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Gabriel

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About Gabriel

  • Birthday 01/01/1982

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    The greatest country: Canada
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    Freedom, liberty, opportunity.

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  1. That's straight up anti-semitism. If you're opposed to Israel's existence as a Jewish state, you're opposed to the very foundation of Israel. No doubt this view is held by many of Israel's opponents, who reject the reality of Jewish nationhood.
  2. Keepitsimple, at the risk of seeming like a suck-up, let me just say you're easily one of my favourite posters on this board. You stay true to your screen name - keep it simple!
  3. Oh snap. I'm impressed. Let's play again - name ANOTHER matriarchal society.
  4. I am not in agreement with many of the broad opinions I've seen Naomi Klein express, whether it be No Logo, The Shock Doctrine, or her appearances in documentaries like "The Corporation". She seems way too left-wing to me, anti-corporatist, anti-identity, blah blah blah. She doesn't strike me as an honest or scholarly observer.
  5. Hey there Pliny, There is no question that there is fine line between nationalism and elitism. It's important for those who identify themselves as belonging to particular nation that their celebration of particular traits/values/commonalities doesn't lead to a sense of arrogance and superiority - at the very least, not an UNFOUNDED sense of arrogance and superiority. It's not hard to see how an inward focus that a group may have on its values can lead towards a sense of superiority. For example, let's consider my sense of Canadian identity. I consider myself as Canadian as I am Jewish. They are both integral parts of who I am. If I focus inwards too much, and take great pride in democratic values and freedoms that I enjoy as a Canadian, this can lead to sense of superiority towards other groups who don't share these values. Perhaps I may look down on other groups who do not practise or advocate for democracy. Some nationalistic movements in history and contemporary society have elements of racism within them. This is also true among some Zionists and Jews. Is it a pervasive theme in the Jewish community? Absolutely NOT. Do Canadians, overall, have a sense of superiority over others? I would say NO - except with respect to our diet anti-Americanism/anti-Americanism lite :-) I have met Jews who speak disparagingly of Arabs and Muslims. They're out there. I have met Jews who genuinely feel superior to non-Jews. Are they representative of some sort of widespread trend of thought among the Jewish community? Hell no. Does the misconception of Jews viewing ourselves as "the chosen people" and therefore holier than all others actually hold water in the Jewish culture? Hell no. In short, any nationalistic movement needs to be careful that it doesn't leak over into discriminatory beliefs, which can lead to discriminatory practises - especially if the nationalistic movement yields a sovereign state in which non-nation members are a part. In other words, non-Jews in Israel must be treated fairly and equally (for the most part) in Israel, while Israel remains a Jewish country with Jewish character. I agree with your assessment of naomiglover. I believe her dream is a world where there are no varying groups, but simply a large pool of individuals forming one large collective. I suspect that naomiglover views nationalistic identity as some sort of relic of the past, some sort of archaic concept that needs to be done away with over time. She sees no value in preservation of the uniqueness of particular cultures/ethnicities/religions/groups. Her utopia is some sort of Star Trek universe. Finally, remember what I said - I believe there are acceptable forms of minor discrimination that can occur towards the ends of preserving Israel's Jewish character. Take for example the Law of Return that I mentioned - certainly this feel somewhat unfair to non-Jewish citizens in Israel. Why are Jews having such an easy time, while those who aren't Jewish, like myself, have a much more difficult time? I think this is an acceptable form of discrimination. When Israel gives money to certain Jewish interests, I also believe this is often acceptable even though some tax revenues come from non-Jews. It's just the acceptable price that non-Jews deal with in Israel. Extreme cases, which would be abhorrent and would never be tolerated, would be practises that were done to Jews - i.e. restricting non-Jews from education, or specific education, or from certain professions, or banning them from certain public areas, etc, etc.... All in all, non-Jews live quality lives in Israel in the broader context of the Israeli standard of living. Hope I didn't ramble too much there.
  6. There may be some legitimacy to the argument that Palestinian territorial grievances manifested themselves, in part, towards the prevalence of hatred towards Israel, its allies, Jews, and many other groups within their society - which of course has lead to suicide bombings and other reprehensible acts. The disturbing messages that are prevalent in Palestinian (as well as Arab-Muslim) society include dehumanization of Jews, Christians, friends of Israel, the West, celebration of terrorism and martyrdom, advocacy of violence, misrepresentations of history (i.e. Holocaust denial), etc.... If Israel were to simply comply with some of the "international law" you and other claim it is violating (i.e. retreating to pre-1967 borders, relinquishing control of EJ, etc), these messages would not disappear. Sadly, these messages and this culture perpetuates itself, it's a vicious circle. What you're ignoring, however, is the broader subscription to this ideology and the terrorism is advocates among the Arab-Muslim population. We've seen this type of violence occur, more often than not, in parts of the world and circumstances far removed from Israel - i.e. bombings in Madrid and London, the Beslan school massacre, 9/11, Munich Olympics 1972, Bali bombings, Mumbai bombings, etc... This clearly paints a picture of the primary driver of this violence being ideological, and not territorial. Your simple mind views the hatred and violence that arises from the Palestinian (and Arab-Muslim) population against Israel/Jews (and perceived allies) as the natural result of real and imagined Israeli transgressions. This conflict is hardly as simple as a chicken-and-the-egg scenario. Equating the problems I've outlined above regarding the disturbing messages that are commonplace among Palestinian (as well as Arab-Muslim) society as simply "symptoms" marginalizes how significant these drivers are towards the perpetuation of this violence. For illustrative purposes it'd be simple to list of endless examples of other peoples who have had legitimate claims of dispossession who didn't resort to violence, but what's the point of even bringing them up? You're hardly an honest participant in this debate, nor do you really care about the affected parties. If this conflict is to be resolved, you'll have nothing else to rant on about - all your superficial knowledge about this conflict will be for naught! What a tragedy that would be for your thin sense of identity.
  7. If anything, we don't revere our military or history enough. Why don't you share some examples of excessive military glorification in Canada?
  8. Even "supplant" is bordering on elite.... I would've used "replace" or "switch".... let me check thesaurus.com.... Who does this Michael Hardner guy think he is?
  9. "Didacticism"? "Hoariness"? Wow, dude... someone's been subscribing to the dictionary.com word-of-the-day email spam. Stop showing off.
  10. Can you not read and comprehend what Army Guy has said? Where did he call for these professors not to be entitled to say what they think? He's simply calling into question the legitimacy of these claims and the consequences of having such politically-oriented professors educating our students.
  11. This is really unsurprising. Anyone who's been attended a Canadian university recently (or is currently enrolled) will no doubt feel the leftism on campus. It's just the culture of universities. How can it be changed? I don't know. Is it a big problem? Yes, it is.
  12. If you're talking about the banks, they've repaid most (or all?) of that money. But ya, the "stimulus" bill is another thing, altogether. But Bush did it, too.... can he be described as a socialist of one flavour or another?
  13. No matter was adjective you want to put in front of it (i.e. "moderate), I think it's just inaccurate to describe Obama as a socialist. I wouldn't even give him the label "diet socialist".
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