JayinPhiladelphia
Here in my little corner of North Philadelphia, Kensington, we have a new(-ish) late night Middle Eastern cafe and c-store open on Front Street under the El. Best falafel I've found here yet, and their house-made hummus certainly ain't bad either. I regularly stop in for both. Fun thing I noticed last time I was in, though - in addition to their house-made product, they're also carrying Sabra hummus!
I guess nobody told the Palestinian family, my neighbors, my friends, who run this place, that they're supposed to boycott Teh Jooz(!). Here in our North Philadelphia neighborhood, one of the most ethnically diverse inner city neighborhoods remaining in America (any which way you turn, you can find yourself on a Jamaican, Dominican, Puerto Rican, African American, Arab, Irish, Polish, Vietnamese, Salvadoran, Korean, Mexican or Haitian block), we intrinsically know that if one of us ain't doing well, then eventually none of the rest of us will either. We stand together, and have for generations. If we have a problem, we talk it out. That's just the way it is. That's how we make things work.
That's the only way.
My theory is that the BDSers have never lived amongst a diverse urban population (and likely never will, since most would poop themselves even looking at pictures of neighborhoods like Kensington), and therefore do not know how to get along with others, and how to solve problems. Ideological extremism works for them, in their comfortable little abodes, when they're not the ones who have to do the fighting. But for those of us who do, it's a whole different story.
Like the Palestinian family which carries (the frankly inferior) Sabra hummus, right next to their own (excellent) home-made product.
BDSers - are my friends down the street not "Palestinian Civil Society?" Perhaps some should consider their "call," as well.
I call on comfortable, suburban White Guilt BDSers to examine how local urban economies work. Here in America, and elsewhere. Standing invitation, any time. If they can get off their keyboards and get over their fear of actually walking around poor urban neighborhoods, and interacting with those of us who live in such places, that is.
We don't bite. Hard. ;)
The Day of the Dhimmi is Done - Michael Lumish, PhD, proprietor. (mike.lumish@gmail.com)
The other end applies, too. Just because someone once met a Palestinian in Israel 30 years ago, and has since then lived in wealthy, pearly-white exurban gated fortresses, I'd recommend they also think at least thrice before smearing anyone else as "bigots" of any kind.
ReplyDeleteWhether they run volleyball clubs or anything else.
I mean, people can live wherever they want. It's their own prerogative. But I'd argue that someone who goes out of their way to settle in a sund... I mean, a town, in California, that is almost 90% non-Hispanic white, they should really hold off on constantly leveling charges of 'racism' against others. Just sayin'...
ReplyDeletePlease show me where Jay is threatening either you or your family.
ReplyDeleteI sent you a private note regarding this - I was hoping we could discuss this off blog. However, since you want to make this public... Jay wrote a note to me stating that if I didn't STFU he would continue this course and go further.
ReplyDeleteNow Mike, what does something I may or may not do for work have to do with politics? Why is it relevant what I may or may not run in terms of a business? What does something that I do which btw has given kids the opportunity to go to college - who otherwise couldn't afford it amongst other things - have to do with whether or not I have a "right" to speak my mind?
He also seems to want to pinpoint on the net where I live. Given that I have small children Mike, do you think that is a necessary thing to do? Perhaps, he could say something like I live in "suburban mostly white community" to make his point (which is sort of irrelevant but be that as it may).
Do you feel that someone's personal info. should be "outed" on the internet Mike? Wouldn't you agree that by "outing" a person on the internet particularly in politically contentious situations you expose them to a certain amount of personal risk?
As I said Mike... If he goes off and exposes my family to risk on this blog, I hold you responsible for allowing this. Your blog is moderated and you have the ability to delete content.
So again, I ask you. Please do not enable Jay in this manner. You or Jay want to call me names or disparage my politics. Kol HaKavod. Do what you gotta do. Let him call me anything he wants. He wants to call me a "pussy".. dynamite.. have at it. If that makes you or him feel like "tough guys"... Okie dokie. But if you think I am going to just sit by and let my family be threatened then you have another thing coming.
So please do the right thing and dissuade him from this path or at least don't let him use you as a vehicle.
VB, you should know that I have you filtered out of my email program.
DeleteAnd I have you filtered out but it goes to "Junk". Anyway, I hope you will do the right thing here,
DeleteMike has done the right thing here. He's taken you and your asinine 'concern' precisely as seriously as you, and it, deserve to be taken. Which is to say, not at all.
DeleteIt is delusional and juvenile to believe that such comments as above constitute a threat to anyone or anyone's family. It is narcissistic?
ReplyDeleteI guess living among the lily white, while demonizing others as bigots and racists, is ironic.
There are almost 40 million people in Calif. Not that one cares the location, but those numbers provide security that makes the allegation of any "threat" worth a chuckle.
Ok.. .so do you believe a person should be outed on the internet? Don't you believe that "outing" in a politically contentious environment lead to trouble?
ReplyDeleteAlso, why would what projects I may or may not do related to work have to do with anything here? Do you believe that is relevant to the post?
It seems that you take "outing" as worth only a "chuckle". Is this along with the "all racism is not a like theme"?
Good to see what kind of person today's ODS sufferers are.
Outed on the internet? Who did that? Perhaps you should not create a bogeyman and hold your family out as victims.
ReplyDeleteLeading to trouble? What kind? From whom? The deranged neocon bigots and haters that you incessantly and profanely rail against? Anyway, if you take yourself that seriously, then I must chuckle.
To correct the record, I do not condone any form of racism, but am not so gullible as to propose that all racism is equal or alike. You familiarly misrepresent.
In addition, to critically address Obama's actions is not derangement, except perhaps to the sycophant, and it is improper to swipe all with a broad brush. I do not hate Muslims either.
Ah ok... I see - so you think "outing" someone on the internet is worth a chuckle and represents no danger at all... good to know.
ReplyDeleteYep I am sure you don't "condone" any racism. Keep telling yourself that. You are just awfully silent in the face of it from your friends and allies. And yes oldschool, all racism is alike it just varys in how people act on it. But good to see you think racism is something that simply needs to be parsed rather than completely condemned.
Outed? Have you been outed on the internet? I cannot see that at all.
ReplyDeleteI did not say it is no danger, either, just not a danger to you, even if that were to happen.
You continue to misrepresent my views. If racism varies in how people act, then it is not alike. That is not parsing. Genocide and Apartheid are not the same as making a racial insult or discrimination or failing to hold people accountable for their actions.
What's most illustrative is how easily you imply that because to not accept your rigid views on racism means to condone it and hang out in the racists' den.
Heh... I didn't say I was "outed" yet... You should read things a tad closer.
ReplyDeleteTHIS.. though is pretty funny - when speaking of "outing":
I did not say it is no danger, either, just not a danget to you even if that were to happen
and you know this how?
And I can see that since you don't consider it a danger to me or my family then that is not something to be taken seriously - eh?
That's an interesting view. So... Outing could be a danger but were it to happen to me.. There would be no danger. Do you realize that makes absolutely ZERO sense.
You know what the funniest part of this is... The other person who really loves to "out" me on the internet is Jim Harris (aka Tom J, aka stopaipac - and who has outed himself so I am not saying anything that could hurt him). He loves to publish my name on the anti-Semitic hate site Mondoweiss.
And now, here we have Jay (a former friend on facebook) just doing everything to pin down where I live and what I may or may not do for work.
So I guess the adage about politics being a circle, you know where the Far Right (you) and the Far Left (Harris) comes together, might be true. It's funny that you seem to endorse common cause with the hard core anti-Semites.
You are truly a gem,
Will someone PLEASE drag this unshaven and toothless old drunken bum off the blog? The stench is killing me.
ReplyDeleteSadly, there is little that can be done.
DeleteThere is no way to ban IP addresses on blogspot that I know of.
I could delete each comment as it arises, but the last time I tried that I ended up sometimes having to delete comments 3 or 4 times a day, which just gets tiresome.
It's probably better just to allow people to have their say, however obnoxious or misguided.
Jay- the best places in America and in Canada to get Israeli food are the Arab grocery stores. Alas, here in that beacon of tolerance - the Bay area- Arab and Muslim shop keepers who sell Israeli products find themselves repeatedly threatened and vandalized. Nice, huh?
ReplyDeleteHey, look what else the cat drug in!
DeleteDusty, thanks for dropping by. Much appreciated, you can be sure.
So, you're saying that Arab and Muslim shop keepers who sell Israeli products are threatened?
This is actually the first that I have heard of this.
I am going to look into this a little and if you have a link please let me know.
Yeah, that's really something isn't it? Sick. I truly hope nobody deduces the store I'm talking about here, actually, and goes on to threaten them about this...
DeleteSo this is much ado about nothing. I may be a gem, that is true. Better a gem than a drama queen.
ReplyDeleteI do not endorse common cause with hard core anti-Semites. What planet are you living on to imply such a delusion?
We wrote about it here
ReplyDeletehttp://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2011/05/persian-pastries-are-much-cooler-than.html
and here.
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2011/05/bds-day-of-hate-epic-fail.html
We asked the shopkeeper if she'd like to make a public statement- she didn't want to- but she told me privately that she'd been selling Israeli products for over 20 years, and she considered her store model of peaceful co-existence
Dusty, for those of you who do not know, is a local Bay Area activist, a friend of this blog, and the main proprietor of >Pro-Israel Bay Bloggers.
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of good content over there, so I definitely recommend you guys check it out.
Oh, and volley - didn't you have your name and location in your public profile at Daily Kos for years? Yes, you did, you lying little turd. And despite that, have I ever even called you by your first name anywhere? No. And I never would.
ReplyDeleteSo quit crying and stop with the "please pity me!" game. It's just pathetic. I'll say it again - why anybody with brains continues to associate with you is far beyond me. You're simply one of the biggest losers I've ever had the misfortune of knowing. Now go cry to your little buddies on Daily Kos (who hate you, just like they hate all the rest of us, btw).
Calling everybody who thinks differently than you 'racists' (who are you, fucking blueness now?), telling people to 'grow up' while you're the biggest infant to ever hit a blog. You're great at the projection game, if nothing else, I'll certainly give you that.
Oh, and hey -
ReplyDelete"Should something happen because this crazy a-hole is using your blog as "jump off point""
Are you threatening me, volley?
;)
Wow, and we delve deeper into the Twilight Zone the further we read down -
ReplyDelete"And now, here we have Jay (a former friend on facebook) just doing everything to pin down where I live and what I may or may not do for work. "
Volley - go get yourself checked out. Seriously. It's time.
"It's funny that you seem to endorse common cause with the hard core anti-Semites."
ReplyDeleteSays the guy who's obsessed with being accepted by the Cool Kids at Daily Kos...
Volley's just projecting again, 'school. He's simply a fascinating case study in projection.
Well, that settles it then, I guess. My last comment on the matter.
ReplyDeleteVolleyboy (fitting, because he certainly ain't a man) only has the 'balls' to show up here when he knows I won't be around. He has no dignity, no courage and no integrity. The silence of that pathological liar speaks volumes.
Then again, I never would have expected anything else from Markos Moulitsas' dhimmi. So, there's that.