A Few Questions for Moderate Jewish Democrats (and Everyone on the Radical Left)
Note: This is the second version of this posting. I have updated it with more information to provide clarity but clearly I will not succumb to the censorship demands of some fellow bloggers. Please carefully read what I've written before accusing me of saying things which I've not said or even intended. For starters, please note that nowhere do I talk about any Democrat Party leaders, for that's not what this post is at all about.
Secondly, my own views on abortion are not the same as those of Fundamentalist Christians, but a big part of me admires their moral certainty of the sanctity of life. I'm just more open to giving pregnant women more flexibility to choose; with that said though, none of us should have any illusions that every abortion is ending a life.
Finally, you might be interested to know that while researching this article I removed this filth from the Wikipedia entry on Nazi concentration camps: "985,000 Jews died, shocking isn't it, just think how lucky we are!" So please be very careful about throwing charges of racial or religious prejudice against me.
As a primer, I invite you to watch this and this, eloquently spoken by the brilliant Jewish American talkshow host, Dennis Prager, who I deeply respect.
In the years leading up to Nazi Germany's mass murder of millions of Jewish people throughout Europe, their propaganda ministry paved the way by dehumanizing Jews through countless articles and cartoons. This continued throughout the war. Here are a few examples:
The Mobilization of the People: The cartoon shows a photograph of a Jew captioned "Satan". Streicher regularly used the old religious argument that the Jews were in league with the Devil. This issue appeared as the last German troops in Stalingrad surrendered.
The Decent Jew: The cartoon shows a Jew politely asking for room on the bench, after which he shoves the previous inhabitant off. The poem notes that Jews behave the same way in other situations.
The Polyp: A Jew has his tentacles around England, Russia, the United States, and China.
Behind the Curtains: A Jewish puppeteer is looking nervously at his remaining puppets: Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. On the floor are broken former puppets, including Neville Chamberlain.
More examples can be found here and here and here. The psychology behind this campaign is simple to understand. If you want to do harm to someone or want others to do harm to them then if you can first get people thinking that these others are less than human and/or less deserving of respect then it becomes a lot easier.
In the language of tribes, it's always easier to disrespect "them" than "us".
For those not familiar with what happened to an estimated 6 Million Jews in World War 2 please click here and here. It was an absolutely appalling chapter in human history. Perhaps I take it more personally because half of my ancestry comes from Germany. For example, just the other day I immediately and vociferously chastised an acquaintance of mine, to his face, for even suggesting that what occurred back then was overblown by "Jewish Propaganda Groups". When I then asked him about 9/11 victims, he admitted that he wondered about the rumor that no Jews were killed that day. I sent him this link and this one, suggesting with the latter that for starters he look for last names beginning with "Gol" and "Ros".
In modern day American culture three popular comedians receiving constant adulation from the Left are Jon Stewart, Sarah Silverman, and Bill Maher. Stewart, whose real last name is "Leibowitz", grew up in a Jewish family, as did Silverman. Maher grew up in a mixed Christian-Jewish household. Here are some examples of their work:
Note: Because of copyright restrictions, videos of Jon Stewart are difficult to come by. If you happen to find one that is applicable, please do let me know.
On a regular basis all of these comedians comedically attack Fundamentalist Christians in general and more recently, Sarah Palin in particular. In fact, Marr has based a large part of his career on mocking and condemning Christians. Given the great popularity of their careers, one can only conclude that many on the Left think such humor is extremely funny.
Here are a few questions for Jewish Democrats:
- What about the religious oriented humor of Stewart, Silverman, and Maher do you find the most funny?
- What precisely about Fundamentalist Christians do you think many on the Left dislike or even loathe? Is it their literal belief in the Old Testament or their staunch belief that any abortion is a mortal sin?
- Among other types of fetuses, Fundamentalist Christians believe that terminating the life of a Jewish fetus is a sin. If a comedian were to use Stewart, Silverman, and Maher as role models but instead just focus on belittling those who want to stop Jewish abortions, would you find this equally as funny?
- Though no one is directly connecting these comedians to the German Nazi regime, clearly there is a similarity in the voracity of the humor back then and now; different times, different subjects, but a similar end effect. Understanding clearly how the German Nazis belittled and dehumanized your ancestors, how do you reconcile your appreciation for humor that mocks and belittles Fundamentalist Christians?
7 comments:
Robert, this is a deeply offensive post and I strongly urge you to remove it.
Your earlier comments gave me great pause for thought, John. They were indeed the genesis for this well thought out posting.
If you are deeply offended by it then I strongly suggest you look within yourself and ask yourself why. For it has absolutely nothing to do with me.
For the record I have publicly stated my own views on abortion before. So clearly my personal views are not in sync with those of Fundamentalist Christians. But I much more respect them than those pro-Choice extremists who believe that anytime, any reason is perfectly fine to end a life.
Your outrageous demand to censor my posting confirms for me that you do indeed find the mocking of Fundamentalist Christians to be perfectly funny but yet you refuse to see the great historical hypocrisy. Sad.
Robert, I applaud you for your courage to post something that is not very popular in our society and kudos for speaking your mind to this certain individual!
It's your blog and you should certainly be able to express your opinion.
It's not like you've ever posted anything hateful or false, to the contrary, you post the truth and that's what some can't handle.
John said something that pushed me over the breaking point. My views on abortion are very moderate.
But in the end equation, the issue really isn't precisely about abortion. It's about tolerance.
I'm no saint but in times past I have stood up to old high school friends in Vancouver describing homosexual men in a very despicable way. I was not popular at that dinner party.
I have stood up to two senior cops in St. Louis who were frustrated at the seemingly endless number of young black criminals there. To their credit, they actually heard me out and we kept drinking beer.
I have stood up to some Muslims here in Vancouver who said some pretty horrendous things about Jewish people in Israel. That was not a comfortable evening but I stood my ground.
I simply do not understand why John or any other person (Jewish or otherwise) feels they have the carte blanche right to mock, belittle, and demean Fundamentalists Christians. Feel free to disagree with them but why do some feel the need to take it soooo much further? I wish someone would explain this to me.
The portion of your post I find deeply offensive is your comparison to the Holocaust. You're free to post it; I'm just telling you that in my opinion it is way over the line.
I also generally disagree with your criticisms of Stewart, Silverman, et al., but I'm not "deeply offended" by that part of your post, I just think it's mostly wrong.
I understand that you have moderate views about certain things I'm more conservative about, but I admire your integrity in giving everyone respect, no matter what they believe. That is precisely what mankind needs to learn, if they ever hope to attain peace. Sometimes it's the only thing to do, agree to disagree, while staying respectful.
We cannot change other people. We should be able to have a respectful discussion about our convictions. How does anyone ever hope to convince others by getting nasty and disrespectful? Those are bully tactics; it might shut up your 'opponent', but will hardly change their mind.
Speaking out against wrongs is entirely different.
People do not like being called to task for showing their petty, nasty, racist or otherwise unpleasant side, they realize they're in the wrong but resent the person pointing it out.
As a Christian, I remind myself that even God will respect our choice, He's given us free will and never forces us to follow His. He will try to persuade us, but never force. :)
The comparison I see here with the Holocaust is that of the early efforts by the Nazis to dehumanize Jews. No one is suggesting pogroms begin tomorrow. It's simply a cautionary tale, namely, that consistent, repeated dehumanization and ridicule of any group of people can lead to something horrific. Think of some of the talk radio in Rwanda before their genocide, it was actually similar in tone to some of the bashing of Christians in the US that is occuring today.
Granted, the religious right has also done its share of demonizing here in the US, but the difference seems to be, it is regularly and immediately denounced, even by others in the religious right. Falwell and Robertson have been, and rightly so, immediately called to task for their outrageous statements. But I'm only seeing a one way street here.
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