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.

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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".

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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.

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Here are a few questions for Jewish Democrats:

1. What about the religious oriented humor of Stewart, Silverman, and Maher do you find the most funny?
   
   
2. 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?
   
   
3. 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?
   
   
4. 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?

How Modern Liberals Think

Evan Sayet is a political satirist and comedian. He describes himself as a reformed liberal. In this video he presents an interesting, thoughtful thesis about what makes a modern liberal-minded person tick.

I vehemently don't think there's any conspiracy theory at work. But I do believe that the modern liberals that Sayet is talking about typically think the following:

• ALL beliefs & values are equal, no matter how different they are than ours.
  
• There are rights & wrongs, just different ways of looking at things.
  
• We must not expect others to adjust their ways to ours, even if they're living in our society.
• The thoughts of victims have a greater moral authority than the thoughts of others.
  
• Stability & sovereignty is paramount in the world, even if millions of people are being oppressed or slaughtered.
• Big government is good. A world government body, such as the UN, is better.

If you fail to agree with all of these then you are a conservative, right-wing, neocon, unenlightened, closed-minded, selfish bigot. Don't believe me, just ask a liberal!

Like most everything, political views reside on a spectrum. I consider myself to be a pragmatic libertarian. That means that fiscally I'm a bit right of centre but socially I'm somewhat left of centre on many, but not all issues. Make no mistake that ultra-conservative religious zealots freak me out. But I recognize that such people come from ALL religions, not just Christianity. To this group I also include the newest fundamentalists: environmental zealots.

Most of my friends would describe themselves as liberals. In fact, most Canadians would describe themselves as liberal-minded. But what the really devout liberals fail to realize is how far extreme on the political spectrum they are. So much so that they annoy me just as much as the group on the other end of the spectrum!