Category Archives: Conflict – Culture – Language – Psychology

Aside

20 Wednesday Aug 2014

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The Jewish story that begins with exodus sends its signal down through time about the character of men who would be gods. With the help of God, so goes this story, the Jews pleaded, God interceded, and the Jews fled Pharaoh and what he represented.

Who were the Jews?

What manner of human gathered out in the desert to do things perhaps a little differently?

These throwbacks under the black flag seem the pestilence of each generation, and, as my old Haggadah stated, “With every generation a little more freedom is won.”

Jewish Universalism may have gotten a bit of a push by Hillel the Elder who died around 10-CE, a date significant for what may have been left for Jesus and later Paul and Constantine to both pick up and exploit against the backdrop of decayed and restive Rome, and the same may then have come into Muhammad’s purview. Two of the three monotheist houses have been vying a long time to suppress and eliminate the people who first abandoned Pharaoh, and to do it, it seems some keep becoming Pharaoh-like in their ambition, political absolutists served by an immoral and vacuous loyalty above all.

I think that’s where we all are and we ought to come forward of those old positions, say hello, embrace, and get on with being done with the bloodiest of despots.

However, it’s a large job, and watching Lord of the Rings doesn’t really help us anymore. 🙂

The Catholic Church dropped its habitual charge of Deicide against the Jews in 1964 (the Lutherans of the U.S. took a decade or two longer), and parts of the Christian community have moved on to a pro-Zionist position based on their eschatology.

Islam may be more challenged, but deep down in it, one hears . . . Hillel: ” whosoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whosoever that saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.” It too will shear away from the barbarism sustained in the existence of the Muslim Brotherhood and its many associates.

And if we are lucky, we may all come through being a little bit something else, even more Jewish but equally more wise in being ourselves.

WWWIII: solved.

Wake me for the next one. 😀

Hamas – Bad Faith – No Ceasefire – Never Was – Will Not Be – Stop Dreaming

19 Tuesday Aug 2014

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Gaza, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Middle East, Politics, Regions

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According to Marc Schulman writing for Newsweek, it was the ceasefire that wasn’t:

It turns out that last night the representatives of the Palestinian Authority were putting forth a patently untrue story as to what Israeli and Hamas had agreed, when neither had. Unfortunately, all of the press (both Israeli and worldwide) reported the story as true.

Israel has recalled its negotiating team.

The latest at ABC reports more than 50 rockets fired on Israel this afternoon, some reaching as far as Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Is the reader perhaps looking for the Hamas “off-button”?

Stop looking.

It doesn’t exist.

The Hamas program script plan vision has no curtain, no final act.

In fact, the doctrine is explicit:

. . . even if the obstacles erected by those who revolve in the Zionist orbit, aiming at obstructing the road before the Jihad fighters, have rendered the pursuance of Jihad impossible; nevertheless, the Hamas has been looking forward to implement Allah’s promise whatever time it might take.

Hear,  oh Israel (and all others): with Hamas and what drives it — that deeply malignant narcissism that lends to each his own indulged and grandiose center of the universe — there is nothing to negotiate.

So Hamas does not negotiate in good faith, neither for peace and prosperity to be shared by Gazans nor for considerations having much to do, after all, with The All.

Know the character of the commanders: Ayatollah Khamenei, Khaled Mashaal, Ismail Haniyeh, and others.

Why should Hamas or any other Jihad Joe group come equipped with an “off button”?

The enterprise clearly cons the public, makes a lot of money (which with “terror tunnels” and all would seem not to reach intended deserving recipients), and harms the principles not at all (although, perhaps, after all, Allah knows what they do — and, for now, has them getting away with it).

Related Reference

http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/President-Peres-accuses-Qatar-for-financing-Hamas-terrorism-368579 – 7/23/2014.

http://www.thejc.com/comment-and-debate/analysis/121018/hamass-biggest-backer-it-has-entire-westin-palm-its-hand – 7/31/2014.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/arab-bank-trial-allegedly-financing-hamas-article-1.1904694 – 8/15/2014.

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Anti-Semitism – Badge of Weakness

19 Tuesday Aug 2014

Posted by in Anti-Semitism, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology

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Not one European national parliament has mirrored the U.S. House of Representative’s resolution defending Israel’s measures against Hamas.

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/behind-europe-anti-semitic-slurs-article-1.1891349 – 8/4/2014.

Along with resurgent nationalist fascism in Europe has come an equally robust anti-Semitism, and the pundits are weighing in on cause with a dizzying profusion of partially warranted hypotheses.  Whether expressing pique over the latest episode of “Israel vs Hamas” or perhaps exculpating Auschwitz guilt, one thing has become clear as regards the eruption of the new barbarism in Europe: someone failed to keep the gates shut.

It would seem no one inclined toward hate cares to listen to the direction of a more refined Greco-Roman-Judeo-Christian government when like-minded fellows met on the Internet are also to be met out on the street.

And who and what is to stop them?

*

“Yo, Bunky, about beating up the Jew — don’t do it again.”

“Why not?  What are you going to do about it?”

*

The destructively narcissistic ideation that ends with “Jew Hate” and general war against all probably gets its start with “narcissistic mortification”, i.e., the deep embarrassment and felt humiliation of the spirit who becomes so engaged with the world, and the engagement becomes expressive of a basic “Fuck you” written small in acts of vandalism or large in the merciless and vacuous slaughters of tens upon tens of thousands by autocrat, boss, caliph, dictator, king, or emperor.

The lives put at risk — and less involved noncombatant Gazans fit this model very well — have no more meaning to those who harbor such contempt and hate for others than their specific targets.  In essence, Khaled Mashaal, for example, not only hates the Jews and Israel but doesn’t give a shit either about Palestinian lives.  For that psychological perversion, life has made Khaled Mashaal a billionaire twice over.

One need not go down the ranks of wealthy dictators and their rates of survival.  The main thing, whether with Paul Biya, Robert Mugabe, Bashar al-Assad, or Baghdaddi and the Islamic Hate (what a band!) is that the patterns are the same: life provoked in each the want of a grandiose and messianic self-aggrandizement, and someone then either let them get away with it or failed to stop them in their tracks.

The type have no “off button” — but they have an “on switch” with a recognizable start-up program, and it’s completely visible today from Asia to Europe to the Middle East.

The beating last Tuesday of 53-year-old rabbi Daniel Alter in front of his young daughter, allegedly by a group of Arab youths, has been roundly condemned.

The president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Dieter Graumann, urged Muslim groups to “finally deal decisively with anti-Semitism in their own ranks”.

http://www.news24.com/World/News/Muslims-deny-inaction-over-anti-Semitism-20120903 – 9/2/2012.

“I am deeply disappointed that we have come to this, that society tolerates tough talk again and tough talk spreads,” said Gyula Foldes, an 81-year-old Holocaust survivor.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/21/us-hungary-antisemitism-idUSKBN0E10E420140521 – 5/21/2014.

Kantor spoke after meeting with senior Belgian politicians including Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo in the aftermath of the terror shooting at the Jewish Museum in central Brussels, which left three people dead and one seriously injured and in critical condition.

“What better example is there of the lack of security, the absence of tolerance and the climate of fear in our European cities than this attack on Jews in the capital of Europe?” Kantor said.

http://www.eurojewcong.org/Combating%20anti-Semitism/11212-european-jewish-congress:-eu-inaction-created-breeding-ground-for-extremism.html – 5/26/2014.

Some of the trapped Jews fought their way out as the riot police dispersed the crowd. Manuel Valls, the French Prime Minister, condemned the attack in “the strongest possible terms”, while Joel Mergei, a community leader, said he was “profoundly shocked and revolted”. The words had no effect. Two weeks later, 400 protesters attacked a synagogue and Jewish-owned businesses in Sarcelles, in the north of Paris, shouting “Death to the Jews”. Posters had even advertised the raid in advance, like the pogroms of Tsarist Russia.

http://www.newsweek.com/2014/08/08/exodus-why-europes-jews-are-fleeing-once-again-261854.html – 7/29/2014.

In July, the number of Dutch-language anti-Semitic Facebook pages ran into the hundreds, according to MDI, which cannot keep up with the amount of hate-fueled posts, ranging from statements such as “Jews must die” to those praising Adolf Hitler. On Twitter, the hashtag “Hitler was right” appeared more than 10,000 times in July in connection with Gaza and became a trending topic, says MDI.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/16/anti-semitic-hate-speech-internet_n_5682031.html – 8/16/2014.

“One of the attackers signaled me to ‘Shut up or we’ll kill you,’” Anna Sjögren, in her 40s, said of the ordeal, which transpired on Thursday.

http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/08/18/swedish-woman-viciously-beaten-for-wearing-jewish-star-necklace/ – 8/18/2014

I have heard and seen much the same thing on the BBC and Channel 4 News; reports of horrible attacks upon synagogues and Jewish businesses in Europe. A huge spike in anti-Semitic attacks in this country, too — more than 200 in the last month; more in the last four weeks than the previous six months put together. But no mention, not even a hint, as to who might be responsible. A complete mystery, isn’t it?

http://www.spectator.co.uk/columnists/rod-liddle/9286532/its-ok-to-mention-anti-semitic-attacks-but-not-who-commits-them/ – 8/16/2014.

Almost two thirds (64 %) of those who experienced physical violence or threats of violence did not report the most serious incident to the police or to any other organisation. Three quarters (76 %) of the respondents who experienced antisemitic harassment in the past five years did not report the most serious incident. More than four in five (82 %) of those who said that they felt discriminated against in the 12 months before the survey because they are Jewish did not report the most serious incident.

http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra-2013-factsheet-jewish-people-experiences-discrimination-and-hate-crime-eu_en.pdf – European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights – 2013; Related primary report:

http://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2013/discrimination-and-hate-crime-against-jews-eu-member-states-experiences-and (2013).

Related Reference

http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-Features/Anti-Semitism-alarms-ADL-371452 – 8/19/2014.

http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/182400/ctrl-f-genocide – 8/15/2014.

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/behind-europe-anti-semitic-slurs-article-1.1891349 – 8/4/2014.

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/The-anti-Semitism-sweeping-Europe-370058 – 8/4/2014.

http://time.com/63960/hate-crimes-anti-semitism/ – 4/15/2014.

http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/162559/jews-control-the-internet-says-pro-palestinian-website – 2/10/2014.

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Australia – “18C” – A Conservative Looks Over the Enforcement of Being Thoughtful

19 Tuesday Aug 2014

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What 18C does is, it prohibits the utterance of words that could potentially offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate someone and that is problematic.

Criminal offenses fall under two categories. Mala in se are intrinsically wrong as determined by a civilised society, for instance rape, murder and theft. These are wrong in and of themselves regardless of how they are dealt with from a legislative standpoint. Mala prohibitum are arbitrarily wrong because the lawmakers say so, for instance driving a vehicle without a license, illegal drug use and copyright infringements. 18C is a malum prohibitum presented to the world by the left as a malum in se in order to boost its appeal to moral conscience, hoping to guilt trip Australians into appreciating its alleged utility.

http://www.menzieshouse.com.au/?p=5311 – 8/19/2014.

Sherry Sufi’s scathing overview of Australia’s be-always-politically-correct legislation “18C” covers the psychology and realpolitik of obtaining a gateway for claiming victimization in response to a critic’s speech and the power to take the same to court for it.

As often noted in this space, there’s no greater a signal to malignant narcissism than the want of obtaining control over someone else’s talk — and then from that what may be heard in the political sphere.  In that regard, 18C would appear devised to open the way to serving an autocratic speech-suppressing will.

Excerpted from Sufi’s piece:

Those fearing the worst may wish to note that Australia continues to remain one of the most ‘discrimination-sensitive’ nations on earth. Statutes designed to protect the vulnerable from discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, disability or religion are staggering in number as confirmed by the voluminous list below.

Commonwealth laws:
Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth)
Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth)
Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth)
Age Discrimination Act 2004 (Cth)

State and Territory laws:
Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW)
Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (SA)
Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (WA)
Discrimination Act 1991 (ACT)
Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (QLD)
Equal Opportunity Act 1995 (VIC)
Anti-Discrimination Act 1996 (NT)
Racial Vilification Act 1996 (SA)
Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 (TAS)
Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001 (VIC)

What Ken Wyatt and Adam Goodes should be asking is, why should discrimination not be fought using existing Criminal Code provisions and the various defamation laws already in place which seek to protect all Australians regardless of racial origin in the face of abuse and vulnerability. The very existence of these special ‘identity-specific’ laws presupposes that those it represents are different from the rest of Australia. It assumes that they are weaker and want to be treated differently.

The legislation referred to as “18C” enjoys its own Facebook page.  From that location comes reference to this ugly bit of Aussie news reported by radio station KIIS 1065:

Customers and staff of the Forbes and Burton Cafe in Darlinghurst have walked out on the owner, after the Daily Mail reports cafe owner ‘Steven’ turned down a Brazilian man applying for a job because he was “black”.

Nilson Dos Santos applied for a job at the cafe, and apparently ‘Steven’ didn’t ask him a single question, merely made the remark that Nilson was “black”.

Steven reportedly said he didn’t want “coffee made by black people”.

Apparently after being turned away by Steven, Mr Dos Santos stood up and announced to the other customers on Sunday why he had been rejected from the job and even asked them if they minded being served by a black man.

http://www.kiis1065.com.au/news/Shocking-Racist-Claims-From-Sydney-Cafe-Owner#rfpvSgdBydeLpXYB.99 – 8/18/2014.

By title, one wonders what might be inadequate about, say, the “Racial Discrimination Act (1975), as regards fielding what might become greater bad news for cafe owner “Steven”, if indeed events took place as told.

Related Reference

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-05/government-backtracks-on-racial-discrimination-act-changes/5650030 – 8/6/2014.

https://www.humanrights.gov.au/glance-racial-vilification-under-sections-18c-and-18d-racial-discrimination-act-1975-cth 12/13/2013:

Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act makes it unlawful for someone to do an act that is reasonably likely to “offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate” someone because of their race or ethnicity.

Section 18D of the Racial Discrimination Act contains exemptions which protect freedom of speech. These ensure that artistic works, scientific debate and fair comment on matters of public interest are exempt from section 18C, providing they are said or done reasonably and in good faith.

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Hungary Goes That-A-Fascist-Way – Washington “Canaries” Chirp Warnings

18 Monday Aug 2014

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Europe, Hungary, Politics, Regions

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Citing as models Singapore, China, India, Turkey and Russia, Mr. Orban added: “We have to abandon liberal methods and principles of organizing a society, as well as the liberal way to look at the world.”

The Hungarian leader traced his extraordinary conclusion to the global financial crisis, which he said had exposed the weakness of Western societies and mandated “a race to invent a state that is most capable of making a nation successful.” He was particularly scathing about the United States, claiming that “the strength of American soft power is deteriorating, because liberal values today incorporate corruption, sex and violence.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/hungarys-illiberalism-should-not-go-unchallenged/2014/08/16/b2dc72d4-1e5c-11e4-82f9-2cd6fa8da5c4_story.html – 8/16/2014.

3. Call German Prime Minister Angela Merkel
to discuss a) Greek political and economic
conditions, as well as the need for Troika
policies to blunt the suffering caused by
austerity and to defuse the appeal of
extremism; and b) coordinating policies on
Hungary.

4. Instruct the Director of National Intelligence
to investigate allegations of Russian and
Iranian financial or other support of
European far-right parties and present a
classified assessment of whether the
Kremlin is attempting to use such parties to
undermine the European Union or thwart
further NATO expansion. Release an
unclassified version to Congress and the
public.

5. At the North Atlantic Council meeting at the
2014 NATO Summit, express concern
about the rise of neo-fascist parties in
Europe and its impact on security and good
governance in NATO member countries and
the strength of the Alliance. Instruct the U.S.
Ambassador to NATO and senior military
officials to raise these concerns—especially
with regard to Hungary and Greece—with
their European counterparts.

http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/sites/default/files/HRF-report-We-Are-Not-Nazis-But.pdf – August 2014.

Off-the-cuff and fast blogging brought “canaries in the cave’ to mind, but in actuality the editorial board of The Washington Post and the downtown think-tank Human Rights First have voices far greater than metaphorical canaries in coal mines.  However, as with the lesser birds, they are both sending a warning and should be heard loud and clear.

When referencing “the dictator Putin-Assad-Khamenei”, I had for a while to note the other axis of power that was Putin-Yanukovych.  Yanukovych’s now long gone from Ukraine (online, we are all living dog years [more animals, egads]) but the principle remains: the despots know how to gang up on the democratic among souls, and in league, they are force with which to be reckoned.

I wonder if in Syria, Bashar the Butcher al-Assad didn’t give al-Nusra and the young ISIS a break in order to clear the field of the moderate and ensure his war would leave one despot, preferably himself, or another standing, which would suit defending the indefensible principle that is “political absolutism”.

Regarding Iranian and Russian sabotage, potential or real, of NATO, a review of Turkey’s position in relation to fascist Islamism and the Islamic State, which is using for its headquarters Turkey’s embassy in Mosul, Iraq, would seem also in order.

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17 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by in Anti-Semitism, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Gaza, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Middle East, Political Psychology, Regions

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As ethical, apolitical, and professional members of the academic community, we find the open letter for the people in Gaza1 an outrageous diatribe lacking context and deliberate vilification of the sovereign state of Israel and, by extension, every Israeli. In publishing such invective, The Lancet has allowed itself to become a platform for distorted political activism, as has been previously noted by others.2,3 Because we are scientists and physicians who are accustomed to incorporating all data into the formation of educated opinions (even public commentary), we are obliged to redress the imbalance.

http://download.thelancet.com/flatcontentassets/pdfs/S0140673614613143.pdf – 8/15/2014.

An updated reference to the same may be found here under the title, “True about The Lancet – And Shame on It for the Anti-Semitic Knuckleheads It Chose to Support With Its Platform” (July 28, 2014, updated August 17, 2014).

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15 Friday Aug 2014

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Facsimile Bipolar Political Sociopathy, Political Psychology, Psychology

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Hitler was not a good-looking man, not tall, not prepossessing, not particularly intelligent, not a great orator — more a strident tub-thumper — yet millions of Germans loved him and died for him. In the end, Germany itself all but died for him.

Today, the romanticizing of sociopaths has not ended. However much we know about the clay-footed idols of the past, or the enormities committed by those demagogues and rabble-rousers and charlatans, many of us just transfer our allegiance to the next monster-in-waiting.

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4602/new-romantics#.U-zP7yVVekU.facebook – 8/14/2014.

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15 Friday Aug 2014

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And, in the West…no coverage.

Because it would be really awkward to notice that Arabs are far more antisemitic than anyone else, and that the antisemitism has nothing to do with Israel. If that was true, peace would be impossible, and to say that is sacrilegious – since holding on to the unfounded belief of this being a purely political conflict than can be solved with diplomacy is as irrational, and as irrationally defended, as any religion is.

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.co.il/2014/08/the-qualities-of-jews-in-quran.html#.U-4_mMVdV8F – 8/14/2014.