Comments on: A crappy anniversary, and other links

By: Knockin' On The Golden Door

Knockin' On The Golden Door — Sun, 02 Oct 2005 15:39:42 +0000

Gandhi – Saint or Fraud?

I’m linking to Meryl again, in spite of our falling out of some time ago, for numerous reasons, not least because she comes up with some damned good links. Other reasons for my change of heart include the fact that…

By: Michael Lonie

Michael Lonie — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 01:01:46 +0000

The Palis rely implicitly on Israeli self-control. If the Palis had tried their tricks on an Arab government at the end of September 2000, by the end of October 2000 there would have been a shambles in the first city to revolt and 25,000 or more Palis would be dead, as at Hama in Syria in 1982. Arafat and his consiglieri would have disappeared into the dungeons of the secret police, nevermore to be heard from. The Palis consider this moral restraint a weakness on the part of the Jews.

Oh, and in accordance with Meryl’s point about Israeli Double Standard Time, nobody else would give a damn if the Arab government in question massacred every Pali they could catch, certainly not other Arabs, who treat the Palis like dirt, worse than the Israelis do. How can I say that? Nobody gave a damn when Syria massacred the people of Hama for the uprising of the Muslim Brotherhood there.

By: Joel

Joel — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 16:29:08 +0000

Gandhi in the words of the late writer Richard Grenier was “a pious fraud.” I never bought into the Gandhi as Saint crapola.
As for the current phase of the Arab-Israeli war, Israel was far too slow in recognizing the danger she was in. She should have started on the security fence in 1994 and she should have launched Defensive Shield earlier. During the horrid month of March 2002 I was wondering what was the matter with Israel, has she no army of her own? Why is she taking this kind of punishment? Over 100 Jews blown up that month.

By: Sabba Hillel

Sabba Hillel — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 15:39:54 +0000

The reason that they have never tried those tactics is called projection That is, a group will never try a tactic against a foe that they cannot conceive of working against themselves. The phrase You can't cheat an honest man is an example. A con man will appear to be vulnerable as a victim, and when the mark tries to take advantage of him, he closes the trap. The Nigerian oil scam emails are an example of this. Note that they usually are of the form "I have stolen a lot of money and need help to launder it" Here too, they know that they would murder anyone who tried passive resistance, so they cannot bring themselves to use that technique.

By: Alex Bensky

Alex Bensky — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 12:12:52 +0000

I’ve never been a big fan of Gandhi and not just because of his views on Jews. I recommend Orwell’s essay on him. Besides the famous line that “saints should be considered guilty until proved innocent,” Orwell–who spent a number of years as a member of the British imperial police–says the Raj was always afraid the “Quit India” leadership would fall to the hands of someone who did believe in violence.

Orwell is not the only writer to point out that Gandhi’s tactics have limited utility; they work only against people with scruples. They worked against the British but can anyone imagine they’d have worked against the Soviets? As to the Nazis, there’s a wonderful alternate history science fiction story by Harry Turtledove, “The Last Article.”

In it, the Nazis, having won World War II, occupy India. Gandhi tries his nonviolence against them and the results are predictable to anyone except idiots, of whom the left these days seems to have a lot.

These tactics would also work against the Israelis. Isn’t it fascinating that the Palis have never tried them and, as far as I can tell, have never even considered trying them? I suggest there are revealing cultural reasons why they haven’t.

By: Gary Rosen

Gary Rosen — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 08:30:51 +0000

I thought it was the 58th year of the current Arab-Israeli war.