Israeli judge: Learn from Nazis

[Bonam]

True...But it's a way to whip up sentiment and quasi-nationalist feelings.It's also a good way to sell a bad deal that looks good on the surface...

Hey if they can whip up some sentiment that counters some of the anti-Israeli pro-Palestinian idiocy that has been gripping much of the Western world recently I'm all for it.

[bloodyminded]

Hey if they can whip up some sentiment that counters some of the anti-Israeli pro-Palestinian idiocy that has been gripping much of the Western world recently I'm all for it.

Even if I agreed with our position on this conflict, I would heartily disagree with this.

Despite what you have said--and I have no idea where you get the impression--the self-styled "pro-Israel" voices have been almost utterly reduced to quick soundbites and fatuous, avoid-the-nuance proclamations in recent years.

Perhaps they weren't always so; but they are now, and it's proven to be a strategic failure.

Hell, look at only one issue to see what I mean: the exploding use of political correctness through invective: ie, calling out "anti-semites" with a promiuscuous regularity that is robbing the term of its power (and is also a whopping insult to genuine victims of anti-semitism).

This is demonstrably not helping the supporters of Israel's behaviour. It's hurting them.

If the pro-Palestinian sentiment is "idiocy" as you claim, then this wanton and ugly use of political correctness is precisely part of the reason for its "grip[...]" on the Western world.

(Similarly, if I were opposed to abortion, I would be pleading with my cohorts to stop spitting out terms like "babykillers"; I can scarcely think of a worse way to get people over to your point of view than to use such language.)

Edited July 11, 2010 by bloodyminded