Thursday, October 11, 2012

Latest Times of Israel Piece

Mike L.

Reading Caroline Glick Without Guilt

A few thoughts on political labeling, political apostasy, and freedom.

I like this one very much, actually.

13 comments:

  1. Years ago when I studied post graduate Organizational Management, the then popular best practice was what they called situational management. It was essentially what it says....management style changes to fit the situation. Isn't that exactly what those of us who have risen above political partisanship do here? I think it is. Interestingly, that tact is what real progressivism is supposedly about. The question is what went wrong with Progressivism? Obviously it got hijacked by far left tendencies and dogma. As such it now worthless.

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    1. Hey Hey,

      the Giants just beat the Reds!

      This is the first time in the long history of the National League in which any team has come back from 2-0 deficit in a post-season pennant race to win the series.

      Wow!

      Anyways, Doodad. That's very interesting.

      I think that "situational management" is not a bad way of thinking on it.

      It is situational, isn't it?

      We need to curb our preconceptions and ideologies and all those things that act as filters on our understanding of the current situation.

      Y'know, in a lot of ways I just really appreciate meta and this is pure meta.

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    2. I found an applicable quote over at Harry's Place:

      "For centuries, the Jew has played the role of blank screen in Christian societies – a lightning rod for negative sentiment, usually expressed as harsh moral judgment. If cowardice was a negative attribute, Jews were cowardly. If greed was to be condemned, Jews were greedy. If the poor were to be mocked, Jews were paupers, and if the rich were to be hated Jews were bankers. For capitalists Jews were communists, and for communists they were capitalists. These days, the issues that animate liberals in the West tend to be linked to colonialism, racism, and militarism, and thus it is in these contexts that the Jewish state now appears."

      http://hurryupharry.org/2012/10/11/a-book-review-worth-reading/

      Another "piece of the puzzle"

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    3. Congrats on the Giants' comeback, Mike. An impressive feat! Oakland looks to pull off the same tonight. Wouldn't that be something?

      As long as someone knocks the yankees out, I'm happy! ;)

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    4. I was a Yanks fan as a kid, y'know.

      I'm old enough to remember the Billy Martin team of the late 70s.

      When I was a tiny Zionist I used to watch channel 11, WPIX in New York, televise the games with Phil "the Scooter" Rizzuto broadcasting with Tom Seaver and Bill White.

      As I write this quick note, in fact, I am looking at an old photograph from 1953 of the Scooter, Billy Martin, and Mickey Mantle that I have framed in my office.

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    5. "Holy cow!"

      ;)

      Yeah, I remember that too. Although my memories didn't really start until the early to mid 80's. My mother is a yankees fan who tried to lure me over to the dark side, but it didn't take. Heh.

      Speaking of local NYC teevee, I still want a dvd of all the Crazy Eddie's commercials...

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    6. When I was a kid watching the Yanks on WPIX, the Scooter was already getting quite on in years. His broadcasts were pretty hysterical because, y'know, sometimes he would actually call the game and at other times he would reminisce or talk about restaurants that he liked or the deliciousness of the cannoli that he had with lunch.

      He also had a phobia about driving in weather and sometimes if it looked like it might rain he would scoot on out of the booth and head home, even if the game had yet to be called. I mean, look, if you're 70 years old and you're Phil Rizzuto what are they going to do? Fire you?

      He would say something like, "Holy Cow, White, look at that lightning! I have to get over that bridge!" And then he'd split the studio. Sometimes they would then show an aerial shot of the George Washington Bridge and Bill White would say something like, "Well, there goes Scooter over the bridge!"

      I think I have a real affection for both him and Billy Martin because they connect my childhood with the great Yankees tradition from the middle of the twentieth century in New York and, like some people, I suppose, baseball and the Jewish American immigrant experience are bound up in my mind.

      Sometimes when Laurie and I are watching a game I will say something like, "So, schmoops, who was the greatest baseball player who ever lived?"

      And she will look at me, knowing her role in this stuff, and disingenuously say, "Babe Ruth?"

      And I will say, "Nooo."

      "Ty Cobb?"

      "Noooo. Hank Greenberg! The great Hank Greenberg! Hankus Pankus!"

      LOL.

      When I was growing up my dad had a friend by the name of Artie Abrams and Artie Abrams was the brother of New York Dodger, Cal Abrams.

      Just sayin.'

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  2. http://www.jewishtribune.ca/arts-and-culture/2012/10/10/book-tackles-question-of-jews-among-anti-israel-activists

    Another piece of the puzzle perhaps.

    "In recent years, especially since the rise of Radical Islam, many have been perplexed at the significant number of Jews – including Israelis – and westerners in general among leading anti-Israel and anti-Western activists.

    Equally puzzling is that these passionate ideologues claim to be fighting for a better, more humane world. Nevertheless, while consistently demonizing Israel, they are often silent about the real violence and abuse of human rights in countries such as Syria and Iran....The author writes, “Can we seriously imagine Marx, Engels, Kautsky or Rosa Luxemburg remaining silent about the advocacy of shari’a law, censorship, female genital mutilation, honour killings, suicide bombings, or making the world safe for Allah’s rule?....

    “In this book, I have tried to explain what went wrong while suggesting that the degeneration was already prefigured in the 19th-century seedbed of antisemitic socialism….

    “Twentieth-century Marxism had no trouble in rationalizing the crimes of the Soviet gulag with the help of convoluted Hegelian dialectics. Similarly, the propagandists of the radical left have in many cases proved adept at justifying the elimination of Israel….”

    The 600-page tome is divided into several sections tracing the history of modern leftist thought. In a particularly interesting chapter, The Marxist-Islamist Alliance, Wistrich points to relevant similarities between these two very different philosophies.....“This book is an attempt to get to grips with the paranoid conspiracy-mongering on the left, which invariably parades as a humanitarian endeavour and a compassionate defence of the ‘oppressed’ or powerless against the might of the ‘Zionist-Crusader’ axis,” Wistrich states.

    “This book goes to the heart of what has become a serious mental derangement in the hope that it may help the left (and others afflicted by the same malady) to regain their sanity.”

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    1. I 've been meaning to get ahold of that book soon. Thanks for the link to this review, Doodad...

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    2. Jay I have been googling reviews and gotta say it looks like a tremendous book. The guy academically touches on most of the themes we deal with here daily. Hope you get it. Hope I do too. We need to keep an eye on this guy.

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    3. I've just now ordered a copy from Booktopia. Thanks Doodad for the prompt.

      Wistrich is an important intellectual and its humbling to think how long he has been dissecting antizionism antisemitism and genocidal Islamic Judeophobia

      The left ignores Wistrich but listens to Finkelstein and kneels to Chomsky

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  3. Also thanks for that review!
    I reckon it's worth a post alone.

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