scaramouche

...born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad

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User: scaramouche
Irreverent, contrarian, delighted to be out of synch with the zeitgeist, I depend on my sense of humour (such as it is) to keep me sane in this wacky world.

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Thursday, 19 November 2009

The ADL and ODS: In much the same way that there is such a thing as “penis envy,” but only men have it, there is such a thing as Obama Derangement Syndrome, but only those who succumb to the swoon have it. And, man, does the Anti-Defamation League ever have a bad case of the swoons. It’s gotten so bad that the organization which, in years past, defended Jews from Nazis and other Jew-haters, is now lashing out at what it misperceives as being the latest “threat” to American Jews: those who dare criticize Obama. Jonathan Tobin has this to say about the flight of addled ADL’s sense of reason:
…In one tidy package, the ADL links not only “mainstream” critics but also radio and television talkers like Glenn Beck and peaceful “tea party” protests against higher taxes with those who talk of armed resistance to the government and even those responsible for the 1994 Oklahoma City bombing. Seen in this light, those who merely cry that they “want their country back” from the Democrats while standing outside a town-hall meeting become the thin edge of the wedge of a new threat to democracy and, by extension, a threat to the Jews.
The point is that the “tea parties” and protests at town halls are no more a threat to democracy than were the anti-Iraq-war protests of just a few years ago, where one was just as likely, if not more likely, to encounter not veiled anti-Semitism of the kind the report imuted to right-wing activists, but rather open vicious Jew hatred and Israel-bashing, as well as portrayals of Bush and Dick Cheney as Nazis.
More important, what the ADL seems to forget is that the right of the people to feel “anger and resentment” against the government of the day — be it Republican or Democratic — is what we call democracy in this country. The group is standing on firm ground when it calls on Republicans, as it recently did, to condemn those who outrageously link Obama with Hitler. Of course, Republican leaders have done exactly that. But had the ADL issued a report a few years ago that began by accusing Democrats of creating resentment against Bush and then linked opposition to the GOP to extremists who supported Hamas or rationalized or even denied al-Qaeda’s role in 9/11, Democrats would have cried foul and been right to do so. That never happened. But by choosing to frame its report denouncing this brand of extremism in such a way as to associate all those who have opposed Obama’s policies in one way or another with the far Right, the ADL has stepped over a line that a nonpartisan group should never cross.
Bottom line: Jews suspending their power of judgement and giving in to the swoon serves the object of their veneration. However, since the object has demonstrated again and again that he isn‘t worthy of their love--that, in fact, he neither “gets” nor cares about the Jews and their homeland--such worship isn’t merely ridiculous, it is suicidal.

Posted by: scaramouche at 18:22 | link | comments (1)


Comments:
#1  20 November 2009 - 13:46
 
wow this is bizarre
Anonymous
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