"ALL CAPS IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE."

Thursday, April 26, 2007

NO ONE IS SERIOUSLY USING "ACCUSATIONS OF ANTI-SEMITISM" TO STIFLE "LEGITIMATE CRITICISM OF ISRAEL". SERIOUSLY.

In a more or less sensible discussion of the latent anti-Semitism and rank hypocrisy of the British anti-Israel boycott, Richard Cohen has to go and say this:
Some of [this fury at Israel] no doubt reflects frustration from the efforts of Jewish organizations to suffocate any criticism of Israel and to hurl the epithet "anti-Semite" at anyone with an odd bent to his thinking.
We hereby call bullshit and shenanigans on this nonsense. Bullshit because nobody does this. Shenanigans because we're getting a little bit tired of this fetishistic journalistic urge to "acknowledge" that pro-Israel organizations are in control of public discourse about Israel. It kind of hurts to have to point it out: the very fact that journalists are always talking about how pro-Israel organizations stifle criticism of Israel is logically necessary evidence that pro-Israel organizations do not control public discussion. Now conspiracy theory lunatics can always answer this point by theorizing that the Israel Lobby allows criticism of itself so that people won't know how truly in control it is. But that sort of paranoia can get you locked up in the loony bin - and should get you locked up.

Read an extended version of this post at Mere Rhetoric...

8 comments:

Unknown said...

We hereby call bullshit and shenanigans on this nonsense. Bullshit because nobody does this.

Now it's my turn to call bullshit, because fact is, one cannot criticize Israeli policies without being called an anti-semite. I've been called an anti-semite more times than I can imagine, which is curious because unlike nearly all republicans, I actually have very close friends (including my best friend in whose wedding I was best man) who are Israeli.

Try and understand that by making a claim which is in direct contravention to what many, many people experience every day, does not make you look very astute.

Reliapundit said...

r u stifled?

no.

so since that's what the post calls bullshit (the claim that anti-isral talk is stifled) all u have demostarted is that you are a moron.

Unknown said...

No, I'm not stifled, simply because I understand the sour grapes views of you 30%ers are utterly irrelevant to me. However, that wasn't the point that was being floated in the original post. Let's look, shall we?

Some of [this fury at Israel] no doubt reflects frustration from the efforts of Jewish organizations to suffocate any criticism of Israel and to hurl the epithet "anti-Semite" at anyone with an odd bent to his thinking.

He said that it never occurs that someone criticizing Israeli policies is called an anti-semite. He didn't make any claims about whether or not this childish namecalling is stifling.

The fact is, his claim is utterly false. People who criticize Israeli policy are routinely labeled anti-semites.

Reliapundit said...

anti-semites are cal;;ed what they are.

this doesn't stifle anything.

the POINT of the post is in the conclusion YOU EFFIN MORON:

QUOTE:

"It kind of hurts to have to point it out:

the very fact that journalists are always talking about how pro-Israel organizations stifle criticism of Israel is logically necessary evidence that pro-Israel organizations do not control public discussion.

Now conspiracy theory lunatics can always answer this point by theorizing that the Israel Lobby allows criticism of itself so that people won't know how truly in control it is. But that sort of paranoia can get you locked up in the loony bin - and should get you locked up."

u r an idiot.

and i don't care what idiots have to say about israel.

Unknown said...

Okay, I see you're unable to grasp what was written in the original post. The author clearly said "nobody does this" about something that happens all the time.

Also, I know you're dying to call me an anti-semite for my unstated but referred to views about Israeli policies, but you can't do so directly because it would prove my point. So you need to do it subtly, like this:

anti-semites are cal;;ed what they are.

As for the final point you cite, that's just a strawman. Again, I am not stifled from voicing my criticism just because 30%ers call me names when I do so. But the fact remains, despite the intentions of this post to portray it otherwise, that the anti-semite namecalling does indeed go on. And on. And on. And it will continue to go on so long as you guys cling to invalid ideas about Israel that cannot be defended in any other way.

Reliapundit said...

no one here called you an anti-semite or stifled you; there is no stifling anywhere by jews against those who oppose israel.
those who suggest there is are paranoid.

the muzzeez riots over words; jews do not.

israel has free press; arab nations do not.

and anyone who holds israel to a different standard than gentiles is am amti-semite.

Unknown said...

no one here called you an anti-semite or stifled you; there is no stifling anywhere by jews against those who oppose israel.
those who suggest there is are paranoid.


Again, I do not feel stifled. But that's just because I don't care if an idiot calls me an anti-semite, or thinks I am or whatever.

However, that doesn't change two facts that you're unable to get your head around: 1) that those who criticize the policies of the Israeli government are almost always called anti-semites if they voice those opinions around republicans; and 2) that the intent of this childish namecalling is indeed to stifle said criticism which cannot be addressed in a coherent and logical way.

Oh, you can continue your denial of these facts until the moon falls from the sky, the same way you can continue to believe that the Iraq war is a swimming success, that the liberals of this country want the terrorists to win, or that George W. Bush is a great man. Good luck with that.

Unknown said...

and anyone who holds israel to a different standard than gentiles is am amti-semite.

Fair enough.

Here's a follow-up question: what do you call someone who holds Israel to a different standard from every other country, particularly from Muslim countries?

What other country is allowed to flout the non-proliferation treaty, possess nukes, and still be the most favored nation in terms of US foreign aid?

What other country is allowed to destroy US military assets and kill US servicemen without consequence?

Something tells me you really don't want to hold Israel to the same standards as the rest of the world.