Thursday, February 11, 2010

Leon Wieseltier, Anti-Semitism, and Israel


Leon Wieseltier, Anti-Semitism, and Israel by Daniel Luban

I can't summarize this excellent article, so please read it yourself.

I have been struck personally by the anti-semite sword, despite heart-felt testimony to the contrary. Truth be told, I've never met a Jewish person I don't like on a personal level.

I'm so charged because I am completely against Israel's politics and the Zionist philosophy that guides it. Gandhi was right to say that "an eye for an eye makes us all blind", the whole idea of preemptive attacks is ultimately unconscionable, and the "ends justify the means" concept is rotten to it's core.

But I didn't get excited about debatable philosophical questions. What got me going was the military invasion of the Middle East, an act that only made sense to the Zionists and their supporters (Cheney and all the greedy bastards in the MIC and Big Oil). With AIPAC's influence in Congress they actually pulled it off. To see this country being duped on such a massive scale was one of the most painful experiences of my life. Yes, I wrote and spoke as much as I possibly could, but it all fell on deaf ears. Same thing happened to Brooksley Born

Gaza (see this video on the Goldstone report) was another mind blower, to me. Israel's contemptuous regard for the Palestinians, the de facto state of apartheid, and the long wait for justice in the cases of Rachel Corrie and the USS Liberty. Now we see this covert assassination campaign across the Middle East.

Watching religion based organizations ruin our world, I can't help but think of Thomas Paine's Age of Reason.

It's been said there are some things that you can learn, but you can't unlearn, so be forewarned that what Paine has to say in the Age of Reason is one such. Considering that his book "Common Sense" was a pillar of the American revolution, you'd think his other work would have gotten attention too, but it was kept out of view by the obvious interests he sweeps aside.

I'll say in advance that he believes in God, but it's the God we can see and touch and feel and smell every time we walk outside and look at the world and the universe around us. The world is on the brink of ruin by groups who follow people who claim to have personally spoken with God. Thomas Paine uses words in a way I never could to explain very clearly why this is so misguided. I only wish I would have been better advised many years ago.


Bill

No comments: