Barry has posted a response to some of the points Armed Liberal and I were trying to make in the ongoing anti-Semitism = anti-Zionism debate. It appears that Barry and I see some of the issues involved here from such totally different perspectives that it’s hard to have a coherent dialogue about them, but I do believe it’s worth the effort.
I agree that the “feminazi†thing is a distraction, but now Barry’s injected an interesting twist. Is the term “feminazi†anti-Semitic? The short answer is no, but I’ll have to get back to that in another post.
Right now I want to deal with my apparent failure to explain why the divestment campaign is anti-Semitic. I thought I covered that here.. . . any campaign that disproportionately singles out one group or entity for criticism or attack reflects a bias on the part of its participants and tends to encourage more of the same (can you say "ethnic profiling?).
Since that wasn’t clear, let me put a finer point on it. No matter how “brutal†you believe the act of establishing settlements on one’s ancestral homeland may be, no matter how “oppressive†the confiscation of olive groves and barren fields may seem, and whether or not you perceive the establishment of checkpoints to prevent the movement of would-be mass murderers as “collective punishment,†there are many more egregious violations of human rights going on all over the globe. Many of them are taking place in Arab and Muslim countries. But there is only one country being singled out for “divestment.†It’s not Syria and it’s not China and it’s not North Korea. The mass murder, rape and slave trade in Sudan evokes not a word or a whimper. One country. That happens to be the Jewish State. Now when Jews are singled out for "criticism" that's intended to result in economic, pollitical and ultimately physical damage, that's anti-Semitism.
But Barry seems to believe that it’s only "conservatives" who understand the connection between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. I’ll conclude with a well-worn quote from that famous right-wing extremist, Dr. Martin Luther King (who Barry presumably doesn’t know of):
The MLK quote has been removed from this post. An alert reader who noticed a discussion about this essay in the comments at Little Green Footballs has gently brought to my attention that the essay is most likely a hoax. Until and unless I find evidence to the contrary, I'd like to nip the proliferation of this probable forgery in the bud. You'll find some background here. What amazes me is how widely this story has spread and how many very thorough and reliable sources have published it.**Correction**:
Oh, and Barry, I'll have an order of fries with that crow.
