking out against their boss.

Steve Rothman (D-NJ) recently published an article entitled: The Dividends of U.S. Support for Israel

Anthony Weiner (D-NY) chimes in with his opinion piece: Enough Already, Mr. President: Time to Start Treating Israel Like the Ally It Is

Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says Obama's "terrible" treatment of Netanyahu has to stop.

Former Democratic NYC mayor Ed Koch: Obama's Treatment of Israel is Shocking. In fact, Koch is on record telling Fox News that he has...

...been a supporter of President Obama and went to Florida for him, urged Jews all over the country to vote for him saying that he would be just as good as John McCain on the security of Israel. I don't think it's true anymore.Congresswoman Shelly Berekely (D-NV) castigates Obama for his recent public humiliation of Israel’s Prime Minister

And of course, hundreds of Democratic Senators and House Representatives all signed a letter to Hillary Clinton and Obama about their disgraceful treatment of Israel.



This is ASIDE from the Republicans who take every opportunity to bash Obama, especially on Israel and foreign policy issues. These people are ALL very liberal, anti-Bush, anti-neo-con, anti-right wing, anti-whatever-name you want to pick for why so many leftists seem to hate Israel. The fact that even they are starting to speak out against what is going on here CANNOT be a coincidence. It cannot.

So it may not be that far of a stretch to say that this Nobel-Peace-Prize-winning administration is more concerned with getting rid of Netanyahu than getting rid of Ahmedinejad. And yet there are still a majority of Jews who voted for Obama that STILL will TODAY tell you that it was the right decision for Israel.

How naive. How self-destructive. How deluded.

WAKE UP ALREADY JEWS!!! THIS GUY IS NOT - NOR HAS HE EVER BEEN - OUR FRIEND!!!



________________________________________________________________________


That's what I think...what's YOUR reaction?

Post a Comment

Share

Monday, April 26, 2010

Wear white for Gilad Shalit 4/27/2010

Tomorrow in Israel is official "wear white for Gilad Shalit" day.



For those of you unaware of who Gilad Shalit is, he is an Israeli soldier who was kidnapped from Israeli soil by Hamas terrorists FOUR years ago. To this day he is still in captivity where he has been subjected to starvation, torture and God knows what else. Hamas refuses to let him go home unless Israel releases approximately 1,000 of their terrorists, many with innocent blood on their hands and who have vowed to kill again, in exchange for him. Hamas will not let the Red Cross examine him and generally refuses to give any information on him to his parents Noam and Aviva Shalit.

The capture of Gilad is hailed as a tremendous victory in Gaza, where murals depict him in jail as if kidnapping a human being were something to be proud of.



The following video was released by Hamas about 6 months ago to prove that he was still alive at the time. In order for the video to be released Israel was forced to hand over 20 of its prisoners. FOR A VIDEO.



Not much to editorialize there...the man's pained voice and face speaks for itself. Note the difference between the picture of Gilad before his abduction to the man in the video.

The Gilad Shalit saga has been a very painful one for Israel and Israelis. His parents have become semi-celebrities after all their appearances on Israeli television begging for the government to do something to get their son released. Demonstrations calling for his release happen often. This past Passover in Israel and around the world, Jews left an empty chair at their holiday feasts as a quiet reminder that Gilad had yet another Passover in hell.

And still the time goes by...and still Gilad Shalit waits. And waits. And suffers. And waits.

Hamas, not content with simply shooting rockets into Israel, starving and killing their own people and sitting on this prisoner for FOUR YEARS recently put out this video, essentially mocking the captive's father by throwing it in his face that he'll most likely never see his son alive again.



The video is clearly designed to get an emotional reaction out of him and other Israelis in order to get them to pressure the government into caving into appeasing Hamas. Ironically in the video, even though Noam is still wandering the streets of Israel for 30, 40 years or so waiting for his son, the signs and advertisments are still in Hebrew, the newspapers are the same as today, the prime ministers are still Israelis - the country is clearly still ruled by Jews! Even the Erez crossing into Gaza is still intact and maintained by Israeli soldiers.

I think that it's EXTREMELY telling that even in this Hamas fantasy they're STILL not ruling over Israel (which is their stated purpose for existing). It really speaks to the fact that deep down they know they're never actually going to win, nor do they particularly want to...but I digress...

Noam Shalit, in response to this video has this to say:
Hamas leaders would do better if instead of producing films and performances, they would worry about the real interests of the Palestinian prisoners and the ordinary citizens of Gaza who have been held hostage by their leaders for a long time.
Right on Noam.

So wherever you are tomorrow, I urge you all to wear white in solidarity with Gilad and his family - and if anyone asks you why you're dressed in white make sure you tell them...





...that it's for Gilad. And his family.



________________________________________________________________________


That's what I think...what's YOUR reaction?

Post a Comment

Share

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Revolution Muslim VS South Park update: converts, tolerance, Ibrahim Hooper and self-responsibility

A few updates and additional thoughts on the Revolution Muslim VS South Park saga which is still continuing to develop and still getting no real reaction from anyone important.

First from foxnews.com there is some background information on the group and the guy who allegedly made the threat against Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

From the article:

By all appearances, Zachary Adam Chesser was the boy next door. He played football and was on the crew team at one of the best high schools in the country. He even studied Japanese. He was hardly the sort of boy you'd expect would suggest on a radical Islamic website that the creators of the edgy cartoon series "South Park" will be targeted for death...

Two years later, Chesser is literally a changed man. He now uses an alias and has a new set of hobbies. He now likes to be called Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee, and his primary interest in this world appears to be Islamic radicalism.
Excellent! Another lost soul who converted to Islam because he probably didn't get enough of an education in his own religion/culture from his parents. In fact, if you look at the other public members or former members of the group, they're ALL converts from various religions.

Take this story from The Brooklyn Ink on the founder of the site, a man named Yousef Al-Khattab - born Joseph Cohen:
Born Joseph Cohen, Khattab says he converted to Islam after coming across a Muslim from the United Arab Emirates in a Jewish chat-room while in Netivot, Israel in 1998. Their to and fro on religion lasted two years, and for Khattab, the exchange confirmed previous doubts about Judaism and eventually prompted him to embrace Islam after reading an English translation of the Quran. The exchanges, he says, reaffirmed his belief that rabbis use deception to keep Jews subservient to them...
Ok, terrific! According to Khattab's bio on an Islamic website he was "born to a Secular Jewish family, and at the age of 18 years old decided to look 'deeper' into belief in God," eventually he "entered a Yeshiva and started [his] journey into the Orthodox Rabbinical racist cult." I would highly encourage you to check out the rest of his post before it's inevitably taken down - it is quite the trip. In fact, I'll copy/paste it into the comments section of this article to ensure it never goes away.

As for the guy in the video seen berating people on the streets of New York from the last post, Younes Abdullah Muhammad, there were several references all over the internet to his being a convert as well. For better or worse though, he's done a better job of keeping his pre-terrorism life private.

So what we have here is yet another example of people who were seemingly normal Americans growing up to become significantly ABNORMAL pro-al Qaeda extremists. This is not the first time this topic has been covered here. Back in 2007, I wrote about Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and his journey from secular Jew to radical Muslim to Christian anti-terrorism consultant. And of course by now you're familiar with Adam "Yahiye Gadahn" Pearlman and John Walker Lindh - both Americans, who came from seemingly normal homes but ended up being sucked into al Qaeda.

These (along with the Revolution Muslim guys) are obviously extreme examples the American melting pot gone terribly wrong, but let's be honest with ourselves, you only need to go as far as your nearest college campus to see thousands of young Americans protesting against the very country that gave them the ability to protest it. Obviously, it's not the same thing - but there is this tremendous undercurrent of self-hatred in this country that if left unchecked can turn into outright extremism and death threats against cartoons.

Without exception every single one of these extremists absolutely shatter the absolute myth that in order to become a terrorist you must grow up in a closed, poverty-stricken society. Sorry Chomsky, sorry ANSWER Coalition, sorry International Solidarity Movement, sorry Daily Kos, but none of these guys had their land "stolen" by Zionists. None of these guys were the subject of "evil" American foreign policy. None of these guys were disenfranchised minorities. They were people who were raised in exactly the type of environment you WANT them to be raised in and look what it got them. Look what it got all of us.

Why does this happen? What causes people to go from being normal, often very liberal Americans and turn into something like this?


Declaring jihad against the "Joos" - executives at Tropicana and Minute Maid express serious concerns

It all comes down to the fact that we simply do not prepare our children to deal with the people that would seek to convert and take advantage of them. While it's very good to accept people of different faiths, religions, ethnicities - if you do not make it very clear to your children what YOU believe and what YOU feel they should believe in as well, they're going to be open to someone ELSE who will make it clear to them what THEY think your child should believe in. It's all about the foundation you lay for your children. If you don't provide a strong example for them, someone or something else will. Education starts at the home because the minute your children walk out that door there are literally thousands of people, groups, companies and movements competing for their attention.

You see, there is a limit to tolerance, that when reached it begins to foster intolerance. By tolerating the ability of groups like Revolution Muslim to target your children and convert them to their cause you are allowing the most INTOLERANT people in the world to succeed. And believe me, once that line is crossed, once your child has turned into an Al-Amrikee or a Gadhan not only will you weep for your child that you've lost...you will bear the responsibility for anyone your child's intolerance has brainwashed or assaulted.

The problem with accepting these kinds of groups is that THEY will NOT accept YOU. They will NOT accept the television shows you watch. They will NOT accept your inter-faith dialogues and marriages. The only thing they will tolerate is their own extremist viewpoints and the only time they will accept you is when you've been converted to their cause as well.

We as private citizens cannot do anything about al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, that's a job for the military. We need to do our part here at home by taking responsibility for ourselves and our families. We must provide a strong alternative to extremism by showing our youth that we too have a culture that's deeper than just "Dancing with the Stars" and Walmart.

Finally on the subject of responsibility, at the same time we are taking ownership of our own communities, it is imperative that we call out those people who continually to refuse to do the same for their own communities.

From the original Fox News article on Al-Amrikee:
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, characterized Revolution Muslim as a loosely-organized group with such outrageous beliefs he believes it may be a "setup" to smear Islam.

"They say wild and irresponsible things periodically," Hooper told FoxNews.com. "There's a strong suspicion that they're merely a setup to make Muslims and Islam look bad. They say such wild and crazy things that you have to wonder."
THIS. Right HERE is where as a society we LOSE. Really Ibrahim? They're "setup" are they? Setup by whom? Why can't Hooper, along with the rest of the terrorist apologists just accept the fact that there are a LOT of Muslim extremists? If Islam is as peaceful a religion as you say it is - then why not CONDEMN these extremists in ISLAMIC terms.

Recently in my non-blogging life, I've come across quite a few Muslims who have presented compelling ISLAMIC cases for why the terrorists are wrong. In fact, just recently the highly respected, internationally-known Shaikh Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri issued a FATWA AGAINST TERRORISM.

Why do people like Hooper and the Council on American-Islamic Relations insist on making excuses instead of following ul-Qadri's example and CONDEMNING people like Revolution Muslim for what they are? I myself have no problem calling out members of the Jewish community that I disagree with and have done so on numerous occasions in the past. What's this guy's problem? Does it have something to do with the fact that like Revolution Muslim, Hooper is himself a convert?

You know how you shut up a religious extremist? You find an even MORE religious guy who disagrees with their views and uses their own religious logic AGAINST them. You certainly don't apologize and make excuses for them or worse ignore responsibility completely by acting as if this is some kind of bizarre conspiracy to defame you! It is very telling and disappointing that a Pakistani cleric is more solid on anti-terrorism than Americans like Hooper.

In fact it is exactly this kind of tolerance of terrorism by people like Hooper that fosters the malaise that drives people like Zachary Chesser and Joseph Cohen to morph into Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee and Yousef Al-Khattab respectively. Actually it's probably what turned "Doug" Hooper into "Ibrahim" Hooper as well. So of course he doesn't know how to handle the extremists - he is a product of the same society that created them and is basically one himself!

In the end what needs to happen if we are going to put a stop to this extremely disturbing trend in our society is the following:

1. We must take responsibility for ourselves and our communities by presenting a very clear vision of what we believe and why we believe it. And if you aren't sure what you believe in yet...don't have children and bring them into your world of confusion.

2. We cannot have any tolerance for nations, communities or people who do not respect our right to live in the way we choose to. Simply saying "it's their culture" provides a justification for their actions and gives extremists like Revolution Muslim the ability to be intolerant towards us.

3. We must DEMAND that other communities take the same responsibility for their actions and police their own the way we are expected to police our own. The same way that it's wrong for a non-Muslim to say "all Muslims are terrorists" is the same way that it is wrong for a Muslim to say "all non-Muslims are must be terrorized". Furthermore, any member or self-declared leader of their community who attempts to justify this position or shirks responsibility for it is no better than the person making that statement.

This is a very basic, very simple concept...you can say and think whatever you want, but the minute you begin forcing your beliefs on others - that is where you cross the line and lose your right to do so. If we do this, if we train our youth to do this we will be arming them against these fanatics and giving them the tools to build the kind of life we wish for them.

But if we don't do this...



Well, the results pretty much speak for themselves.

________________________________________________________________________


That's what I think...what's YOUR reaction?

Post a Comment

Share

Thursday, April 22, 2010

South Park and Revolution Muslim: Freedom of Speech suicide bombed by Muhammad again

Wow.

There sure have been a lot of changes in this country over the past couple of years. We have nationalized banks, nationalized car companies, nationalized health insurance and pretty soon it looks like nationalized stock trading as well. We have an administration that has significantly altered the USA's approach to the Middle East...in a way that they now regularly make demands of sovereign, democratic allies while giving hostile, terrorist entities a free pass. The America we live in today is a vastly different place than it was just two years ago.

And now we have entered the realm of speech as well.

If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.
--George Washington


One week ago, the creators of South Park aired their 200th episode. In the episode they attempted to poke fun at the ridiculous idea that you can make fun of every topic, every human being, every leader, every celebrity, every religious figure...everyone except for the Prophet Muhammad.

South Park's relationship with the Prophet goes back a while...he actually appeared in an episode from nine years ago that involved many major religious figures or gods (think Jesus, Moses, Krishna) teaming up in as Power Rangers-style super heroes and fighting crime. Then, in a rather brilliant statement on censorship and Muhammad, the created a storyline where al Qaeda threatens to attack the United States if an image of Muhammad is aired on Family Guy. In the end, the terrorist "retaliation" turns out to be one of the most insane segments of television ever aired, as Jesus, George W. Bush and several stereotypical Americans are shown performing some pretty disgusting acts.


WARNING: THE FINAL MINUTE OF THIS IS PRETTY GRAPHIC AND DUE TO ITS CONTENT SHOULD NOT BE VIEWED BY ANYONE



Personally, I thought it was a very funny and poignant statement on how absurd we'd gotten in this country when one religious figure (as well as the president and the American flag) can be the subject of some (literal) toilet humor while another one isn't even allowed to be shown at all.

At the time, the scene with Muhammad did not air. Instead the screen went dark and said that Comedy Central (the channel that airs South Park) refused to allow an image of Muhammad on their network. At the time it aired - which was in the wake of the Muslim cartoon riots - it looked like an elaborate joke. Unfortunately though, it wasn't...Comedy Central gave into intimidation. Furthermore, it appears at this time that they've forced South Park to take down the streaming access to the original "Super Best Friends" episode from 2001 that had the Muhammad character.

Well, last week South Park was at it again. This time, to get around the censorship issue, they decided to hide Muhammad in a giant bear costume. Unfortunately for our old lunatic friends from revolutionmuslim.com this wasn't good enough and they responded with the following statement:

"We have to warn [South Park creators) Matt (Stone) and Trey (Parker) that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show,"

Theo Van Gogh for those keeping score at home, was murdered by an Islamic extremist for speaking out against the awful treatment of women in majority-Muslim countries. Essentially, the Revolution Muslim people were telling Parker and Stone that if they followed through with showing Muhammad in the next episode, bad things would be visited upon them, Allah-willing. To further drive the point home, they included an address where you could find the duo.

Also for those keeping score at home, this is the second time this site has had to deal with these Revolution Muslim fanatics. These are the same people that applauded Nidal Malik al-Hasan as a hero for blowing away his friends and co-workers during the Fort Hood terrorist attack.

So, all eyes were on South Park this week to see what would happen. Would Comedy Central again give in and try to appease a bunch of radical Muslims?

Unfortunately, when this week's episode aired, not only was Muhammad's image not shown but any mention of the word "Muhammad" was bleeped out. And at the end of the episode, an entire speech from one of the characters about the situation was also bleeped out.

This

is

a

DISGRACE.

What has happened to us? How isn't the entire country in a massive uproar today? This is not a matter of South Park being "Islamophobic" or somehow targeting Muslims...their entire M.O. is to satirize anything and everything in society. Religious figures, political figures, celebrities, silly fads and social issues of every possible type have been targeted over the show's 14-season run. Even MUHAMMAD HIMSELF was playfully mocked before the pre-9/11 fear-fest that has descended upon the world.

In fact, here in no particular order is a non-comprehensive list of the topics South Park has mocked in the past that have not resulted in barely-veiled death threats:

Jesus. Moses. Mormons. Scientologists. George W. Bush. Bill Clinton. John McCain. Barack Obama. Saddam Hussein. The devil. God. Heaven. Hell. The war in Iraq. Osama Bin-Laden. The anti-war protesters. The pro-war protesters. Rednecks. Mormons. Tom Cruise. Rosie O'Donnell. Movies that deal with time travel. 80's movies. Action movies. Japanese people. Pokemon. Catholics. Santa Claus. The Pope. The Catholic League. Jews. Judaism. Jewish mothers. Black people. Former cast member Isaac Hayes. Women. Men. Old people. Gay people. Straight people. Metrosexual people. Republicans. Democrats. Mexicans. Americans. Canadians. Orphans. Paris Hilton. Girls who like Paris Hilton. Mel Gibson. Child molestation. Chinese people. Young people. Michael Richards. Gary Condit. Steroids. The Special Olympics. Religious fanatics. Ethiopians. Sally Struthers. And on. And on. And on...

But Muhammad isn't allowed to be even just be shown on-screen??

What is going on here?! Honestly...how can we let this happen to our country and our society? How can we let one group, just one group dictate to us what we are and aren't allowed to talk about? Where is the outrage? Where are the liberals? Where is the ACLU? Moderate Muslims? Congress? The President? Anyone???

Several months ago, I wrote about Michael Savage being banned in Britain also as a result of some controversial things he has said and as far as I know, to this day still no one of any real importance has come to his defense. Here is another example, this time of Americans being censored IN AMERICA due to THREATS of VIOLENCE by OTHER AMERICANS.

This too adds a whole different dimension to the issue - the Revolution Muslim guys are AMERICANS. They live and operate in the New York area where they frequently terrorize locals (especially people who they perceive as moderate Muslims) with their rantings and ravings against the United States, Israel, Jews, Christians, unbelievers, Obama...you know, maybe they have more in common with South Park than they think...



...or maybe not. This is what we are tolerating everyday on our streets. This is what is dictating our television shows to us now. Are we really going to live like this? Are we really letting this happen?

It is entirely unacceptable and we cannot allow it to continue. But I've already weighed in several times on where this censorship road is taking us...there are only so many ways to say that this is a disgrace without being repetitive.

So here's what I'm going to do - and I encourage everyone else to do the same:





That's an image of Muhammad from the 2001 episode of South Park.





Here it is again.





And again.





And again.




"The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law."
--Declaration of the Rights of Man, Article 11

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
--The First Amendment to the United States Constitution


This is AMERICA for God's sake. We cannot let a bunch of fringe religious fanatics dictate our lives to us.