Know Who Your Friends Are
I suspect that a lot more American Jews who read this blog will vote Republican in November than will American Jews in general. That's kind of expected: this blog is clearly a 'right wing' blog, and I link and am linked by such right wing uber-blogs as Little Green Footballs, Atlas Shrugs, and Gates of Vienna. But when I see articles like this one from the American Thinker, I wonder why everyone thinks that Jews are so smart. We have an unparalleled capacity to vote against our own interests. As I've told you before, I attribute that capacity to the tendency of many Jews to substitute 'liberalism' for Judaism as their religion.As Hezbollah, Hamas, Al Qaeda and Islamic Insurgents target the peaceful way we all live on a daily basis, one would surmise that the American Jew, the most despised group of the terrorists, would be the most fervently supportive of the Bush Administration and the War on Terror.
Think again.
As an American Jew, one who naively voted Democratic up until 9/11, but now an unabashed Bush and War on Terror supporter, I have seen the proverbial light. Sadly, precious few others of my ilk have. I can count on one hand the number of Republican Jews I have in my family or close friend base and can count on two hands the number of Bush supporting Jews I know. Yet, to my utter disbelief yet slow acceptance, I would need multiple minutes and a lot of Pepto Bismol to add up the amount of Bush-hating, anti-War Jewish friends and family I know.
Two thoughtful articles in the past year tackle this matter coherently and logically. I sent the first, “Dumb Jews,” out to my Republican-fearing, coastal-residing Jewish friends back in November. None commented back, many blocked my email address. Freedom of speech ends at their inboxes, it seemed. This most recent one, entitled, “When Will They Ever Learn” would likely suffer the same fate, so I won’t bother. To them, a Bush supporter is sacrilegious, not that any of them understand religion nor respect it. That the article makes the important note that Tom Delay, hated amongst Jews, a man who my friend’s mother called “a thoroughly evil man, second only to Bin Laden,” is accurately noted to have been “one of the best friends Israel ever had in American politics, and one of the most effective symbols of Republican support for Israel” is immaterial, it sadly seems. Much as author, David Gelernter mentions, American Jews move left as the left moves away from Israel. That is very telling, or at least it should be.
These lawyers, doctors and successful tycoons have absolutely zero interest in being open-minded and reading something not written in the only bibles these secular peons read, the New York Times or the Washington Post. If one of their counterculture, Ivy league former classmates did not write it, why would it have any relevance? Their legal relativist views go only so far as the left side of the spectrum.
...
The media often tells us that anti-Semitism is on the rise. What they don’t tell us is that it is not necessarily on the rise in Alabama or Idaho (although modern leftist Jewry’s despicable actions make me occasionally angry); it’s on the rise in the Black Community, in Europe and, undoubtedly, on American college campuses. Somehow this news, for obvious reasons, slipped past CNN and NPR, even though hundreds of books have been written on these topics, not to mention numerous websites and articles. The liberal, PC Jew, would rather eat pork than chastise their beloved Blacks and Europeans.
When I present information of anti-Zionism’s rise on campus to parents of prospective Jewish college students, they laugh, and excuse themselves to write their mid-five figure checks to Michigan and Yale, totally unconcerned with the atmosphere therein, or in say, Boulder and Cambridge, or the fact that some of this money may be funneled to Pro-Islam campus organizations. So long as Sarah will join the Jewish sorority her mom belonged to in the 70s and maybe meet a “nice Jewish guy” or that Justin will have a better chance of attaining admission to GW Law via Emory undergrad, these ancillary factors are as unimportant as the Israeli divestment campaign or the poor farmers in Kansas.
Read the whole thing.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:48 AM
5 Comments:
Unfortunately, it takes all kinds to make up the bulk of the liberal base. I cannot figure out why any Jews would subscribe to the lefty philosophy that seems to play into the hands of the terrorist nutjobs. Just look at the way the left is calling for a cease fire in Lebanon, and cheering Kofi for his "condemning" of Israels response to terrorist acts. Very disturbing.
I'm getting sick of the conventional division of everyone in this country into "liberal" and "conservative". Humans aren't that absurdly simple. E.g., I personally don't fall cleanly into either category. I'm largely "liberal" in political philosophy, but not when it comes to issues that are conventionally classified as "moral". In the war on terror, I support fighting terrorism and condemn giving into the jihad. I also do not support Bush.
My problem with Bush is that he is a politician, and I mean that in the most negative sense. He creates a façade of being a believing Christian, but when it comes to actual action in the spirit of Jesus, he fails miserably. Even before he was elected (and whether he was even legitimately elected is a big question), he was touting tax cuts for the very rich, the people who needed them the least, and when he got them, he created the biggest national debt in history. He has starved practically every program in the government, which is bad news for everyone depending on government aid. He has ignored science and intelligence in his policy-making. He has violated the constitution. He has intentionally lied about his reasons for going to war in Iraq, he had no plan for what to do after toppling Saddam Hussein, and he has no clue how to turn Iraq into a functioning country. He also has done a lousy job at fighting terror. He has not caught Osama bin Laden and, last I heard, is not looking for him. Despite Saudi involvement in 9/11, he has done nothing of consequence to confront Saudi Arabia and remains a great friend to that highly anti-democratic regime. He has ignored the genocide at the hands of Arabs occurring in the Sudan. He has done nothing of consequence to deal with Iran. He also is no real friend of Israel, being the father of the Quartet and its imbicilic Roadmap, and having no sense that alleged moderate Abbas is not anyone worthy of dealing with. His only real virtue when it comes to Israel is that he has to make his evangelical supporters happy and so lets Israel do what it has to with only minor grumbling.
I find it perplexing that anyone finds Bush to be a wonderful guy.
HashShem, in the next election please bless us competent, non-hypocritical candidates and the sense to vote for them.
Aaron
Aaron and Carl:
I mostly agree with Aaron on this one, with a few caveats.
Bush may have ignored the genocide in Darfur, but it is a bit unfair to pin the blame on Bush as to that one - that is something the UN also has flat out ignored, and the media barely covered. I cannot blame Bush wholly for that one.
Also, re: Iraq. I think Bush has fucked up terribly, but I am not sure what actions Kerry would have done to make it better. At this point, it is unclear a) what could be done to make it better, but also b) if it's that fucked up to begin with. I mean, it took Japan decades to become an economic powerhouse after WWII - aren't we being a bit rash in our rush to judge Iraq as failed?
I completely agree with you 100% with regards to Bush's domestic agenda. In fact, there's little to support his domestic agenda for. I am regularly horrified by the Christian right, and find the corruption of the Republicans, and DeLay, to be inexcusable.
However, when it comes to Israel, Bush has been a better friend to Israel than Clinton was. He generally lets Israel do its thing, and Bolton was a big boon to the UN. I have to give him his props there.
I am a liberal and I voted for Kerry, don't get me wrong, but I don't think Kerry would be better for Israel than Bush is. If nothing else, Kerry has an antisemitic left base.
The third rail of American politics is that the bases of the Republicans and Democrats are off their rockers. America would be better served with a real third party - sadly, none exists at the moment.
So, I am reduced to voting for the best of the worst. Bloomberg for mayor, Kerry for president (I still say he is best of the worst, but not GOOD), and libertarian for the senatorial seats. (I despise the Republican and Democratic nominees with equal measure there)
I am still waiting for the Democratic or Republican nominee, or any nominee to come out who is strong on defense, strong on civil rights/civil liberties, and dedicated to cutting the deficit. I am not sure why this is too much to ask for!
*sighs*
Also, the problem is not atheism. The problem is nontheism.
As I have said many times on this blog, I am a huge supporter of Israel, and I do not believe in Judaism or any other religion. The problem is nonthought.
atheism is nontheism.
the prefix a means "not"
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