There is all kinds of weirdo in the world: “On Sunday, rabbit-lovers organized a national day of action to draw attention to the production and sale of rabbit meat at the grocery chain, warning that dogs and cats could be slaughtered for meat next and accusing Whole Foods of being “bunny butchers.” Proving that virtually everything has an advocacy organization, the House Rabbit Society helped design leaflets adorned with adorable bunny pictures for protesters.” One has got to be a very strange person, indeed, not to eat rabbit meat because rabbits look cute or whatever.
“Puppy love allows you to develop romantic relationship skills. Those skills allow teenagers to learn how to balance another person’s needs with your own needs. It helps with your own verbal communication. It helps you practice social skills that are critical to getting into college and getting a job. They do have a cumulative effect.” I hope this person is being facetious because I’m not sure how to live on the planet where people say such idiotic things seriously.
And there is more from the same source: “It seems decidedly unromantic, but the tester relationships and love affairs of our teens and twenties are skill-building exercises that ready us for committed, long-term unions. There is utilitarian value in a broken heart.” Sad, stupid fuck.
Canadian immigration is very corrupt. See this story of a Ukrainian Jew who exploited the stupidity of the system until he finally got caught.
Just in case you needed more proof that radical feminists are, in reality, passionate woman-haters, check out this screed.
Really amazing mathematical sculptures.
Dictionary site trolls homeschoolers. Hilarious!
“I had always thought that it was a sacred canon of our profession that the classroom requires certain and very specific rules of engagement from us as teachers. I would never, for example, respond to libertarians in my classroom the way I respond to some libertarians on Twitter.” What is upsetting is that this very obvious thing has to be explained over and over again.
“My leftist Ukrainian friends reacted badly to the slogan “Glory to Ukraine!” This is a nationalist slogan, they say.” I can’t even begin to imagine what “leftist Ukrainians” might look like. One can hardly be Ukrainian and feel nostalgic for the USSR.
“We want to live in a safe world, says Ruskin in this interview, “But we don’t.” Kids 7,8,9 and 10 should not walk to school or even venture outside without you, she says. Perhaps by age 11 you can let your child out in “short spurts,” but really, folks, “It is your job to be the parent,” and if you trust your kids to walk the dog or bike to a friend’s, you are guilty of “parentifying” your child — turning the child into an adult.” People pile on this Ruskin creature and fail to recognize that she only tells the viewers what they desperately want to hear.
I’m all for Salaita’s reinstatement in his job but I hate these touch-feely, “oh have pity on him because he has tender feelings” letters that purport to support Salaita but, instead, make him look like an unhinged hysteric. Salaita should be defended not because of his hurt feelings but because a university administration should not be in the business of policing people’s Twitter accounts, that’s all. What Salaita did or didn’t feel at any point of his life is completely beyond the question.
More and more often, when I read articles published in the EU, I have to restrain my desire to exclaim, imitating Zizek, “Degenerates! Degenerates!” See the linked article on how we should all feel massively sorry for pedophiles and give them money.
This post is in Russian but it has really really great photos of the wettest place on Earth. Which sounds very, very attractive.
Clarissa's Blog 
The photos of the wettest place were very interesting.
As for “feeling sorry for pedophiles:” Were you disgusted by the tone of her article or by the practical suggestions? What would be not degenerate suggestions in your eyes? For some of pedophiles, putting in jail forever is the answer. However, what to do in practice with those who haven’t abused children yet and call the helpline? If they are all jailed, nobody would call the helpline and possibility of abuse may be heightened.
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“However, what to do in practice with those who haven’t abused children yet and call the helpline?”
– Nobody can do anything “with them.” It’s up to them to choose not to abuse children. I’m really grossed out by this approach where these vicious criminals are presented as some sort of sufferers from a non-existent mental illness. They don’t need any “help.” Their victims need help. Why aren’t we dancing attendance on criminals who have an irresistible need to steal, mug, and commit bank robberies? Or shall we do that, too?
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You seem to be very certain that there is no mental illness involved in pedophilia. But I’ve often heard that a very high percentage of pedophiles where themselves victims of pedophiles as children. Assuming that is true (this is just something I’ve heard many times and always assumed was true), doesn’t that suggest that early sexual trauma might play some part in the origins of pedophilia. Wouldn’t some sort of therapy be useful if these people had indeed experienced that sort of trauma?
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We al know that I believe in therapy more than most people. However, all I hear about pedophilia is that even psychoanalysis is helpless. It is true that pedophiles were victimized in childhood, as you are saying. But for any therapy to be successful, it has to be passionately desired by the patient. And if psychotherapy fails so badly with pedophiles, my guess is that they are not interested in changing.
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Do we really know that therapy is completely ineffective? The article linked from the article you linked to (the one about Adam, the non-offending pedophile who runs an online support group) claims that most non-offending pedophiles are too afraid to go to therapists and that in some US states, therapists are required to report people with pedophile tendencies to the police even if they have never abused a child. It also claims that researchers can’t get any funding to do research on pedophiles.
This is all very far from any area in which I have any expertise, but the argument that it’s a poorly researched area makes me think that additional research couldn’t hurt.
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“Non-offending pedophiles” don’t exist as a problem. There is absolutely nothing wrong with any sort of fantasies. The desire to “treat” fantasies is just strange.
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Wettest place is very beautiful.
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Maybe this is as good an example of puppy love as any:
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What’s wrong with loving hyneas? I know their jaws can crunch your bones, but this is agoo example of puppy love.
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and here’s my new shamanism channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuQzaDmCy9S__W6g9F0I57A
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So what is your objection to the puppy love and starter relationship pieces … the idea that it is puppy love and starter, that it is just practice? My own thought is that I am not sure there are “relationship skills” … each relationship is so different. ?
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I find it really disturbing when people look at love and relationships in this utilitarian fashion. Not everything in the world needs to be useful, productive and profitable. This listing of benefits that can be derived from love sounds downright psychopathic. This must be one of those individuals who only have friendships with useful people who can advance their careers. Brrr.
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I take it you won’t be reading XL Love: How the Obesity Crisis is Complicating America’s Love Life ever?
Yeah, I don’t like thinking of my personal relationships as being some part of developmental checklist and I don’t actually know what social skills and verbal skills I’ve learned from my heartbreaks makes me a better employee.
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“I take it you won’t be reading XL Love: How the Obesity Crisis is Complicating America’s Love Life ever?”
– Imagine the great snarky blog posts I could publish on the subject, though. 🙂
“Yeah, I don’t like thinking of my personal relationships as being some part of developmental checklist and I don’t actually know what social skills and verbal skills I’ve learned from my heartbreaks makes me a better employee.”
– There are huge numbers of wonderful, amazing things in life that one can enjoy and that don’t lead to becoming a better employee. What is it with people who can’t enjoy anything that doesn’t make them more efficient little cogs?
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Yes.
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In 8th grade we had sex ed from a nun. She said dating was done to figure out what sort of person you wanted to marry. I thought it would be done for fun, recreation. I also went out with a colleague once, raised Catholic, who said straight out that he was dating to interview possible wives…
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“In 8th grade we had sex ed from a nun. She said dating was done to figure out what sort of person you wanted to marry. I thought it would be done for fun, recreation. I also went out with a colleague once, raised Catholic, who said straight out that he was dating to interview possible wives…”
– When I met my husband, he was reading a self-help book on relationships that said you had to conduct “a shopping conversation” during the first 2-3 dates. That “shopping conversation” was more like an interrogation. The goal, according to the book, was to weed out people who were just a waste of time in terms of future marriage potential. I was so horrified by the book that I asked him to throw it away because it was creeping me out. It’s sad to imagine that there are really people who live their lives this way.
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I stumbled on this site and this post regarding multiculturalism in Europe. The post is quite extreme, but provides some food for thought, in addition to demonstrating how (imo, majority) of Europeans feel now. It also offers a new term “oikophobia.”
http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.co.il/2006/07/let-them-eat-kebab-new-marie.html
Would love to hear your thoughts. F.e. about
A Multicultural society is only temporary. Sooner or later, we will return to a new mono-cultural society. This will happen either through the division of the previously coherent territory into new, mono-cultural enclaves or through the takeover by society as a whole of the most forceful and aggressive of these competing cultures.
The Multicultural ideology is malignant because it fragments society into separate, cultural ghettos, a kind of apartheid.
There is also the third way of creating a new culture out of bits of all cultures present.
I agree with the following:
Of course, it is possible that Multiculturalism never was about tolerance to begin with. For some, it was about vanity. “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s most open-minded of them all?” It’s a beauty contest for bored, Western intellectuals who use immigrants as a mirror to reflect their own inflated egos, a sport where they can nurse their vanity in the mistaken belief that denigrating your own cultural heritage is a sign of goodness and lack of prejudice.
And this is funny in a sad way, especially if the minister believes what he says after “because”. Obviously, I don’t.
Jens Orback, Democracy Minister in the Social Democratic Swedish government, is worried about “the public’s lack of faith in politicians.” Yet the same Orback said during a radio debate that: “We must be open and tolerant towards Islam and Muslims because when we become a minority, they will be so towards us.” It sounded almost too crazy even for Sweden that a minister could say something like this in public, so I checked with several independent sources, and apparently, he really did say this.
The following is a food for thought too. Do you think armed conflicts in Europe won’t begin anyway? I am unsure. If my minister would begin talking like Jens Orback, I would want to riot too.
“The ordinary people of Europe are now deeply anxious about their future. And when people are in a state of anxiety they pose a threat, both to themselves and to those whom they fear.” […] if, or rather when, we get civil wars in Western Europe due to Muslim immigration, the front lines will not necessarily be between Muslims vs. Infidels or even Natives vs. Immigrants. There is a cultural and ideological civil war going on in the West that, combined with some Islamic fanaticism, could lead to physical civil wars.
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I also agree with his conclusion
So far, our liberal élites have been more effective in breaking down the Old Order than in making a New Order. Their “creative destruction” could turn out to be much more destructive than creative. Instead of a new pan-European identity we will see a temporary return to some very old tribalism. I hope I’m wrong, but I fear that I’m not.
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Just wanted to add that I don’t agree with many things in his post, but thought it was an interesting example anyway. He wrote in comments that the unrest and possible civil wars in Europe may begin when:
Sooner or later, the welfare state is going to break down, and that’s when the explosion will come. Countries such as France and Sweden are not too far away from this point.
And the following proves your point that bringing numerous immigrants is used to destroy the welfare state:
I think it depends partly upon how long the welfare state system remains afloat. What most Europeans don’t understand is that the welfare state isn’t sustainable in the future. It doesn’t provide “security,” in fact it provides insecurity, since it is financing our own, Islamic colonization. It is used to pacify the general populace by the Eurabian elites.
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Forgot to ask in the previous comment: what do you think will happen in Europe when the welfare state is dismantled? Won’t it rise existing tentions between different ethnic-religious groups, who (often) already fear and hate the Other as it is? I think tentions will rise, but don’t know about going as far as civil wars.
Now I looked at the blog and it’s probably more extreme than the linked post. However, it isn’t a neo-Nazi site and raises some questions, providing food for possible future conversation. If you’re interested, you could post your take on it all in a separate post. 🙂
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I was right out in thinking that the puppy love thing would be about actual puppies, children, and the development of empathy.
This is probably colored by the fact that I am a long-time volunteer puppy foster for the humane society and both my (now adult) children are very kind individuals.
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“‘We want to live in a safe world’, says Ruskin in this interview, ‘But we don’t.’ Kids 7, 8, 9, and 10 should not walk to school or even venture outside without you, she says. Perhaps by age 11 you can let your child out in ‘short spurts,’ but really, folks, ‘It is your job to be the parent,’ and if you trust your kids to walk the dog or bike to a friend’s, you are guilty of ‘parentifying’ your child — turning the child into an adult.'”
I took my first international flight by myself before I was ten years old.
I’d check in at the gate with the help of parents and relatives, but I’d take care of getting my own food, dealing with customs and immigrations forms, and so forth en route. Non-stop flights were an expensive rarity then, so I’d switch planes and shift luggage myself.
Some of my destinations gave me quite a bit of freedom — one in particular meant I’d need to wander into a mid-sized city on my own to pick up a few things occasionally, and I didn’t have any problems with that. Of course, that destination wasn’t in the United States.
There’s a Japanese television show where they send five-year-olds off in search of things to help their mothers make dinner — the kids sometimes come back with odd vegetables, but mostly they get it right. Even in a major city, people tend to help these kids.
I don’t understand these Americans who want their children to grow up in a carceral America, but I won’t be surprised when some of these American parents find themselves in not-at-all-kind, highly restrictive care homes in their later years …
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Ah, so this is why Americans leave their elderly folks in these facilities!! This explains a lot!
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// Ah, so this is why Americans leave their elderly folks in these facilities!! This explains a lot!
Do you mean by this that they think these facilities provide normal life because being raised in a similar fashion? Or do they desire to take revenge for suffering during childhood? If parents were raised so themselves, do they acutely suffer in those facilities anyway or is it just normal life for them?
News from Israel:
Talks in Cairo lead to long-term ceasefire accord, though central demands of both sides postponed for later negotiations.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4564456,00.html
“The central demands presented by Hamas – transfer of civil salaries, release of security detainees, and construction of seaport and airport – will be discussed in Cairo in a month with the rest of the group’s demands.”
Wonder what will happen when those discussions lead to nothing.
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“Do you mean by this that they think these facilities provide normal life because being raised in a similar fashion?”
– Consciously, yes.
” Or do they desire to take revenge for suffering during childhood?”
– But subconsciously, I’m sure it’s this.
“If parents were raised so themselves, do they acutely suffer in those facilities anyway or is it just normal life for them?”
– I can imagine few things more tragic than elderly people abandoned in these facilities and visited by their children once a month or less often. Of course, nobody is responsible for this situation more than the elderly people themselves (for what they did when they were younger, I mean.) But it is still very very sad.
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Found it via Mike and thought it was important.
Golden Dawn neo-nazis: The militia arm of the systemic establishment!
New evidence of the connection between the neoliberal leading party and Golden Dawn in Greece
http://failedevolution.blogspot.gr/2014/08/golden-dawn-neo-nazis-militia-arm-of.html
Mike has already written about Greek fascists in the past:
About Those Greek Fascists–One Is Already in the Government
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I find the need to blame neo-Nazism on “wealthy businessmen” to be quite ridiculous. For every single wealthy businessman to support these organizations, there are thousands of declasse elements who wouldn’t know how to run a business and are too lazy to learn.
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\\ – I can imagine few things more tragic than elderly people abandoned in these facilities and visited by their children once a month or less often.
I am horrified at the thought of ever entering such a place. However, you’ve previously talked cheerfully of entering old people’s home with your husband. What is the difference between “these facilities” and the facilities you talked about? Money required?
What would loving children do instead of sending parents to some scary place? Live together? I would rather live with relatives than in any facilities (barring cases when there are huge problems with the former), but this approach would be labeled as ‘selfish’ nowadays.
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The problem is not the facilities. The ones I’ve seen in Canada and the US are extraordinarily luxurious and beautiful. It’s the abandonment that is so painful to see.
When I was buying my house, I was specifically looking for a place with a whole floor where I will be able to move my parents when they become elderly. And mind you, my mother is not the easiest person to be around, and that’s putting it very very mildly. But I can’t imagine just abandoning them. Not when they are helpless and ailing. I really can’t see what’s selfish about this approach. I wouldn’t expect them to give me money or work around the house, or anything like that.
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\\ I was specifically looking for a place with a whole floor where I will be able to move my parents when they become elderly.
Wonderful. Can one see such arrangement more often in USA or FSU? ( I don’t talk about FSU cases of “we’ve always lived with parents.” )
\\ I really can’t see what’s selfish about this approach.
I meant hoping one’s children would take you in their turn, as you’re ready to do with your parents.
What happens if both sets of couple’s parents need such arrangement at once? There is need for space, yes, but much more importantly – for mutual agreement of the couple to help both sets of parents. Imagine N’s parents coming too.
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N’s father is dead but, of course, I’d gladly take in his mother, too. It doesn’t seem likely based on what their relationship is like but I wouldn’t make obstacles.
People keep saying how expensive child care is but imagine a grandma and grandpa or two grannies always being there to take care of the kid. That implies enormous savings plus who can argue against this being phenomenal for the child? And this motivates grandparents to stay healthier and happier for longer. My great-grandparents were taking care if me when I was a kid and they were well into their eighties. I think it was great for them and not only for me.
In the FSU, there are very few old-people facilities and the ones that exist are horrifying. But the life expectancy is also much shorter, especially for men. My husband’s father died in his fifties, which is considered normal.
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// People keep saying how expensive child care is but imagine a grandma and grandpa or two grannies always being there to take care of the kid.
My grandma was like that. However, sometimes grandparents are too old / ill for the role of a babysitter OR don’t want to take a full time job as one. In this case, taking parents in is more expensive, not less.
On other topic, what is going on with Ukraine? Are they going for not hidden war, as this user claims?
http://trim-c.livejournal.com/200538.html
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Of course, this shouldn’t be primarily money- saving proposition. But I am convinced that a child always benefits from having grandparents around. People here in the US are terrified. Old age. I’m thinking this might be because they grew up without seeing old people around them a whole lot. It’s a very, very important experience to be around the elderly, I believe. One can learn a lot.
I have an acquaintance who recently had a baby. She has a very responsible job and can rarely be at home. So it’s a mystery to me why with a non-working husband and a very healthy, active retired grandma who is going off her rocker with boredom, she hires an expensive nanny.
As for Ukraine, I’m not writing anything for now because I need to be sure that this isn’t just panic-mongering. And I’m not sure just yet. So I will wait.
Relatives in Donetsk say that this offensive was announced to them in advance. But I’m not sure this episode is qualitatively different from the previous ones.
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One in six French people say they support ISIS
Here is a chart of the results of the polls. The first, by ICM Research, asked people in Germany, France, and the UK whether they had a favorable or unfavorable view of ISIS. The second, by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion, asked Gazans whether they support or oppose ISIS. Here are the results.
http://www.vox.com/2014/8/26/6067123/isis-poll
In France (16%) more support ISIS than in Gaza (13%)!
In any case, the big, scary, surprising, number here is France: 16 percent of those surveyed say they support ISIS. That’s an awful lot. And that number gets even larger as the demographics get younger … [in addition to Muslim immigrants] there’s more going on here. It’s no secret that far-right politics have been on the rise in Western Europe, which includes a growing willingness to embrace extremism and greater intolerance of all kinds. It is ironic but by no means impossible that far-right Islamophobia would rise in Europe alongside a greater approval of the Islamist group ISIS. Extremism is often reactive and ideologically contradictory.
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I’m not surprised. After the weirdo who swooned over Limonov on my blog, I’m not surprised by anything the French might do in terms of fascism. I’m still waiting to hear from a specialist in the field what happened in France since 1980s to make the French turn to fascism so massively and aggressively.
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This poll was commissioned by Russia Today, for what it’s worth (nothing). It was taken in early July, before people knew anything about how psychopathic ISIS was. I would really like to see how they phrased the questions, though. Did they, for instance, asked about whether they supported syrian rebels fighting against Assad’s government forces? And then extrapolated the answers?
I’m not fan of France but the numbers look so off I can’t take it seriously. Like, there’s literally nobody that likes them. Not Alqaeda, not Hamas, not Arab states. Nobody, except the French, for some reason!
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By Russia Today??? I had no idea. OK, now this cancels out everything I said. Sorry, I should have been more careful.
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I found a link to a new article by Kenan Malik – “Enough Hate for Everyone –
Muslims and Jews Are Targets of Bigotry in Europe” .
Here is the result of today’s policies of “multi” whatever and of not asking Europeans of each country to vote on matters of national importance, such as some laws and level of immigration they’re ready to accept.
The rise of identity politics has helped create a more fragmented, tribal society, and made sectarian hatred more acceptable generally.
At the same time, the emergence of “anti-politics,” the growing contempt for mainstream politics and politicians noticeable throughout Europe, has laid the groundwork for a melding of radicalism and bigotry. Many perceive a world out of control and driven by malign forces; conspiracy theories, once confined to the fringes of politics, have become mainstream.
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The anti-EU part isn’t doing anything for me. It’s an easy target that neo-fascists like and use as an avoidance mechanics to recognize the real causes of what drives them.
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I looked at Kenan Malik’s articles and he seems to be a columnist worth reading. SB, you’ll probably like him too. And he is also from India.
Here f.e. he wrote about a broken system of education in Britain.
Instead of promoting a secular state education system, with a shared educational framework that would ensure that all children are taught to a common standard, the government has encouraged different minority communities to define their notion of education and to devise their own curriculum. And when it goes disastrously wrong, as in Birmingham, rather than question its own policies, it blames the community.
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His best article about multiculturalism:
Assimilation’s Failure, Terrorism’s Rise
Highly recommended.
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I also believe that it will be more productive at this point to substitute the meaningless term multi-cultural ism with a more precise term “ghettoization.”
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Far-Right Politicians Find Common Cause in Israel
http://www.newsweek.com/far-right-politicians-find-common-cause-israel-68583
That some of the signatories to the Jerusalem Declaration have histories of extremism doesn’t bother Nissim Zeev, a member of the Knesset who met with the visiting Europeans. “At the end of the day, what’s important is their attitude—the fact they really love Israel,” says Zeev, who represents Shas, an Orthodox right-wing party.
Strache himself got the ultimate blessing by Ayoob Kara, a deputy minister and member of the ruling Likud Party, who told Austrian reporters that he’d read the Freedom Party’s platform and thought it was “kosher.” (Kara himself is Druze and therefore doesn’t adhere to Jewish dietary law.) In Kara’s judgment, Likud and the Freedom Party could work together. “Israel needs friends,” he said. “And Strache might be the next Austrian chancellor.”
…
Jörg Haider, the longtime leader of the Austrian Freedom Party and Strache’s predecessor, talked of Strache’s plans to use Israel to make the party more respectable. “If the Jews accept us, then we won’t have a problem,” Haider said Strache told him. Today, polls show support for Strache at a record 25 percent. Among Austrians under 30, the Freedom Party polls 42 percent.
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And didn’t I tell you that today’s fascism in Europe is not at all about Jews?
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I thank you for the article, though, because today I am teaching “the Reconquista” and the article proves the point I will be making perfectly. Thank you!!
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\\ And didn’t I tell you that today’s fascism in Europe is not at all about Jews?
It’s not *all* about Jews, but it’s *also* about Jews. Those fascists promote the ideology “Europe – for Europeans, Muslim countries – for Muslims, Israel – for Jews, etc.” Many of them also share “Jews – for camps since their country Israel would endanger the world,” but they aren’t as foolish as to talk in this way so far, while they don’t have power.
I read quite a bit on one website of theirs and saw it myself.
\\ I am teaching “the Reconquista” and the article proves the point I will be making perfectly
Which point?
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I think the ideology of “Israel for Jews, etc” is the ideology of Israel, isn’t it?
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And the point is that the myth of the completely fictitious Reconquista is still alive – shockingly. I will be giving the exact quote about the effort to “drive Islam out of Spain” in class because every word of it is alarmingly stupid.
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\\ I think the ideology of “Israel for Jews, etc” is the ideology of Israel, isn’t it?
Israel as Jewish country – yes, but European fascists wish for completely Jew-free Europe.
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I always thought that the whole idea for practicing Jews is that the messiah will only arrive after all of the Jews have gathered in the land of Zion. I fully confess that I might be mistaken, of course.
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\\ I always thought that the whole idea for practicing Jews is that the messiah will only arrive after all of the Jews have gathered in the land of Zion.
No, that’s what Christian fundamentalists think! And when the messiah comes, Jews go to hell. Literally. 🙂
A few of super-religious Jews still are anti-Zionism / anti-Israel, since Jews must wait till the messiah comes to have their own country.
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They are still waiting for the messiah, though, aren’t they? Because otherwise what was the whole last 2,000 years even about?
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“Israel as Jewish country – yes, but European fascists wish for completely Jew-free Europe.”
Well, you want a non-jew free Israel. We’ve heard you lament so many times about the ‘demographic problem’ (seriously, what an ugly term) posed by Palestinians. Like, they don’t even have to be violent or dangerous. Their mere *existence* in your country bothers you. So yeah, if I were you I wouldn’t be so quick to criticize fascists from other countries. Jesus Christ, get some self-awareness, will you?
The only ‘democracy’ in the middle east, ladies and gentlemen!
Earlier, I was talking about Republicans in the US and how their major voting base is literally dying off because the younger generation doesn’t really subscribe to racism or homophobia the same way their parents or grandparents did. I think it’s probably true for most countries. Younger people are just..better. Except in Israel and maybe a handful other nations. Younger people in Israel are more aggressive, more racist, more intolerant than their parents ever were.
I mean, just look at yourself. You’re young and you have absolutely no problem in saying that muslims breed faster than jews and that’s a problem. Seriously, who talks like that? Who thinks like that? Like, in most countries, that sentence would be more likely to be uttered by your weird, racist uncle (oh, we all have them, haha!), but here we are. And you think it’s ok.
If a college-aged person here started talking to me about how blacks and latinos breed faster than white people and how it is spelling doom for the white culture in the US, I would cringe so hard it would make me fold in on myself like a fucking transformer robot.
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Jews lived for 2,000 years as an ethnic minority in a huge variety of different societies. And every single time, the result was horrifying for the Jews. This is why it isn’t surprising that the idea of being an ethnic minority once again reawakens the historic memory of the terror associated with being such a minority. Most countries and most people do not have this historic memory and deal with a completely different set of issues.
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SB, I will first say what I feel about your comment (next paragraph) and then try once again to explain my pov. Please, try to look at it once through my eyes. It doesn’t mean you have to support Israel afterwards! It just means deeper understanding, not demonizing Israeli Jews and not using unsuiting concepts from USA’s history of racism, even if they are efficient for arousing passions in certain circles. I suppose “I will use anything in propaganda, as long as it provokes people to do X”, is not something you support. Anyway, we hopefully don’t engage in propaganda on this blog, but exchange ideas.
I think that ironically you are the one who is ‘racist’ here (the word doesn’t suit, but it doesn’t suit Jews/Palestinians either and you use it like that) … I mean, prejudiced against Jews. You project your country’s (India) and American realities and problems on my state, using us to deal with your own issues and unwilling to look deeper into what is going on in my country since it would interfere with projecting. I think that you try to deal with India’s treatment of Muslims and probably with USA’s racism too by projecting it on Israel. Or, may be, USA racism simply provides a few convenient terms and turns of phrase, aka “weird, racist uncle,” to bludgeon Israel with. Don’t know anything about India, but you talked about your prejudiced relatives. (Btw, is there strong antisemitism in India? I know that a few Israeli Jews are from there, but never talked with them. They aren’t numerous, unlike FSU Jews.) You feel fine to generalise about younger people in Israel. Have you ever asked yourself *why* they aren’t sufficiently torelant (from your pov)? If, in your narrative, their parents were more tolerant, what happened later? Btw, I am not sure you’re right about less tolerant generation, but suppose you’re. What’s *your* explanation?
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Now I will try to explain why I tend to “see red” when people project USA racism on me. First, I don’t want to serve as a “boy for beating” – a Russian phrase and historical Jewish position abroad – to help people escape dealing with their own prejudice in their society, aka “I can’t be racist if I abhor Israelis.” It’s also true for cases when the projecting person has suffered from American racism and sends part of resulting hatred at Jews in Israel, a safer object than racist people controlling his own society. The latter is true also for some Muslim immigrants in the West.
Second, it simply doesn’t suit at all. Thus, the person using American concepts is either projecting or ready to lie to achieve condemnation of Israel.
Problem of racism in USA is at core a problem of Integration. There are no questions of loyalty – everybody is American, part of one people with one culture. African American can become a president of America, an army commander and nobody normal would question his loyalty to American citizens because of being black.
VS
Our conflict is a problem of Separation. Two nationalisms are fighting over resources and attempt to delineate national borders. We are not one people, we don’t want to live in one nation state. It’s true for both sides.
Many Israeli Arabs define themselves as Palestinian first of all. Meaning, their loyalty lies with Palestinian people and future Palestinian state. For instance,
[wiki] With the end of military administrative rule in 1966 and following the 1967 war, national consciousness and its expression among Israel’s Arab citizens has spread.An increasing majority self-identify as Palestinian, preferring this descriptor to Israeli Arab in numerous surveys over the years.
Do you see the words “increasing majority”? If they are Palestinian, shouldn’t they live in Palestine? Several years ago, an Arab Knesset member gave an interview in Hebrew, which kind of shocked me because of its ending. She said that there must be a state of Palestine (Jew-free one, everybody understands that) AND that Israel should change its flag, hymn, etc and become a ‘state of all citizens’. It’s a Hebrew expression, meaning “not Jewish state.” When a reporter asked her at the end – “Palestinians will have their nation state in your plan, what about Jews?”, she didn’t answer.
After the Lieberman Plan, there was an interesting survey among 1,000 residents of Um Al-Fahm.
[wiki] 83 percent of respondents opposed the idea of transferring their city to Palestinian jurisdiction, while 11 percent supported the proposal and 6 percent did not express their position.
Of those opposed to the idea, 54% said that they were against becoming part of a Palestinian state because they wanted to continue living under a democratic regime and enjoying a good standard of living. Of these opponents, 18% said that they were satisfied with their present situation, that they were born in Israel and that they were not interested in moving to any other state. Another 14% of this same group said that they were not prepared to make sacrifices for the sake of the creation of a Palestinian state. Another 11 percent cited no reason for their opposition.
I am sure this Knesset member wouldn’t want to go to the state of Palestine either. Otoh, she demands national rights (=\= personal rights). Otoh, she would refuse to go to a nation state of / for Palestinians, where those rights of national self-definition are supposed to be realised because of Israel being a first world country. What can one say?
\\ So yeah, if I were you I wouldn’t be so quick to criticize fascists from other countries. Jesus Christ, get some self-awareness, will you?
Get some common sense. I am not against f.e. Druze, who serve in IDF and are loyal citizens, like Jews have been and still are abroad. Neither Druze nor Jews abroad demand national rights as Druze / Jews. They don’t say “make France a Jewish country” OR “erase that Christian cross from your national flag.” I am against people who demand *national* rights and say their loyalty lies with the other side, but aren’t ready to do what they preach and actually go to the other side they identify with.
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“Boy for beating” = punching bag.
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Update about how Israelis see the recent ceasefire (not well):
* A survey of a major Israeli news channel reveals that only 32% support PM’s behavior, while 59% don’t support it and think Israel lost. More than half are against the ceasefire.
* “Both hard-liners in his governing coalition, as well as residents of rocket-scarred southern Israel, have said the war was a failure because it did not halt Hamas’ rocket attacks or oust the group from power.”
* “As political pressure mounted on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the signing of an open-ended ceasefire with Hamas on Tuesday, Ynet has learned that the prime minister consulted Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein over the legality of circumventing a Cabinet vote on the ceasefire, and unilaterally deciding to end the war in Gaza. […] senior jurists have since said that while technically legal, the move somewhat contradicts the spirit of the law.”
* “Despite ceasefire, residents of south express anger and criticism of government, reluctance to return home; ‘I will not return and risk my kids’ lives until Hamas’ is disarmed,’ locals say after being pelted with over 4,500 rockets in seven week conflict.”
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\\They are still waiting for the messiah, though, aren’t they?
All (religious) Jews are still waiting, yes.
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You said you’ve taught at school too and I wanted to ask whether you’ve ever been afraid of your students (not listening to you, not studying, etc.) What can one do to stop being afraid, at least partly?
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Remember that students will forgive you everything except fear and insecurity. If your students are under the age of 22-25, you can’t afford to be afraid. Fear and insecurity in adults makes kids experience extreme anxiety. The way they perceive it is as follows: you are a figure of authority, the world is ruled by you and other adults. If you are scared, this means that the world is a really terrifying place. They are the ones who are really scared and you are adding to it with your fear.
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Now I am more worried. The question was about how I can begin feeling more secure, do you have any advice? And what are they “really scared” of? Not me , supposedly?
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You were a kid, weren’t you? You should remember. :-). They are scared of everybody thinking they are stupid, ugly, worthless, of looking like idiots, their parents getting angry, etc. They are vulnerable, not scary. Try looking at them from the point of view of them being vulnerable, not scary.
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What I fear is that I don’t possess authoritative personality naturally. You know those teachers who enter a class and can with a look, voice, some kind of aura control it and have great discipline. Students afterwards tell about them with a laugh that “he looks … can say something with a voice or raise a voice (*) … and you can’t not work.”
There are also teachers, who have the knowledge and desire to teach, and can even teach wonderfully small groups of highly motivated students, but have difficulties with not small groups of less motivated students. How can one teach oneself to become more authoritative, more sure of oneself?
au·thor·i·ta·tive
: having or showing impressive knowledge about a subject
: having the confident quality of someone who is respected or obeyed by other people
I meant the second meaning, the first I do have.
(*) That’s what I heard about a great teacher. I don’t think raising voice at students is something I should adopt. And, if you aren’t authoritative, it won’t work anyway.
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I don’t raise my voice, ever. I control the classroom with my unassailable knowledge that I’m the authority here. You need to start by defining to yourself what it is that you fear. Is the fear you experience when you step into the classroom similar to any other fear (e.g. Fear of social situations, public transportation, etc) or do you never experience it anywhere else?
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“SB, I will first say what I feel about your comment (next paragraph) and then try once again to explain my pov. Please, try to look at it once through my eyes. It doesn’t mean you have to support Israel afterwards! It just means deeper understanding, not demonizing Israeli Jews and not using unsuiting concepts from USA’s history of racism, even if they are efficient for arousing passions in certain circles. I suppose “I will use anything in propaganda, as long as it provokes people to do X”, is not something you support. Anyway, we hopefully don’t engage in propaganda on this blog, but exchange ideas.
I think that ironically you are the one who is ‘racist’ here (the word doesn’t suit, but it doesn’t suit Jews/Palestinians either and you use it like that) … I mean, prejudiced against Jews. You project your country’s (India) and American realities and problems on my state, using us to deal with your own issues and unwilling to look deeper into what is going on in my country since it would interfere with projecting. I think that you try to deal with India’s treatment of Muslims and probably with USA’s racism too by projecting it on Israel. Or, may be, USA racism simply provides a few convenient terms and turns of phrase, aka “weird, racist uncle,” to bludgeon Israel with. Don’t know anything about India, but you talked about your prejudiced relatives. (Btw, is there strong antisemitism in India? I know that a few Israeli Jews are from there, but never talked with them. They aren’t numerous, unlike FSU Jews.) You feel fine to generalise about younger people in Israel. Have you ever asked yourself *why* they aren’t sufficiently torelant (from your pov)? If, in your narrative, their parents were more tolerant, what happened later? Btw, I am not sure you’re right about less tolerant generation, but suppose you’re. What’s *your* explanation?”
I need a gibberish-to-english translator here.
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\\ I need a gibberish-to-english translator here.
I wrote that long comment, in which I tried to logically explain myself before reading this.
Is second comment gl-whatever too for you?
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“First, I don’t want to serve as a “boy for beating” – a Russian phrase and historical Jewish position abroad – to help people escape dealing with their own prejudice in their society, aka “I can’t be racist if I abhor Israelis.””
Seriously, what the fuck was that? Do you really think you’re smart enough to divine the psychological motivations of someone without knowing anything about them? Of all people, you?
You seem fond of the word ‘projecting’. So, let’s see, you’ve used that term to mean simultaneously that:
a) I’m prejudiced against Muslims so I direct my anger at prejudiced societies.
AND
b) I face prejudice, so I direct my anger not at actual prejudiced societies like US and India, but at countries like Israel.
Is this the crux of your argument? Just throw shit everywhere and hope something sticks? Very ‘IDF’ of you, el. Bomb everything in sight in the hope some random bomb hits its target.
It’s funny. For expressing my belief in, say, human rights, the separation of church and state, free speech, feminism, anti-racism, you know, very basic stuff, I get americans calling me anti-american on american forums and Indians calling me a secular dog (sounds funnier in Hindi), colonial bootlicker, and wannabe american on Indian forums, haha.
To answer one of your questions, I’m extremely proud that India may be the only country where jews have not been persecuted.
http://www.forbes.com/2007/08/05/india-jews-antisemitism-oped-cx_gw_0813jews.html
“To my mind, the best example of that can be found in the remarkable story of a tiny minority–India’s Jewish community. India may be the only country in the world that has been free of anti-Semitic prejudice throughout its history. As the Jewish genealogical journal Avotaynu recently observed in an article on one Indian Jewish group, “The Bene Israel flourished for 2,400 years in a tolerant land that has never known anti-Semitism, and were successful in all aspects of the socio-economic and cultural life of the people of the region.”
That’s really a bit astonishing, if not ridiculous, when you think about it. Compare that with any Western nation, be it France or Russia or even the U.S., where discrimination against Jews in housing was a fact of life as recently as the 1950s. But in “backward” India, from the beginning, the Jewish communities have not only been free of discrimination but have dominated the commercial life of every place where they have settled–something that has fed traditional European anti-Semitism.”
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“For expressing my belief in, say, human rights, the separation of church and state, free speech, feminism, anti-racism, you know, very basic stuff, I get americans calling me anti-american on american forums and Indians calling me a secular dog (sounds funnier in Hindi), colonial bootlicker, and wannabe american on Indian forums, haha.”
– Oh yes. That’s the fate of many immigrants. I can’t talk to anybody in Ukraine without being tagged as a NATO lover, US patriot, and Obama fan. And here I’m constantly taken to task for not being pro-American enough.
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\\ Do you really think you’re smart enough to divine the psychological motivations of someone without knowing anything about them?
Partly. 🙂 I can’t say where the source of your anger lies, but when somebody from America (anybody, not only you) constantly describes Middle East conflict in terms of American racism, something is wrong here.
\\ a) I’m prejudiced AND b) I face prejudice
Both a) and b) can be true at once. For instance, most Muslims in Europe have been prejudiced against Jews since young age (‘good’ old antisemitism of Muslim countries) and are currently angry at their host societies which ghettoize them. Anger one sees at anti-Israel demonstrations partly derives from both those sources. “Partly” since there are other reasons, such as solidarity with Muslims worldwide if they are hurt by *non*-Muslims.
“Prejudiced” can be against Muslims / Jews /etc.
\\ Very ‘IDF’ of you, el.
I am proud of having served in the IDF. It’s as moral as possible, if you compare it to any other army in the world in similar circumstances. Had it bombed “everything in sight,” number of Palestinian dead would be much much greater.
\\ For expressing my belief in, say, human rights, the separation of church and state, free speech, feminism, anti-racism
I too support all those things. Hope Israel will separate between religion and state too.
The crux of the problem between us and Palestinians has nothing to do with racism, as I’ve already explained.
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“I can’t say where the source of your anger lies”
Couldn’t be the brutal murder of thousands of children? Nah, I must be a ‘hater’. Yeah, that must be it. Just an angry fella, getting angry over non-events. And I’ve only made analogies to american racism a couple of times to get you to understand how TERRIBLE this racist rhetoric of yours sounds to us, normal people.
It’s good to get out of your bubble sometimes, but will you listen? Deflect all you want, I’m sure it helps you sleep at night.
And puhlease, this ‘they’re not loyal to our country’ is such a cliche. Treat them like second-class citizens, and then lament that they aren’t really gung ho about adopting the identity you want forced upon them. Shocking, I tell ya! We have idiots like that in India too. They hear some firecrackers coming out of some muslim neighborhood after Pakistan winning a cricket match, and use that as pretext to start riots. If you’re the kind of person who thinks in these ‘us vs them’ binaries there’ll never be a good enough loyalty test for you.
Discriminate against them in every sphere of life, keep them subjugated, then wonder aloud why they’re not nationalists like you. Hmm, I wonder why!
“BUT STRINGER, WON’T YOU TAKE THE TIME TO UNDERSTAND MY UNIQUE SNOWFLAKE BRAND OF RACISM? I’M A DIFFERENT KIND OF RACIST, WITH FEELINGS,”
Just no.
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\\ And I’ve only made analogies to american racism a couple of times to get you to understand how TERRIBLE this racist rhetoric of yours sounds to us, normal people.
I have never been in America. “analogies to american racism” get powerful emotional reactions from Americans, to me – they are from an utterly different, alien (on an emotional level) to me culture. Neither me personally nor Jewish culture / Israel in general had anything to do with racism ( = black/white color of skin). Neither as victims nor as oppressors.
A bit like a swear word from another language failing to create strong feelings in non-native speakers.
\\ Treat them like second-class citizens, and then lament that they aren’t really gung ho about adopting the identity you want forced upon them.
I understand this point in general. However, in case of Israeli Arabs, many have *relatives* in Gaza. As long as Israel is in conflict with Palestinians, no matter how well we would treat Israeli Arabs, they would have a powerful conflict of interests / identities.
\\ Couldn’t be the brutal murder of thousands of children? Nah, I must be a ‘hater’.
Hundreds of children, not thousands. The difference is important.
“Murder” also implies desire to kill.
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\\ A bit like a swear word from another language failing to create strong feelings in non-native speakers.
I suppose, one ideally should have a strong emotional reaction to every bit of oppression in any place on Earth. But I can’t care about it in India / USA / etc the way I care about myself and my own society. I do react emotionally to fascism anywhere since it’s part of Jewish memory / culture, the issue we had / have to deal with.
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\\ Just an angry fella, getting angry over non-events.
I don’t think everything that happened is “non-event.”
But I don’t see a way out in the near future.
So, in a tragic way, it was a “non-event” – nothing seems to have changed, another round of violence.
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Oh, and I forgot to mention that another reason why I draw parallels between, say, American racism or Indian racism with Israeli racism is because, gosh darned it, you racists all sound the same. It’s like you’ve been comparing notes or something. The ‘other’ may change, but the form of the bigotry remains the same.
Like, this panic over muslim births, you think it’s a phenomenon unique to you? Happens in India as well, with the same rhetoric. In the US it’s blacks and latinos breeding irresponsibly, making white people a minority in their own country.
“no matter how well we would treat Israeli Arabs, they would have a powerful conflict of interests / identities”
Get your answers for what will happen by constructing an imaginary world, decide you don’t like that imaginary world, and use that as justification to deny human rights to people in the real world.
‘You see, we did a thought experiment. What would happen if we gave Palestinians a state? Our experimental results show they would kill us. So, you see, we have no options other than to murder children’.
‘Treating Israeli Arabs like human beings?? Why, we conducted a thought experiment where we did just that. Turns out they didn’t like us in this imaginary world we created, so we’re just going to keep treating them as second class citizens’.
Bravo!
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Btw, personally I have zero panic about Muslim births. Jews will remain a majority anyway inside Israel and calculations (thought experiments) also show that.
In the most extreme case, if Jews see we’re becoming a minority inside Israel proper, we will separate from Muslims and still keep a Jewish and democratic state. Why should Palestinians have their nation state, but Jews not?
We would have a painful but necessary partition / separation to keep the state.
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“We would have a painful but necessary partition / separation to keep the state.”
– I think Stringer Bell knows better than we here possibly can about painful partitions, what they imply, and what the aftermath is.
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“Why should Palestinians have their nation state, but Jews not? ”
Do you seriously live on this planet? I like you’re already getting angry about a scenario where Palestinians have their state (which you keep denying them in the real world) and Jews not having a state of their own (which you already HAVE in the real world).
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// Do you seriously live on this planet? I like you’re already getting angry
I only wanted to explain why I am not afraid of muslim births.
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\\ People pile on this Ruskin creature and fail to recognize that she only tells the viewers what they desperately want to hear.
I thought you exaggerated, but then read
http://reason.com/archives/2014/08/20/helicopter-parenting-run-amok-most-ameri
“A whopping 68 percent of Americans think there should be a law that prohibits kids 9 and under from playing at the park unsupervised, despite the fact that most of them no doubt grew up doing just that.
What’s more: 43 percent feel the same way about 12-year-olds. They would like to criminalize all pre-teenagers playing outside on their own (and, I guess, arrest their no-good parents).”
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I only wish I exaggerated these things. I wish I were the only problem here.
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Something positive for a change: a program in English about 6 very old women, who continue to enjoy life and fashion, despite being even 80+ .
http://hot.ynet.co.il/home/0,7340,L-11564-95177,00.html
An opinion columnist claims Israel shouldn’t fear economic damage from boycotts, and even has the solution to agricultural produce (only 2% of Israeli exports): “It may be possible to reduce the existing damage somewhat by diverting goods to Russia, which is currently boycotting the entry of agricultural products from Europe.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4563597,00.html
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1. “UN peacekeepers fleeing from Syria to Israel” –> One commenter put it best:: “The un peacekeepers are like that old that walks around the mall as the security guard.” (In Israel quite a few guards at the malls’ entrances are old, even very old.) Another noted “that is the kind of force people want us to use as a buffer with the Palestinians (Hamas ) included”. In case of any fighting, we would have to protect from Hamas not only Israeli citizens but UN forces too.
2. You talked about being soft on Russian criminals in Israel, but we have much bigger problem in the fighting crime area. I heard that French police tries not to enter immigrants’ areas. This situation definitely happens in Israel, despite and because of high crime level there.
from 1980 to 2007 the number of criminals who committed violent and extremely violent crimes in the Arab sector was […] in some cases double or even triple their ratio in the general population.
…
An Arab mayor I spoke with, who requested to remain anonymous, told me that there isn’t a single home in all the Arab towns and villages which doesn’t have at least one gun.
…
There are two main reasons why the policing of the Arab sector has suffered such neglect. The first … As far as most Israelis are concerned, crime within the Israeli Arab sector is almost synonymous with foreign affairs.
The second reason is more complex. Ever since the bloody riots of October 2000 in which the police killed 13 Arab demonstrators, there has been a severe breach of trust between the country’s Arab citizens and the Israeli establishment in general, but particularly with the Israeli police. The lack of trust between the two sides has resulted in a decline in the number of Arab youths who enlist in the police force. Furthermore, policemen who show up in Arab localities to conduct routine police work often encounter violent opposition from the local residents.
Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/11/israeli-arab-sector-arab-singer-murdered-crime-media.html##ixzz3BucQJH9t
I searched for the above article since the latest murder made the news:
Maybe tomorrow they’ll kill an Imam, says Tayibe protester
Thousands demonstrate against violence in Arab sector after local high school principal was murdered during a meeting in his office.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4565774,00.html
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Yes, I know, it’s all Arabs, all of the time. Nothing else is of any interest unless Arabs are involved. Gosh, if Arabs didn’t exist, they should have been invented. They have such multiple and delicious uses.
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\\ Yes, I know, it’s all Arabs, all of the time
I just wanted to share what I see on local news. I’ve probably linked too many articles about us. For non-Israelis it naturally becomes boring faster than for me.
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al-monitor may be a site worth visiting. It covers several countries of the Middle East. This article about the last operation, as seen from an Israeli side, rings true.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/08/israeli-society-gaza-war-idf-soldiers-solidarity-protest.html
Just found the site, and can only judge the articles about Israel.
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Californian lawmakers passed a law on Thursday requiring universities to adopt “affirmative consent” language in their definitions of consensual sex, part of a nationwide drive to curb sexual assault on U.S. campuses.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/29/california-passes-yes-means-yes-campus-sexual-assault-bill/
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Oh, I know, I was going to write about that. Stupidity is rampant.
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I have been wondering for a while about something connected to “The Outsider / Stranger” by Albert Camus. I was supposed to read it in high school Hebrew lit class, but stopped reading after he killed the Arab. He looked like a psychopath to me from a TV program I watched once. Then I thought he was a kind of soulless monster, with potential to commit any crime because of not having ‘natural’ morality. After all, we don’t commit crimes out of feelings of compassion, not only because of fear.
My question is how the book is connected to Humanism. Then he seemed like somebody who wouldn’t care about being a Nazi in WW2 (no compassion / regrets), but now I am sure I was mistaken. I’ve recently read on your blog Camus was a fascist, is it connected to “The Stranger”‘s ideas?
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I thought this article was interesting because she described a few things / cases about the working of the press, which surprised me.
An Insider’s Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth
A former AP correspondent explains how and why reporters get Israel so wrong, and why it matters
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/183033/israel-insider-guide?all=1
“the Most Important Story on Earth” — Jews are first in everything. 🙂
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Since you’ve written about Haredi population in Israel, I thought you may be interested:
Beit Shemesh school closes gates on first day following Haredi takeover
Secular parents in Beit Shemesh protest against dedication of classrooms for ultra-orthodox students; Ministry of Education issues closure order of haredi wing, says move is ‘illegal’.
The Safot V’Tarbuyot (languages and culture in Hebrew) school in Beit Shemesh did not open its gates for the first day of the 2014 school year due to a fierce dispute between the city’s secular and ultra-Orthodox populations.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4566513,00.html
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