Comments on: Charm city charm offensive http://www.yourish.com/2008/08/26/5268 Cutting straight to the point Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:14:34 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Yankev http://www.yourish.com/2008/08/26/5268/comment-page-1#comment-33053 Yankev Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:49:37 +0000 http://www.yourish.com/?p=5268#comment-33053 I am a former Democrat who left the party in 2000 after a string of disappointments. Democrats used to be for free speech, liberty, fair play, and encouraging freedom in the rest of the world. It seems to me the Republicans now are more likely to enhance those goals. Others may disagree, and that is their right. But I also note that there is a sad trend in many "official" Jewish papers -- those sponsored by their local federations in whole or in part -- to engage in gleeful and unfettered slander of the Orthodox Jews, institutions, practices and beliefs. Having been a non-Orthodox Jew for the first 29 of my 58 years, I can tell you that the supposed intolerance of the Orthodox community is largely a myth, and pales compared to the bigotry of the official American Jewish establishment (which fortunately is not especially representative of non-Orthodox Jews either, but is not bigoted toward them) toward those of us who are Orthodox. I am a former Democrat who left the party in 2000 after a string of disappointments. Democrats used to be for free speech, liberty, fair play, and encouraging freedom in the rest of the world. It seems to me the Republicans now are more likely to enhance those goals. Others may disagree, and that is their right.

But I also note that there is a sad trend in many “official” Jewish papers — those sponsored by their local federations in whole or in part — to engage in gleeful and unfettered slander of the Orthodox Jews, institutions, practices and beliefs. Having been a non-Orthodox Jew for the first 29 of my 58 years, I can tell you that the supposed intolerance of the Orthodox community is largely a myth, and pales compared to the bigotry of the official American Jewish establishment (which fortunately is not especially representative of non-Orthodox Jews either, but is not bigoted toward them) toward those of us who are Orthodox.

]]> By: Alex Bensky http://www.yourish.com/2008/08/26/5268/comment-page-1#comment-33047 Alex Bensky Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:54:37 +0000 http://www.yourish.com/?p=5268#comment-33047 I am not only a lifelong Democrat but a former party activist on a very low level...precinct delegate, county committee, state platform committee, etc. Since I'm not an academic I'm not all that concerned with labels, and I'll be voting for McCain in November, for reasons encapsulated by Elmer Davis's remark once that "the first requirement of any society is that it win its war." And by the way, I'm a fervent supporter of Israel and I would be even if Israelis were Vietnamese. I am not only a lifelong Democrat but a former party activist on a very low level…precinct delegate, county committee, state platform committee, etc. Since I’m not an academic I’m not all that concerned with labels, and I’ll be voting for McCain in November, for reasons encapsulated by Elmer Davis’s remark once that “the first requirement of any society is that it win its war.”

And by the way, I’m a fervent supporter of Israel and I would be even if Israelis were Vietnamese.

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