Fizziks is a pro-Israel "progressive" Jew who is, thus far, incapable of acknowledging the obvious contradiction between supporting the progressive-left, which provides a home for anti-Semitic anti-Zionism, and standing up for the Jewish people.
We've been "having it out" on Jon Haber's DivestThis! blog.
Here:
Jay Michaelson's Journey - Continued
And here:
The Herscovite BDS Moment
When told that the western progressive-left is the primary source of anti-Semitic anti-Zionism in the west today he claims this:
fizziks
August 13, 2012 7:46 PM
I refuse to acknowledge it because it isn't true.
You can scream it at the top of your lungs, but that doesn't make it true. You want it to be true, but that doesn't make it true.
Again, though, I'm glad that you've at least ceased to dishonestly claim that you are part of the left and just oh so concerned for it.
What I say is this:
Mike L.
August 13, 2012 8:07 PM
Daily Kos is NOT a progressive-left venue?
Is that your contention?
The Huffington Post is NOT a progressive-left venue?
Is that your contention?
The UK Guardian is NOT a progressive-left venue?
Is that your contention?
How about that stalwart bastion of the right, TIME magazine, that featured a story about how Israelis do not care about peace because they are too busy trying to make money?
How about Yale University that eliminated Charles Small's Interdisciplinary Initiative for the Study of anti-Semitism (YIISA)?
Is Yale right-wing?
Or how about the University of Pennsylvania with its recent BDS conference?
Do you suppose that it was Young Americans for Freedom that initiated that conference?
I do not think so.
I am not "screaming."
I am insisting that the progressive-left acknowledge that it is from within your own ranks that we are seeing anti-Semitic anti-Zionism emerge in the west today.
I am a liberal.
I come out of the progressive-left and for you to deny what is happening directly in your face, from out of your own movement, proves to me that progressive Jews, such as yourself, are simply not to be trusted when it comes to this question.
You will support the western left over and above the Jewish state of Israel.
It could hardly be more obvious.
Were this not the case, you would acknowledge the very obvious fact that anti-Semitic anti-Zionism has nested itself within your movement and within the venues that I referenced, along with many, many others.
What you can expect going forward is more and more liberal Jews, such as myself, to challenge you on your support for a movement that provides a home for reactionary anti-Semitism.
Thus Fizziks would have us believe his words, rather than our own lying eyes.
It's not just that he is wrong, it is that he could not possibly be more obviously wrong... and this worries me.
I do not understand how people can refuse to acknowledge a dangerous truth that is directly before their own faces. Fizziks is not a stupid man, quite the contrary.
So, what explains this ongoing failure among progressive-left Jews to acknowledge the obvious?
Question for you Michael.
ReplyDeleteYou assert that the "western progressive-left is the primary source of anti-Semitic anti-Zionism in the west today".
I don't think anyone can dispute that anti-Semitic anti-Zionism exists in the forums you mention. I've seen it. I'm sure fizziks has seen it. The question is whether you spend as much time reading similar sites on the right? I know I don't. Is it possible that there is just as much, if not more anti-Semitic anti-Zionism there? If you don't frequent those forums, I'm not sure how you can make the claim.
Stuart,
Deletemy claim is a claim of the obvious.
I do read some right-wing venues and there is no question in my mind that the political right is far more friendly to the Jewish people and to the state of Israel then is the progressive-left.
I am not happy about this fact, but it is a fact and it is a fact that we have got to acknowledge.
I sometimes wonder if it is not the case that other Jewish liberals recognize this but refuse to speak of it for tactical reasons. That maybe progressive Jewish silence is the silence of those who hope to quietly convince others without bringing any embarrassment or creating discomfort to those whom they hope to sway.
But I do not think so.
Furthermore, it would not matter if that were the case. Not to me, it would not. Your friend Dan Bielak is constantly telling us that we just need to speak the truth. And while I certainly recognize the subjectivity embedded in "truth" or "historical truth," I also recognized that thing exists.
There is historical truth and the historical truth of the Jewish people in terms of the Middle East has been that of 14 centuries of ongoing persecution by Muslims.
That is a fact.
A contemporary fact is that the progressive-left has created a home for itself of anti-Semitic anti-Zionism and that it is the left which represents its primary base in the west, today.
There is simply no question.
I am sorry, but it is true.
Mike, it's a simple matter of having one's cake and eating it too. The universal truth in that idiom pretty much covers it all around this and related issues.
ReplyDeleteFizziks remains in denial.
ReplyDeleteHe will absolutely not admit that anti-Semitic anti-Zionism of the kind that we see coming out of progressive-left venues on a daily basis has anything whatsoever to do with the progressive-left.
It would be kind of like Doodad denying that he participates on Israel Thrives. Gee, accept for the fact that Doodad does, in fact, participate on Israel Thrives why in this world would anyone think that he does?
This is the level of pure stupidity that we are getting from people who refuse to acknowledge the obvious.
Or does he think that the anti-Semitic anti-Zionists that we see on dkos or the huffpost or the guardian are Republicans and conservatives?
I do not friggin' think so.