George Orwell Tells Us Everything We Need To Know About Liberals and Gaza
"All nationalists have the power of not seeing resemblances between similar sets of facts.
A British Tory will defend self-determination in Europe and oppose it in India with no feeling of inconsistency. Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them, and there is almost no kind of outrage -- torture, the use of hostages, forced labour, mass deportations, imprisonment without trial, forgery, assassination, the bombing of civilians -- which does not change its moral colour when it is committed by 'our' side ... The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them" -- George Orwell
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Great quote.... Adulthood is just a fantasy. Humans remain are forever young in the sense that so part of us never lets go of ego.
January 5, 2009 2:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Pacifism is objectively pro-Fascist....”
George Orwell, Partisan Review 1942
Careful MJ. If Kristol can equivoquate on the Gaza operation maybe you can show a little moral sobriety in judging it?
January 5, 2009 2:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here are some pictures of the Hamas fighters....
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/
January 5, 2009 3:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
"moral sobriety" is objectively pro-apartheid
January 5, 2009 3:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes that's it, merge all the Palestinians back into Israel. Embrace. Extend. Extinguish.
Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!
January 6, 2009 10:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Is it telling us everything we need to know about Gaza? Or Israel? Israel and the Lefties who become right-wing, authoritarian militarists when it comes to Israel?
January 5, 2009 2:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Did somebody just say something?
January 5, 2009 3:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great! Isn't that why the news never shows the shiny officers towers in those big cities that we always thought were made of mud bricks and old hay? Painting your enemy as something less than human?
January 5, 2009 3:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good point, M.J. It's call to arms. No more excuses for the bombing of civilians in Afghanistan! All liberal must fight for the immediate cease-fire in Afghanistan.
January 5, 2009 3:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Davai is gone. tnathan has gone silent. YBD is using fewer capital letters. And now SholomA has appeared. Connection?
Please cut and paste your outrage below. (Attributions not required.)
January 5, 2009 3:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't understand your point. Are for or against the immediate cease-fire in Afghanistan.
January 5, 2009 3:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
are you for or against distracting from the issue at hand?!? who do you think you're fooling with such simpleton parlor tricks?
January 5, 2009 3:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
yeah, every time something like this happens, the zionist droves appear online at sites they don't usually frequent in order to defend any hideous action Israel takes. when they feel the need to defend Israel "right or wrong" has passed, they disappear. I've seen it happen on a half dozen sites I regularly visit over the years.
January 5, 2009 3:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
MJ: You have been remarkedly brave on this. Maybe you sense something about the policy trajectory of these events. We are entering a new, dark phase.
The sad fact is that the complete delegitimization of secular Palestinian leaders has occurred. Mission accomplished, Ehud(s).
Pray tell: Who is Abbas going to negotiate for, never mind, with?
January 5, 2009 3:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
He is not brave to call for the immediate cease-fire in Afghanistan.
January 5, 2009 3:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
off-topic distraction alert!
this joker thinks he's found the perfect rhetorical foil to addressing the current Israeli attrocity, but it ain't workin'
January 5, 2009 3:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Orwell also knew something about the control of information. Right now the Israeli government is denying reporters access to Gaza, so we don't know a great deal about what is actually happening there.
January 5, 2009 3:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Palestinians are dying in large numbers.
January 5, 2009 3:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
...and it's all the Palestinians fault for not accepting their fate as sub-humans under full Israeli control.
January 5, 2009 3:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Afghanis are dying in large numbers but nobody cares.
January 5, 2009 3:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
distraction alert!!
the issue here in this thread is that Palestinians are dying in large numbers and folks like "sholomA" here don't care and would rather distract people from even thinking about it
January 5, 2009 3:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
The issue here why folks here don't care that Afghanis are dying in large numbers. There is only one explanation, they are Jew haters.
January 5, 2009 4:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
ah, yes, there we go.
when the Afghanistan distraction is called out, go for the old tried-and-true anti-semite attack. I'll have to deduct a point, though, because you didn't add "muslim-lover" as your finale here
overall, nice work, shalomA. your debating skills are truly something to be marveled at. I feel comfortable speaking for everyone else in the room when I say that we are all in awe of your mental capacities. keep it up. you represent the policies of Israel quite well
January 5, 2009 4:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
I guess the fact that Americans are (1) actually building things in Afghanistan, not just tearing them down like in the Territories; and (2) not colonizing Afghanistan is just lost on Davai/tnathan/SholomA.
Time to unleash your twirling fartknocker on him/her.
January 5, 2009 4:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Therefore, it's OK that Afghanis are dying in large numbers from American bombs.
January 5, 2009 4:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
hi, I'm a one trick pony. I'll do anything to keep you from thinking about all the people Israel is currently killing, all the public infrastructure it is currently destroying.
if that fails, I'll call you an anti-semite
if that fails, I'll fall back on my jujitsu distraction technique
January 5, 2009 4:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
If you don't stop posting, you will be labeled in succession: racist.....Jew-hater....Holocaust denier...History Reader.
January 5, 2009 4:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
No it isn't OK, at all.
January 5, 2009 4:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
grrrr
;-)
January 5, 2009 4:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
"The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them...."
you mean like people being ok with rockets when they're aimed at Israel, but not when they're aimed FROM Israel?
or people weeping over the same photo of the same Palestinian kid being carried to the hospital, but not having said a peep during years of Hamas rockets that killed many Israeli children?
sorta like that?
January 5, 2009 3:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
the numbers of deaths on both sides are not anywhere close. and you know that.
please, see my notes about blaming the oppressed in another post
Israel is using a modern arsenal to attack a people that doesn't have an air force, tanks, or even consistent electricity and clean water (thanks to their Israeli masters)
January 5, 2009 3:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
huh--well maybe the poor people that don't have an air force or tanks should have thought of that before they attacked a more powerful army.
or perhaps their focus in the years since Israel LEFT GAZA TO THEM should have been on building a country for themselves, instead of buying crappy missiles.
just a thought.
January 5, 2009 3:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
ah, yes, it's ALL their fault. if the slave would just act right, the slavemaster surely would free them. if the subject of South African apartheid were not genetically inferior, the Africaners would have granted them equal rights on merit alone long before the worldwide divestment campaign.
nevermind, that Israel began to shut off major resources for the Palestinians after Hamas won legitimate elections. they should have just done more with less. ah, the ever-charitable spirit of the zionist shines through once again. in that spirit, would you, Gretz, agree that Israel should not accept all the money and weapons provided to it by the US and other countries? surely, Israel can do more with less as well. right?
January 5, 2009 4:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
This does nothing but perpetuate a cycle of violence, and add millions to the ranks of those that will never allow Israel to live in peace.
Just a thought.
January 5, 2009 4:14 PM | Reply | Permalink