Controversy has erupted at UC Santa Barbara over a professor's decision to send his students an e-mail in which he compared graphic images of Jews in the Holocaust to pictures of Palestinians caught up in Israel's recent Gaza offensive.Read the whole thing. Abraham Foxman, the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, called out Robinson for his "anti-Semitism," and the local ADL branch in Santa Barbara also repudiated Robinson, sending a letter to Robinson at UCSB requesting that he renounce his statements on Israel.
The e-mail by tenured sociology professor William I. Robinson has triggered a campus investigation and drawn accusations of anti-Semitism from two national Jewish groups, even as many students and faculty members have voiced support for him.
The uproar began in January when Robinson sent his message -- titled "parallel images of Nazis and Israelis" -- to the 80 students in his sociology of globalization class.
The e-mail contained more than two dozen photographs of Jewish victims of the Nazis, including those of dead children, juxtaposed with nearly identical images from the Gaza Strip. It also included an article critical of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians and a note from Robinson.
"Gaza is Israel's Warsaw -- a vast concentration camp that confined and blockaded Palestinians," the professor wrote. "We are witness to a slow-motion process of genocide."
Two Jewish students dropped the class, saying they felt intimidated by the professor's message. They contacted the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which advised them to file formal complaints with the university.
In their letters, senior Rebecca Joseph and junior Tova Hausman accused Robinson of violating the campus' faculty code of conduct by disseminating personal, political material unrelated to his course.
"I was shocked," said Joseph, 22. "He overstepped his boundaries as a professor. He has his own freedom of speech, but he doesn't have the freedom to send his students his own opinion that is so strong."
Professor Robinson defends himself by saying he's Jewish and by suggesting that the controversy is "like saying if I condemn the U.S. government for the invasion of Iraq, I'm anti-American ... It's the most absurd, baseless argument."
Well, actually, speaking of anti-Americanism. Folks should check Robinson's homepage, where he announces his Marxist praxis right there in the introduction:
As a scholar-activist I attempt to link my academic work to struggles in the United States, in the Americas, and around the world for social justice, popular empowerment, participatory democracy, and people-centered development.Hmm, that's enough to run a few tingles down the legs of William Ayers and Ward Churchill.
Robinson's also seen here directing FMLN militants seeking to topple the "US-backed governing party, ARENA."
But remember, there's no left-wing indoctrination at America's colleges and universities.
**********
UPDATE: Instalanche!
80 comments:
It's difficult to discern exactly what you're arguing in this piece. Being that it's my first visit to this blog, I only really 'got it' after viewing your profile, at which point it became all too disappointingly clear. Somehow I overlooked the "from a neoconservative perspective!" headline.
"I love my country, and I fully support current U.S. military operations around the world."
You contradict yourself. If you really loved your country, you wouldn't support the use of American troops in wars that aren't in America's interests. If you loved your country, you wouldn't advocate sending America's sons and daughters off to fight and die for Israel.
Professor Robinson sums the idiocy of the Lobby's 'anti-Semitism' allegations quite well here, as you've quoted him in your blog:
"[Criticizing Israeli policy is] like saying if I condemn the U.S. government for the invasion of Iraq, I'm anti-American ... It's the most absurd, baseless argument."
You don't seem to disagree with that logic in your blog. Instead, you engage in sophistry and prattle on about his "anti-Americanism" by grasping at straws and basing your assertion on some decidedly flimsy 'evidence' sourced from his homepage. I can't believe you're a professor!Don't worry, I know, I know -- I'm an "anti-Semite", right?
You're dead wrong, infensus, because you assume he's actually arguing anything at all. He's not, merely throwing his lot in with those who want to suppress academic freedom.
The guy supports American militarism. You don't seriously think he's ever engaged in an "argument" before, do you? What could it possibly consist of?
"I support firebombing Japanese children"??
I see. So writing a post about a college professor who compares Israel to the Nazis is tantamount to wanting to "suppress academic freedom."
Tell me, if Robinson had compared blacks to monkeys, would you have the same reaction? Would you still defend it as academic freedom?
Meanwhile, I was briefly at Montgomery College MD last Friday, and ran across a poster advertising a stand-up performance by a woman called "I Heart Hamas: And Other Things I'm Afraid To Tell You".
Swell, huh? A woman who loves a terrorist group so vile that if given the chance they'd kill all the Jews in Israel.
Suppose her poster had said "I Heart the KKK" it would have (properly) been a national scandal.
Hamas is basically the equivalent of the Nazis and KKK, yet the left defends plays glorifying them.
Tom: If you check "Infensus," you'll see some of the nastiest anti-Israel blogging going. Unbelievable who shows up in my comments sometimes. "Jewbonics"?
"Tell me, if Robinson had compared blacks to monkeys, would you have the same reaction? Would you still defend it as academic freedom?"
That's a sophistic argument, or what Mr Donald Douglas would call "irrationalism in argumentation". Comparing blacks to monkeys would be abhorrently racist, but comparing Israeli policy to that of the Nazis is not. So tell me 'Tom the Redhunter', how is comparing the actions of a nation-state to that of another nation-state "racist"? Do you imagine that Professor Robinson was implying that all Jews are Nazis, or otherwise worse than any other ethnicity? That would make you a fool.
In fact, I think it's a very fair comparison. Most of the population of Europe would probably agree, if this 2003 poll is anything to go by. And that was before the recent Gaza massacre.
Mr Douglas, the author of the above blog, says in his profile that he "welcome[s] comments and debate", but he's deleted at least two comments posted to this page so far. One poster wrote:
"The logic of William Robinson is far beyond the unfounded deconstructive criticism in the original post. According to the illogical argument in the post, you are an anti-Palestinian, and, thus, anti-Christian and anti-Muslim (since Palestine includes both)."
Another wrote:
"America should make a law against the questioning of Israel, since there's already an unwritten taboo against all those who dare question Israel."
Presumably, Mr Douglas Orwelled the above comments because they were posted by authors that didn't bother to provide their names, and thus posted under 'Anonymous' by default. I don't see the problem. I allow all comments to be published on my blogs, unless it's spam. The only other explanation is that he just didn't like them. In any case, I'm more than happy to reproduce them here under the authority of my own name in the spirit of free speech.
Mr Douglas doesn't seem to 'welcome debate' as much as he'd have us believe. It's not surprising, since he implicitly supports the suppression of Professor Robinson's academic freedom by writing the blog above, thereby helping the Israel lobby to sensationalise the issue.
Typical crap from leftist airheads. Yes, Infensus, you ARE anti-semitic.
Anonymous, Israel is a great nation, the only island of democracy and freedom in the Muslim cesspool of tyranny. It is only a "cancer" to the suicidal left who have thrown their lot in with barbarians rather than the modern, humane and democratic Israelis.
Infensus,
Deleting comments is common practice around here. Thats what they do in academia yah know? They delete and suppress people that they don't agree with.
Remember, we are lovers of "freedom" here. We fight wars over that shite! We also fight wars to compare the respective sizes of our testicles. Its this male macho thing goin' on around yalll ehhhhhh.
INfensus, since you're interested in the Israeli Lobby, you probably are already aware that 4-5 Israeli Mossad agents had been arrested during the days following 9/11, in New York?
This was covered even on Fox news until they decided not to air the story (I wonder why???).
What happened to these Israelis? Well, they were subsequently released by the Bush administration.
The documentation is out there for anyone that bothers to care.
Ahhh shucks, there goes my anti-semitism kicking in again.
Stooge,
I am sure you have the moral clarity to hypothesize about the "Humanity" of Israel!
Here, check out the humanity of Israel, the evidence is right here in video format:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UxJWdCwOpc&feature=related
Quick, before PRofessor Douglas and his army freedom fighters delete the post.
Now you can go back to smoking a crack pipe along with the rest of your friends.
Tom: Israel is a state, hence a structure of violence, hence guilty of crimes, like all states. The Nazis likewise ruled over a state apparatus, hence ruled over a structure of violence, and hence were guilty of crimes.
The specific nature of those crimes is the issue at hand. As in, to what extent do specific policies of the Israeli state resemble some of those of Nazi Germany. By definition this accusation can't be anti-Semitic, since we're discussing the policies of states, not of Jews. Surely all Jews aren't responsible for Israeli atrocity (whether Israel has committed atrocity you're agnostic on, I assume).
Returning to your logic, saying "Hamas is the equivalent of the Nazis" is far more anti-Semitic than comparing a specific policy of the Israeli state to the attack on the Warsaw Ghetto. Right? But shit, that's being logical. Not your metier.
Donald: stunningly articulate riposte. ""Jewbonics"?" I quiver at your argumentative capabilities.
Stogie: you're just kidding, right?
Jewbonics
Anonymous is gone, Stogie. Maybe that's "Tomas."
Yes, these people are bigoted idiots, and not welcomed either.
"Jewbonics"... I quiver at your link-embedding capabilities, ROFLMFAO!!!
God, you're stupid. I have no time for airheads like you. Go back home to your hate page, you creep.
Another comment deleted by the good professor, if indeed that is his occupation:
"First of all, the state of Israel is a cancer on the Jewish soul. There's my bias. Second, you're a professor and you align yourself with someone who compares a group of human beings to monkeys!? Where on earth do you teach? I think your students deserve to know how deep and radical your racism runs."
I agree with the statement in bold. Donald wrote:
"Tom: If you check "Infensus," you'll see some of the nastiest anti-Israel blogging going."
Definitely, I'm anti-Israel. I'm anti-Zionist, but I'm not racist or anti-Jewish as you seem to imply. The term "anti-Semitic" isn't appropriate here, because the real Semites in Palestine are the Palestinian Arabs. 90% of Israeli Jews are actually Turkic Mongols of Khazarian descent (the Ashkenazim). The Sephardim have a different genetic origin altogether.
And therein lies the inherent dishonesty in the 'anti-Semite!' epithet.
Tomas: Yes, I'm well aware of it, cheers.
"...if indeed that is his occupation..."
Heard it before, big boy. I'm shaking in my boots here, Mr. Anonymous Towering Intellect Asshat. Better head on back to your Elders website, son. I'd hate for you to get smacked down so hard you never saw it coming.
"Heard it before, big boy. I'm shaking in my boots here, Mr. Anonymous Towering Intellect Asshat."
Are you talking to me, Donald? Why would you even make mention of "shaking in your boots"? Do you imagine that I'm somehow threatening you?
And I'm no more anonymous than you are. I'm James Linton, by the way.
"Better head on back to your Elders website, son. I'd hate for you to get smacked down so hard you never saw it coming."
Classic! It was only a matter of time before the militant neocon Zionist lost his temper and turned violent (from behind the safety of his keyboard though, of course).
That's Zionism for ya. Maybe Donald is a card-carrying member of the JDO!
"I'm not racist or anti-Jewish as you seem to imply."
Asshat: You brought up anti-Semitic, obviously, so you could respond with your canned answers. Go home, freak. I saw your website and I'm not impressed.
And: "Do you imagine that I'm somehow threatening you?"
That's what you do, unsuccessfully in my case.
From Melanie Phillips, who I dare says knows infinitely more about this than you'll ever know:
"... the reason why Israel figures so heavily in any discussion about the predicaments of our era is that Israel is the defining moral issue of our time. It is Israel, and the century-old existential onslaught against the Jewish people in its ancient homeland, which stands at the very centre of the titanic fight by truth against lies, fact against propaganda, freedom against totalitarianism, liberty against slavery, justice against injustice and reason against irrationality in which the entire free world is currently engaged. Israel is the quintessential canary in the mine. It is the front-line in the defence of the free world. If it goes down, the rest of us will go down. Those who are on the wrong side of the Israel issue are on the wrong side in the great struggle for civilisation against barbarism. That is why I return to it again and again..."
P.S. You're not making arguments. You're insulting me, and you're abusive. But of course, that's obviously what you do...
Donald:
Better that you don't address my arguments. (you can't). stick to my fucking up embedding a link. that, I'll admit, you can make a case for.
As for the rest, we won't resolve this here, since there's no reason for you to change your mind, other than commitment to honesty, which, plainly, is a quality in short supply in American political commentary.
This is, however, good material for my own research on total indoctrination and state-worship. Keep on trucking.
Comparing blacks to monkeys would be abhorrently racist, but comparing Israeli policy to that of the Nazis is not.Comparing Israel to Nazi Germany is racist or bespeaks, instead, an astonishing lack of historical knowledge of Hitler's Euro/Asian empire.
Arguing like this never changes anyone's mind, nor does it educate any soul.
The fact is that Israel and the jews are in the middle east to stay and anyone who doesn't like it is always welcome to try to change the facts on the ground and eat lead and die. The sooner the better. I grow tired of their prattle.
All these folks are just upset that jews have guns and know how to use them. Wahahhahahaha. Tuff luck.
Never again means you die if you try. Simple.
"And: "Do you imagine that I'm somehow threatening you?"
That's what you do, unsuccessfully in my case."
Donald, where have I threatened you? I haven't, and I wouldn't. The only threat in this discussion was made by you:
"Better head on back to your Elders website, son. I'd hate for you to get smacked down so hard you never saw it coming."
You say you "welcome debate" on this blog, but you haven't contributed to this debate at all, other than to provide a whacky and nonsensical quote from Melanie Philips, issue threats, and resort to name-calling. Calling me an "asshat" isn't very 'professory' of you. Furthermore, you've deleted at least 4 comments from this page -- not exactly conducive to an open and "welcome" debate.
The only posters that have attempted to participate in a serious and healthy debate here are Jewbonics and myself, but you insisted on losing it before it even began. Fair enough. One more victory for the anti-Zionists.
P.S: My Henry Siegman, Norman Finkelstein and Noam Chomsky trump your Melanie Philips - and all three are Jewish.
Chomsky:
"Supporters of Israel are in reality supporters of its moral degeneration and probable ultimate destruction."
You might also want to look up the irrepressible Jeffrey Blankfort, another keenly intelligent and staunchly anti-Zionist Jew.
"Comparing Israel to Nazi Germany is racist or bespeaks, instead, an astonishing lack of historical knowledge of Hitler's Euro/Asian empire."
Witte: Robinson didn't compare Israel to Nazi Germany. He compared certain policies of the Israelis to that of the Nazis, and Gaza to the Warsaw Ghetto. See an interview with Robinson here. Fair comparisons to anyone that followed the recent Gaza massacre.
"90% of Israeli Jews are actually Turkic Mongols of Khazarian descent (the Ashkenazim). The Sephardim have a different genetic origin altogether."
He just wouldn't be a real antisemite if he could actually get his fact straight:
1) The majority of Israeli Jews *are* Sephardic (i. e. migrated recently from the Middle East), not Ashkenazic.
2) Genetic studies have shown that Ashkenazi Jews are of Middle Eastern origin and the "Khazar" hypothesis is baloney.
One of the best things about being Jewish is that antisemites are always liars, misfucks, nitwits and born losers. By the way, when was the last time the "Jewish" Robinson was in shul?
I'll add that we've yet to see a coherent argument made as to why criticism of Israeli policies is anti-Semitic. Is it possible that there is none?
Gary: Real smart. "One of the best things about being Jewish is that antisemites are always liars, misfucks, nitwits and born losers. By the way, when was the last time the "Jewish" Robinson was in shul?"
See, I thought one of the best things about being Jewish was haroseth. But you keep living in fantasy land, where the "antisemites" are "always...nitwits," such as the brilliant, completely batshit insane Nazis who constructed the death camps. Those "nitwits" almost took us out.
Why would it be relevant if Robinson went to Shul or not? Or is being Jewish now related, not to whether your mother was born Jewish, but rather to adherence to religious rites? Pray tell me precisely how many annual visits to synagogue makes or doesn't make one Jewish, explain how criticizing a foreign policy that has by now sunk to unimaginably base levels impugns Jews as a group, and then get back to me.
The eternal subterfuge -- 'he's an anti-Semite'. It doesn't matter how many Jewish academics I respect, in fact the truth doesn't matter at all. If I'm anti-Zionist, I'm "anti-Semitic". You Zionists are totally full of shit.
And Gary: bullshit. Most Israeli Jews are Ashkenazic. Wikipedia:
"Ashkenazi Jews represent the bulk of modern Jewry, with at least 70% of Jews worldwide (and up to 90% prior to World War II and the Holocaust). As a result of their emigration from Europe, Ashkenazim also represent the overwhelming majority of Jews in the New World continents, in countries such as the United States, Canada, Argentina, Australia, and Brazil. In France, emigration of Mizrahim from North Africa has led them to outnumber the Ashkenazim and Sephardim."
And:
"The Israeli Jews consists of two groups (Ashkenazi and Sephardim), ten to twenty percent are known as Sephardim or Eastern Jew, the remaining eighty to ninety percent are known as Ashkenazi or European Jew."
Where are your sources for this? ->
"2) Genetic studies have shown that Ashkenazi Jews are of Middle Eastern origin and the "Khazar" hypothesis is baloney."
I'd like to see some evidence of this, lest you want to make a "misfuck" (?) of yourself.
Infensus Mentis:
Actually, you're non-responsive and prevaricating, and this has never been a "debate," as you began your very first comment with argumentum ad hominem, a logical fallacy.
Not "serious and healthy debate" by any means, but self-flagellation suits you...
P.S. Anonymous sock-puppets don't count.
The Khazars and the Askenazim.
Not to interrupt anyone's insult-fest, but i wonder why, if "Israel" or "the Jews" goodness or badness is such an open question, why is it that totalitarians, tyrants, madmen, and other horribles in control of the people, historically invariably sooner or later suppress, oppress, or worse, this numerically insignicant little tribe?
After all, there's more people in any one of the say ten largest cities than there are Jews in the whole wide world.
What gives --unless Melanie Phillips is right --?
PS --she can't really be proven wrong by hateful rhetoric. It requires an "argument".
Thanks for jumping in there, Buddy Larson. This thread started with insults, and has pretty much gone down from there...
hi gary --you must be an instapundit reader, too --? Glad to see you --hope you've been well.
Buddy... Gary, as in Stogie? Nope, he's an American Power reader!
Thanks, donald. I'm sure you and gary and a few others (couldn't read it all, wanted to 'retain dinner') will feel like a shower afterwards. not together of course --that's for nazis.
donald, i meant gary rosen --have greatly enjoyed reading him for years at such as Belmont and Roger Simon --
Okay, Buddy ... Well, "Stogie's" name is Gary, and he's at Saber Point.
How have you been, anyway?
Thanks for the pointer, Donald --i'll look in --
how doing, oh, fine, i guess --a tad concerned that the world is coming to an end, but
who's complaining?
Yuk yuk --
and you?
Is anyone else sick of the comparaisons between the Jewish state of Israel and Nazi Germany?
The argument that the recent Israeli offensive into Gaza is akin to the Nazi eradication campaign in the Warsaw Ghetto is preposterous and trivializes actual historic events.
First of all, while Israel is a tiny Jewish state surrounded by Arab nations, the Warsaw Ghetto was a tiny Jewish enclave surrounded by a hostile occupying power.
Secondly, Israel's justification for entering the Gaza strip was the large number of rockets being fired at Israel on a daily basis. After destroying the launch sites and killing large numbers of Hamas operatives, Israel withdrew. The German justification for entering the Ghetto was to continue the deportation of Jews to the Treblinka death camp. Does anyone remember what happened to the Jews after the Warsaw uprising?
Thirdly, even news sources that are openly pro Palestinian admit that roughly half the individuals killed in the offensive were members of Hamas. In other words, completely acceptable proportionality considering the dense urban conditions in the Gaza strip(which anyone who has been in the military especially the combat arms will admit). In the Ghetto Uprising, 13,000 Jews were killed
, and the remaining 55,000 were deported and gassed at Treblinka. The Jews who fought in the uprising were the last of the 300,000 who had already been deported to the death camp of Treblinka.
Here I quote the Nazi commander Stroop, "180 Jews, bandits and sub-humans, were destroyed. The former Jewish quarter of Warsaw is no longer in existence. The large-scale action was terminated at 20:15 hours by blowing up the Warsaw Synagogue. (...) Total number of Jews dealt with 56,065, including both Jews caught and Jews whose extermination can be proved. (...) Apart from 8 buildings (police barracks, hospital, and accommodations for housing working-parties) the former Ghetto is completely destroyed. Only the dividing walls are left standing where no explosions were carried out."
Does his style of speaking remind you more of Hamas leadership, or the Israeli State? Which side in this ongoing struggle continues to label the other as being subhuman and evil? Which side wants to completely eliminate the other?
This reminds me of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion"
Does anyone still want to compare these two events?
i was trying to get my mind around Warsaw Ghetto = Gaza.
I was concerned that a actual perfesser had published that twinning, so it mus be me, or that is, my brane, that something is gone badly wrong with.
(sorry about using a preposition to end a sentence with)
Anyhoo, that twinning is so freaking outrageous, that i realize --well since a perfesser would never teach anything that a ten year old knows enough history to laff at --it must be me who has gone stark raving mad.
This is a shame, because i had so much potential.
WAIT --I've got it --'ghetto' and 'Gaza' both start with a "G"!
And the sky is blue just like a blueberry so climate change is caused by blueberries.
Lol Buddy Larsen, I can tell you are a "right wing extremist" of the type that poses the greatest threat to the American government right now.
Thank god for Instapundit.
All I can say is, "CLEANUP IN AISLE 5," and bring a few troll bombs with you.
-Dave
agree, anon --three cheers for ole instapundit --does yeoman work kicking at the encroaching jackals --
I bleieve that the professor has the right to speak his mind and give a different opinion than majority of us are tunned to. Everyone knows that there were some illegal activities in Gaza as even Red Cross people were hurt. The funny part is that i'm not even an Arab to even care. it's just not humane to do such things to other people.
It just surprises me that these neocons are defending "brown"people instead of trying to kill them
I'm really sorry not being from jewish origin , because other wise I would have been permitted to tell jokes about (or against?) Jews without being considered as "anti-semite". Hypocrits are very active by these days, just like Communist Chinese at Mao's era calling all the oversea's ethnic Chinese as "treators" and foreign "running dogs" because they did not hail or pour their money in the anticapitalist "Motherland" (otherwise they were considered as patriotic degenerated (but usefull) sub-chineses, just like today when a Jew (Not only a Israelian one) must think twice before expressing a view which does not fit with ultrasemitism, zionism,or other "supraethnik" theories. Is there an ideological difference between the need of a lebensraum promulgated by Mr Schickelsgrüber or the same need expressed by those who in 1275 BC (les 40 years in the Sinai) who conquered a place already known for long as the land of the Philistines (=Phalistan=falistan= palestine)During WW One, many german Uhlans (the SS of that time) were killing civilians in Belgium and France as well cutting hands and feets to all male humans they encountered. Like the other German soldiers they often were under command of Jewish German Officers. But Thanks Gott was not mitt uns: Adolf Schickel the hell of a grübe never got above the rank of corporal! All peoples are great, providing their leaders behave like real human beings.
Here are a few uncomfortable facts - Iraq is a democracy. If and until it's democratic republican form of government fails, it is no longer alone as the only free ME nation. You can retire that AIPAC talking point for now.
The PA and Hamas both have a jew free policy. If you sell land to a jew in the PA, it's a death penalty crime. And occasionally these moral deviants get a hold of an actual jew. Result? They kill him.
Now for my soapbox moment, were the palestinians to actually quit teaching their kids this absurd, ahistorical death cult version of Islam and instead treat the jews with less discrimination than jews faced in Israel, they could get independence and the jewish settlers who wanted to live so badly on palestinian land would get their wish, as a jewish minority in a palestinian state. An absurdly large proportion of the pointless game playing could be fixed unilaterally by the palestinians. But the palestinians have no Mandela. Instead they have little brutes with twisted souls grasping for the biggest share of the aid money graft.
And in the west we have their excusers, several of which have made a shameful showing on this board.
Leaving aside the moral arguments, let's just look at scale. The global war and genocides the Nazis began killed about 50 million people.
The Israelis have killed maybe 5000 Palestinians in the last 10 years.
So, that's about 1/10000th as many. No comparison at all. Clearly, given the size and capability of the Israeli military, if they were like the Nazis they would have killed a lot more people. There likely would not be any Palestinians at all. So, it's hard to make the claim that the Israelis are like Nazis when the evidence does not support it. Something else must explain their behavior besides genocidal rage. Calling the behavior genocide when it's not diverts attention from actual genocide, of which this world has far too many.
Looking at reality, which means comparing numbers instead of emotions, reveals an extremely low-level conflict that kills fewer people than almost any war on the planet. Take the war in Sri Lanka, or Iraq. Both those conflicts have killed far more people than have died in all of Israel's wars put together.
When compared to the Congo war, which has killed at least 2 million people, why do people waste time with a conflict that's more like a tribal blood feud than a war? It's just not that important. Why not put all the attention and diplomatic pressure to better use?
Donald is being selective about which 'Anonymous' comments he deletes. The criterion is simple: if they're pro-Israel, they stay. This is typical Zionist hypocrisy. Kinda like outright threatening someone and then claiming that they threatened you, or falsely accusing someone of ad hom attacks two breaths after calling them "Mr. Anonymous Towering Intellect Asshat".
From 'Anonymous':
"Here I quote the Nazi commander Stroop, "180 Jews, bandits and sub-humans, were destroyed. The former Jewish quarter of Warsaw is no longer in existence. The large-scale action was terminated at 20:15 hours by blowing up the Warsaw Synagogue. (...)
Does his style of speaking remind you more of Hamas leadership, or the Israeli State? Which side in this ongoing struggle continues to label the other as being subhuman and evil? Which side wants to completely eliminate the other?"Actually, it looks a lot like the rhetoric of Jewish supremacists.
"We have to kill all the Palestinians unless they are resigned to live here as slaves." Chairman Heilbrun of the Committee for the Re-election of General Shlomo Lahat, the mayor of Tel Aviv, October 1983.The Palestinians are "..beasts walking on two legs." Menachim Begin, speech to the Knesset, quoted in Amnon Kapeliouk, 'Begin and the "Beasts"', New Statesman, 25 June 1982.
"When we have settled the land, all the Arabs will be able to do about it will be to scurry around like drugged cockroaches in a bottle." Raphael Eitan, Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defence Forces, New York Times, 14 April 1983.Rabbi: "All of the Palestinians must be killed; men, women, infants, and even their beasts"And from the Talmud:
"Only the Jews are humans, the Non-Jews are not humans, but cattle" (goyim = human cattle) [1]
- Kerithuth 6b page 78, Jebhammoth 61a
"The Non-Jews have been created to serve the Jews as slaves" [2]
- Midrasch Talpioth 225
"The Non-Jews have to be avoided, even more than sick pigs"
- Orach Chaiim 57, 6a
"Sexual intercourse with Non-Jews is like sexual intercourse with animals"
- Kethuboth 3bIt's truly saddening to see so many Americans - especially the leadership - adore, worship and prostrate themselves before a racist Apartheid state that couldn't give a shit about them. But American their money - oooh, they care about that!
American Zionists are sycophants of the most shameful order. Even as the United States collapses economically, these Zionist traitors support billions of dollars in annual aid to a first world nation with one of the most advanced military machines on the planet.
This idiot friend of yours is even advocating closing down UCSB over Robinson's emails, but only 'half seriously'.
Threads like these sadden me, no bullshit. Wake up, America. The Israeli parasite is running the show and running you into the ground.
Books banned in Lebanon (the most free of ME countries):
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124113399848475095.html
Any books banned in "fascist" Israel?
I'm fine, Buddy...
Just kind of amazed at the loonies this post has dug up...
You know, this is pretty funny. People show up at a man's blog, engage in all sorts of personal attacks, and then scream "censorship!" -- while their attacks are still plainly there for all to see.
News flash, folks -- this is DD's house. He can let you in or not, as he sees fit. He has no obligation to give you a soapbox with which to denounce his views. If you really need to sound off, get yourself your own Blogger account -- they're free -- and then post a comment here with a link: "My post rebuts this one, and is much cleverer too; click here".
Let me add that, if you really want to claim that DD has been censoring comments he doesn't like, then you have not been reading the comments very carefully.
In re the post itself -- 'nuff said. My hat's off to the people here who are trying gamely to fight the good fight, arguing logically against those who would defend the indefensible. But a wise man once said: "Never try to mud-wrestle with a pig. You get dirty and disgusting, and the pig likes it."
No doubt there will people who read this comment and be undecided as to whether to applaud it or condemn it, until they know if I'm one of The Good Guys or not. To them I say: have fun.
all the best,
Daniel in Brookline
Daniel,
There is nothing wrong with deleting posts but there is something reprehensible about people that PRETEND to uphold the values of "freedom" and "free speech" yet cannot uphold these same values on their blog.
This is what some of us call, RANK AND FILE HYPOCRISY.
What would you call it?
Donald Douglas has demonstrated numerous times, that he does not tolerate any views that oppose his favored son - the State of Israel.
JOhn Lynch,
Killing people is not the only form of oppression.
Infact, the system of discrimination and control in the region is far more sophisticated.
The control and distribution of water resources in the area is just one example of systematic control of the Palestinian life line.
In the current scheme, the Palestinians have no choice but to be at the foot of their oppressors for even basic necessities, let alone the resources needed to improve stanadards of living in the region.
Daniel in Brookline!
Thanks man!
I'm with Tomas.
We have the same situation here in Texas. Kansas and Iowa control the wheat and corn, and because of that we can do nothing but grovel at their wheatist and cornist feet.
As soon as we become as advanced as the Palestinians, we will rectify this criminal injustice by blowing up buses full of civilians and pizza parlors full of teenagers and firing twenty thousand rockets into Abilene and Council Bluffs.
De nada, Donald. Thank YOU for providing the forum... and the raw material!
Tomas: my comment stands. If you think our host is a hypocrite, you're welcome to that opinion, and you're welcome to express it on your own soapbox. If you choose to express that opinion here -- by screaming that DD is exercising censorship by deleting comments (while leaving up your comments calling him a hypocrite!) -- well, others may choose to point and giggle at you.
There is no law that I'm aware of -- not in the United States, and certainly not in the blogosphere -- against making a fool of yourself.
I'll freely admit that I don't know which comments DD has deleted. On the other hand, even if I did, I would not presume to know why he has deleted them... unless I asked, and he told me. Claiming to know someone else's motivations, just because they did something you don't like, is a kindergarten playground game.
Let me add also that there's a certain kind of person who strides into someone else's house, makes themselves at home, and immediately starts criticizing everything they see. That's boorish behavior in your living room, and it's no less so online. If you wouldn't put up with that from an uninvited visitor to your home, then think a bit about showing some respect when you're on someone else's turf.
(Note that I didn't say you must agree with anything DD says. But if you can't disagree politely, then you're just name-calling, which doesn't impress anyone.)
respectfully,
Daniel in Brookline
I'm new to this blog, and I must say I find this discussion passionate to say the least.
I think the professor here is engaged in the very typical argument of vilifying someone/something he disagrees with by comparing to Nazis (i.e., Bush=Hitler). To engage this argument on the merits is only to give it credence.
While many of the comments seek to frame the subject of this post as the Israeli government's policy towards the Palestinians, I took it as a discussion on academic freedom - not just the professor's, but the students' as well.
Professors research and write articles for publication. It is beyond question that this professor can/could write an article on the subject in the e-mail; the First Amendment guarantees that freedom. Whether any reputable academic journal would publish it is another matter.
What concerns me is that this information is being distributed to a somewhat captive audience - the students. Additionally, it is unclear whether this material was part of a specific class assignment. E-mail did not exist when I was in college, so I don't know if it is customary for teachers to issue assignments via e-mail. If it was not part of a class assignment, then I would view it as inappropriate propaganda.
If it was part of a class assignment, what was the assignment? How does this particular professor deal with opposing views? Do students feel comfortable expressing disagreement?
The comments here reflect a very passionate debate on the topic, with many opposing views being represented. My concern is that the students in this class are not able to engage in this type of debate with the professor for fear of grade retribution. Being to express opposing sides of an issue is the essence of getting an education. That to me is the crux issue here.
From Robert's comment:
"My concern is that the students in this class are not able to engage in this type of debate with the professor for fear of grade retribution."
It's pretty common actually. But also, just regular old intimidation from others. My conservative students sometimes say they are overwhelmed, and often by other students, not just liberal professors.
Donald,
Intimidation, or grade retribution, dilutes the quality of one's education. If the only skill these students are learning is to parrot the professor, then they are not learning to think critically. I fear higher education is only producing graduates who cannot think for themselves.
tomas,
Sorry, but I just cannot let that piece of bullsqueeze propaganda video you posted above go without a response.
That video has been completely debunked and proven beyond any doubt to be a fake:
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/01/09/cnn-republishes-fake-atrocity-video/
-Dave
Dave,
First of all,
A) I am 100% certain that you did not watch the entire video I posted, because if you did, you wouldn't be trying to refute it with a completely different video that has nothing to do with what I referenced.
B) That video I posted was telecast live on -GET THIS - ISRAELI TELEVISION.
The Palestinian doctor was being interviewed while his house got blown up. Two of his daughters died as a result.
let me repeat.
The interview was live on Israeli television, when his house got shelled.
I am not sure what kind of crack you've been smoking, but it sure must be rather potent.
Secondly,
If there is some sort of blatant forgery going on amongst the palestinians, why was the international media refused entry into Gaza by the ISRAELI MILITARY during the seige???????
Explain that?
Let me guess, they were sooo concerned about foreign reporters suffering at the hands of home-made fart bombs sent my Hamas eh?
YOu folk are a dime a dozen.
Good times.
Let me tell you something.
Hamas is nothing but an EXCUSE for the Israeli's to continue the OCCUPATION.
And, I agree with the person who said that the Israeli-Palestine issue is hardly the most pressing humanitarian crisis of our times.
Infact, the only reason why it is notoriously covered in the media is because of the ISRAELI LOBBY.
ooops, did I just say that?
Daniel, your fake impartiality is rather humorous.
Infensus has copied and pasted the comments that have been deleted.
Your pretentious naivity a side, I think that being a "software engineer" I am certain you would have the basic deductive reasoning skills to come up with a semi-intelligent hypothesis for the comment removals.
Until then, enjoy yourself.
oh, my goodness --Tomas, listen to yourself --why on earth would someone so vile even NEED a "Hamas excuse"?
Does your doctor only treat Bubonic Plague?
Man, do you ever need some remedial human-nature study.
Hamas is nothing but an EXCUSE for the Israeli's to continue the OCCUPATIONequals
"Your house being on fire is nothing but an EXCUSE for you to call the FIRE DEPARTMENT"
equals
"I create idiotic tautologies for which a NORMAL person would be highly EMBARRASSED"
Larson,
"Oh my god.....listen to yourself"
Your pathetic tautology would make some sense if you actually applied it correctly.
Maybe, you're confessing something here? That is, you have a thing for fire men in tight yellow suits coming over your to place to fight pretend fires?
Other than that, I am not sure why anyone would want to call the fire-fighters to fight pretend fires.
I am sorry guy, but we don't have any psychiatrists to help you out with your weird fetishes around here. I doubt, even the great Donald Douglas can help you out.
The Israeli's on the other hand, do stand to benefit from continuing an occupation, regardless of the existence of Hamas. Hence, my comment about Hamas being a great excuse to continue the occupation.
Get it?
hmmmmm.........crickets
yuk --you reveal WAY too much about yourself, Tomas--sure sign of "no argument" --among other things.
Re 'crickets', you have to wait until the following post to invoke them --how can anyone answer you right in the middle of your post, Einstein?
Also, you should learn how not to use apostrophe's.
From Daniel in Brookline:
"No doubt there will people who read this comment and be undecided as to whether to applaud it or condemn it, until they know if I'm one of The Good Guys or not. To them I say: have fun."
Well that wasn't much of a brainteaser. It only took one quick look at your blog to ascertain that you most certainly are not one of the 'good guys', if support for Apartheid Israel (and warrantless wiretapping!) is any measure of one's 'goodness'. But it's not, of course. You're probably a decent guy, albeit a tad... anyway.
As for this comparison from Buddy Larsen:
"Hamas is nothing but an EXCUSE for the Israeli's to continue the OCCUPATIONequals
"Your house being on fire is nothing but an EXCUSE for you to call the FIRE DEPARTMENT""
This comes from someone who apparently imagines that Israel is the victim in this whole sordid conflict. Israel is always the victim. Remember the Holocaust™? We must "never forget" the Holocaust™! With one simple but catchy and evocative word, Jewish suffering is separated from, and elevated above, everything else that transpired during WWII, and all other genocides. Thus, the word itself implies Jewish chauvinism. As we're hammered constantly by the endless repetition of this word by the media, Hollywood and the education system, Jewish suffering is sanctified.
Nevermind that the indigenous Palestinians are suffering under a brutal 60 year occupation. Never mind that Israel has been blockading and starving Gaza well before HAMAS even came to power. Don't think about the fact that for every Israeli child killed by the resistance, ten Palestinian children die at the hands of the Israelis, and the proportionality for adults is roughly the same.
Does HAMAS fire rockets into Israel? Yes, but 1) The Palestinians have a legitimate right to resistance under occupation, just like Americans would if they were under a Chinese occupation, 2) these dodgy, homemade Qassam rockets are little more than firecrackers, having killed a mere 16 or so Israelis since 2000 (you'd think it was a massacre reading and listening to the Western media), 3) Sderot and the surrounding area which takes the brunt of most of these frightening WMDs was Palestinian land before Israel suddenly 'got bigger' in 1967, and 4) some of these rocket attacks are faked.
In any case, Daniel was right about at least one thing: it's not worth arguing with Zionists. As he put it, "Never try to mud-wrestle with a pig. You get dirty and disgusting, and the pig likes it."
Amazing, the anti-Semitism here, isn't it, Donald? You really know how to bring them out of the woodwork.
You should make an effort to learn what 'anti-Semitism' actually means, Tom. Being pro-Palestinian, pro-self-determination, pro-Democracy, anti-Zionist, anti-racist, anti-occupation and anti-war doesn't necessarily mean that one hates - or even dislikes - Jews. In fact, being anti-racist necessarily precludes one from hating Jews, or any other ethnicity -- not that Jewishness is an ethnicity.
I have several Jewish friends, and some of my favourite authors and intellectuals are Jewish.
When Zionists can't argue with facts or defend what is clearly indefensible, the "anti-Semitism" subterfuge comes out. It's as predictable as the sunrise, and dumb as shit.
Infensus Mentis:
I've been gone all day, but seeing you back, I'm sure readers are disappointed in just how unexceptional are your taunts, not to mention your mean-spirited personality.
What's particularly interesting is how you insult me and my readers, and then spam my comments with links back to your blog. That's some chutzpah!
You're a troll-spammer of the worst kind, and not that bright of one at that.
Your tenure's done here. Goodbye.
Donald, i too dropped back in after a hiatus, and i too see no point in engaging some of these people. one tries from time to time, but the result seems never worth the effort. The pattern is to flood the zone with anecdotals while never even acknowledging the only question: who can stop the war? Israel can't, her enemies can. Nuff said, that's the whole ball o wax.
if Infested Mentally is still nearby, please sir, answer the question in your own mind; who could stop the war right this minute, and for all time? There is only one answer, that answer is, the people intent on picking up where Hitler left off are the only people who can stop the war.
despite Infected Mentality's blizzards of links, that is the question, the only question, that stands out alone in the First Order.
Buddy Larsen,
Wow, those "links" do offend you don't they? I mean god forbid he cites a reference or two for his opinions (regardless of what you think of its credibility).
What a guy, that Infensus!
http://www.911missinglinks.com/
Buddy are you part of the Israeli propaganda machine also? Sounds like it.
You gotta convince dem' Americans that their first allegiance is to the all mighty Apharteid state of Israel right?
Don't worry, you've got a lot of friends helping you out...........PErle, Wolfowitz, abrams, John Bolton, Rummy.........they're all part of the good team of propagandists huh?
Have fun.
Tomas, our comments will only be deleted as soon as ol' Don sees them, providing mine gets through his censorship settings in the first place. All we've done by engaging these sycophantic Israeli apologists is help Don's crappy non sequitur of a blog list at no.2 on a Google search of 'William Robinson UCSB'. Un-freaking-believable, for a blog of this caliber.
Larsen, you've got it arse-backwards, Buddy. Israel could agree to go back to its 1967 borders - even HAMAS has indicated that it would agree to that deal. But no, Israel wants every piece of real estate from the Nile to the Euphrates. That is, after all, what the Israeli flag symbolises.
The Palestinians could end this conflict unilaterally, yeah - by leaving Palestine altogether en masse and giving the Zionists the keys and deeds to the whole area, the area which has been their home for a thousand years. You don't think the Palestinians want peace? Obviously you imagine they like to starve, die and see their children tremble in fear and cry over the charred corpses of their white phosphorus-laden loved ones. Obviously they are just "Nazis" or "anti-Semitic", nevermind the fact that they are Semites themselves. You are either stupid or disingenuous; there is no other explanation.
A resolution to this conflict would require concessions from both sides. Your contention that "only one side" can end it is asinine.
The Zionists don't want peace - they want it all. They believe 'God gave it to us', another Jewish fairy tale. The only peace Israel wants is a piece of each of its neighbors, or better still, the whole lot.
Guys, Israel's enemies had the pre-1967 borders.
They built up huge armies on them and were minutes or hours or days away from launching an attack of annihilation on Israel, from those borders.
This is simply the historical record --Nassar's speeches are in the public record.
Israel struck first. Inexcusable only if you don't consider the two (then very recent) previous attacks of annihilation, only if you don't believe Israel, with her eastern border walking distance (or short T55 drive) from the Mediterranean, had not been forced again into existential crisis.
Re white phos, i dunno one way or the other, but do note that the accusation is standard cant from you two guy's masters in the kremlin, and that in the end, war is hell, but YOU keep starting them and maintaining them, so your outrage over weapons and tactics is not only highly suspect but totally absurd.
Infestus, your The Zionists don't want peace - they want it all. They believe 'God gave it to us', another Jewish fairy tale. The only peace Israel wants is a piece of each of its neighbors, or better still, the whole lot sounds pretty and hopefully makes you feel moral, but if you are able to extract your head from your tail for an hour or two of study, you'll see that in both of the 'big' wars, '67 & '73, Israel discontinued combat ops with the roads to Cairo and Damascus wide open.
Even more obviously ridiculing of your charges is the fact that Israel could dispose of ALL her contiguous enemies at any time and has been so able for decades on end, and has not done so.
Lastly, Tomas, i'm not Jewish, i'm not in the employ of anything remotely zionist or Israeli. I just hate what is being done to a tiny little nation in a sea of enemies, fighting off decade after decade the combined forces of 100-1 outnumbering enemies, their petro fortunes, the mideast designs of the Caspian Axis and the general international totalitarianism, and the religious hysteria known as jihad that has been installed in the kept-poor-and-ignorant-for-the-purpose surrounding masses.
An extremely lethal and destructive array of enemies, whom you two apparently, and to your everlasting discredit, blindly support.
Oh, Buddy. You make it sound like Israel is this poor little victim-state surrounded by a sea of hostile, 'anti-Semitic' madmen. Actually, you don't 'make it sound' like anything, you outright say it.
"I just hate what is being done to a tiny little nation in a sea of enemies, fighting off decade after decade the combined forces of 100-1 outnumbering enemies, their petro fortunes, the mideast designs of the Caspian Axis and the general international totalitarianism, and the religious hysteria known as jihad that has been installed in the kept-poor-and-ignorant-for-the-purpose surrounding masses.
An extremely lethal and destructive array of enemies, whom you two apparently, and to your everlasting discredit, blindly support."You mention the wars of '67 and '73. These are only two of about a dozen wars that Israel has been involved in since its inception. Since you're so interested in the "historical record", see what it says about who started those wars. Israel started all but one.Poor little Israel, with the second or third most powerful military on the planet, surrounded by that "sea" of 'jihadists'. Poor defenseless Israel, carrying the burden of an "existential threat" from Iran, a nation which hasn't attacked a country or started a war in over 1,000 years, which doesn't stop the Zionist state from threatening it militarily over it's perfectly legitimate civilian nuclear energy program.
Get real, bro. Nobody wants to 'push Israel into the sea'. It's paranoia and hysteria like yours that causes wars and death and sorrow and grief - the kind of thing Donald here 'fully supports'.
Iran has been at war with the US ever since the Embassy takeover of 1979, Infestus. It's a low-grade conflict, but it's there. The killing began with the 200 plus Marines in Lebanon back when RR was pres.
You can say whatever you want, say the moon is made of green cheese, i can't do a thing about it. You can plumb the depths of hysteria, then accuse me of it, and there's no magic words for me to say against it. You can say Israel starts the wars, and it's clear that no facts are ever going to restrain your fingers on the keyboard.
So go ahead. Assert your assertions 'til the cows come home. I have talked to fenceposts before and know how it comes out in the end. I'm talked out, and there's the fencepost, unchanged.
All i can say is that this thread has exposed you as a fool or a tool, with no respect for the truth.
By analogy, it has done the same for your entire political position.
To whatever extent i've helped pull the scab off the wound you represent, here in this tiny corner of the blogoshere, i'll count my time not entirely wasted.
i honestly do wish you well, and send you a hope that sometime soon you get to the bottom of whatever bottom you're destined to reach, and then turn, using in a better way the gift of life you've been given.
good luck, & farewell.
Buddy, you made one assertion in the above comment: that Iran is at war with the United States. It's not. There is no military conflict, which is clearly what we were talking about with regard to the conflicts that Israel has been involved in.
The rest of your comment was pablum that can be summed up thusly: 'It's not worth debating you, it's useless'. How convenient for you.
You didn't refute any of the facts in my comment; you just resorted to chidish name-calling and disingenuous platitudes. I didn't call you silly names, I made four main points: That Israel has been involved in about a dozen wars since it's creation in 1948, that it was the aggressor in all but one (the Yom Kippur/Ramadan war of 1973), that Iran hasn't started a war in roughly a millennium, and that Israel isn't the poor little underdog that you make it out to be. You can't challenge me on these facts, so you patronise me with faux good will, 'honestly wishing me well' two breaths after calling me a "fool".
Either I'm right about these things or I'm not. It's that simple. Readers, if there are any, can decide for themselves, and decide for themselves whether or not I'm a "fool".
What is anti-American about being a Marxist?
What's wrong with being anti-America?
Here's one for American Power readers, written by Paul Craig Roberts, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration:
The End of Free Speech?
Criminalizing Criticism of Israel
I have been following this discussion with interest (and disbelief)_but I am reminded of these words of David Ben Gurion in his diary of Sept.12,1937: "The Arabs will have to go, but one needs an opportune moment for making it happen, such as a war."
Call me whatever you want, but my reading of history is that is what the Israelis have been about ever since.
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