Okay, so I know I promised not to post serious things...

[bliumchik]

I just read a forward someone sent to my dad. It basically consisted of a list of Muslim Nobel Prize winners and a much larger list of Jewish ones, followed by a list of things Israel has done in the conflict and why they're better than things Arab countries have done. Things like "Arabs started all five wars against Israel, and lost every one of them" and "630000 Arabs left Israel in 1948, while close to a million Jews were forced to leave the Muslim countries."

At the end, where they tell you to forward it to people, whether or not they're Jewish, it said "TRUTH AND PEACE ARE VALUES COMMON TO ALL OF US."

Alright, nevermind that the writer clearly doesn't think that PEACE is a value common to Muslims.

Nevermind that they're using the word Muslim interchangeably with Arab.

Nevermind the vagueness of their "call to action" which is really just "what will you tell your grandchildren you did in this crisis".

Nevermind all of that.

WHAT THE HELL DO THEY THINK THEY'RE DOING FOR THE CAUSE OF PEACE BY SENDING THIS THING AROUND?! Alright, so you can say "we're better than them" for a given value of better in certain areas. SO WHAT? What exactly is that supposed to excuse? Do Jews deserve more rights because we've got more Nobel prizes? Is the fact that Jews have suffered more at the hands of Muslims than the other way round supposed to give us warm fuzzy feelings of righteousness? THE WHOLE WAR IS WRONG. Just because one side may have done less damage than the other does not make that side right.

How many people, recieving that email, will have stopped to think that most of the Jews on that Nobel prize list lived in democratic western countries? What kind of chance do you think anyone living in Iraq has to do something awesome in Physics? Where are they going to get research grants? No, I don't think people reading that list are supposed to think that. I think they're supposed to feel justified in hating Islam. I think they're supposed to feel that Israel is in the right in this war.

That's not right. Nobody is in the right in a war. Even if some people are less wrong than others, that does not excuse anything they do.

That whole email was about what Israel's enemies have done wrong. You're not supposed to care what Israel's done wrong.

And what's it all for? What exactly is that email going to do to stop the war? What possible use is it? I can't think of one, which means that unless I've missed something, that email was created solely for the purpose of going "nyah, we're better than them".

And we all know where that kind of philosophy leads. Pray that people who write emails like that never get into power. Every nation has a few potential Hitlers in it - it's up to the rest of us to learn from history and not create opportunities for them.

Comments

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Not to mention that for most of the past millennium and a half, Jews and Muslims have historically, in lots and lots of places, got along better with each other than either has with Christians.

[woodburner.livejournal.com]

Completely agree that the email is retarded, but - everyone in a war is wrong? Not to say anything about this war one way or the other, but "everyone in a war is wrong" seems like a rather sweeping statement. War is undoubtedly a horrible thing, and it would be better if it never had to happen, but at the same time, I think the idea that nothing is worth fighting for is a dangerous sentiment. "Fighting" can only be done without blood if both sides are willing to to fight without blood.

[maggiebloome.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, that was a bit sweeping. What I meant was, being neccessary doesn't make a war right. Alright, so you're being attacked, you have to fight back - that doesn't mean the fighting is a good thing. People have a tendency to forget that, and then when they win the lash out too hard against the invaders and start the whole cycle all over again.

[shortgeekfreak.livejournal.com]

wow. you should have done mind and morality maggie, we debated about moral codes till the cows came home. As in "Do Jews deserve more rights because we've got more Nobel prizes? Is the fact that Jews have suffered more at the hands of Muslims than the other way round supposed to give us warm fuzzy feelings of righteousness?"

and what is right and good?

The upshot of the discussion was that you can either take the hard line and say your ideas are best or sit twiddling your thumbs offering points and counter points till the cows leave the next day again (where exactly do those cows go?)

*twiddles thumbs*

RE:Okay, so I know I promised not to post serious things...

[(Anonymous)]

Not to say your wrong of course except the idea that all he jews that made this list came from western democratic countries. That Statement might want to be revised based on the following

Paul Heyse was from Germany when it was a dictatorship
Henri Bergson delt with french oppression his whole life
Boris Pasternak was born in tsarist russia and lived in the soviet union (hardly western or democratic)
Nelly Sachs was born in Germany when it was a dictatorship ending up fleeing the Nazis during WW2
Isaac Bashevis Singer was born in the polish ghetto
Joseph Brodsky was born in the Soviet union
Nadine Gordimer World was born in south africa during the apartheid regime
Menachem Begin born in Poland once again when the country was not democratic.
Elie Wiesel Romaina
Shimon Peres Poland
Adolph Von Baeyer Germany once again when it was an empire.

I could go on but I think the point is made. To say the accomplishments of these people arise from the fact that they were born in "democratic wealthy countries" isnt fair. There accomplishments were made in spite of there situation. Even for the ones on the list that were from democratic countries up into receantly all jews in the world were second class citizens, they achieved despite the odds against them.

All references came from wikipedia and a few biography sites whihc can be found by a simple google search.

http://anticollective.blogspot.com

Re: RE:Okay, so I know I promised not to post serious things...

[maggiebloome.livejournal.com]

Hm. Thanks for the info, although my point was where they lived, not where they were born, but I guess it applies to that as well.

Anyway, I'm not really bothered by that. It's the people who sent the email I was angry at, I didn't mean to belittle the accomplishments of the people on the list.