Comments on: An open letter to the world media http://www.yourish.com/2008/12/04/5702 Cutting straight to the point Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:40:44 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: wolfwalker http://www.yourish.com/2008/12/04/5702/comment-page-1#comment-34621 wolfwalker Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:41:03 +0000 http://www.yourish.com/?p=5702#comment-34621 Every now and then, I wonder if the biased coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is due, not to anti-semitism or anti-Zionism, but rather to racism. There seems to be an underlying assumption that the Palestinians are animals, or perhaps robots. That they respond to stimuli in programmed ways with no hint of free will or moral-agency. Under this view, only Israeli actions can be judged on a moral scale because only the Israelis have a choice -- act morally, or don't. Hamas fires rockets as Israel because that's what Hamas does. It can't do anything else. Cows gotta graze, wolves gotta kill, Arabs gotta kill Jews. The same attitude seems to come into play in conflicts from other parts of the world. If a conflict pits whites against nonwhites, the reporting is obviously slanted to make the whites the villains, but underlying that slant is the same attitude: only the whites can be held at fault because only the whites have a choice. Nonwhites can't be held responsible for their actions, because they can't behave any other way. Meanwhile, nonwhite-vs-nonwhite conflicts are simply ignored as unimportant. If one looks back over the last century or so of history, one might almost get the impression that modern liberalism is a bastard child of 1920s fascism and Victorian-era Western racism. A hideous combination. Every now and then, I wonder if the biased coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is due, not to anti-semitism or anti-Zionism, but rather to racism. There seems to be an underlying assumption that the Palestinians are animals, or perhaps robots. That they respond to stimuli in programmed ways with no hint of free will or moral-agency. Under this view, only Israeli actions can be judged on a moral scale because only the Israelis have a choice — act morally, or don’t. Hamas fires rockets as Israel because that’s what Hamas does. It can’t do anything else. Cows gotta graze, wolves gotta kill, Arabs gotta kill Jews.

The same attitude seems to come into play in conflicts from other parts of the world. If a conflict pits whites against nonwhites, the reporting is obviously slanted to make the whites the villains, but underlying that slant is the same attitude: only the whites can be held at fault because only the whites have a choice. Nonwhites can’t be held responsible for their actions, because they can’t behave any other way. Meanwhile, nonwhite-vs-nonwhite conflicts are simply ignored as unimportant.

If one looks back over the last century or so of history, one might almost get the impression that modern liberalism is a bastard child of 1920s fascism and Victorian-era Western racism. A hideous combination.

]]> By: Elisson http://www.yourish.com/2008/12/04/5702/comment-page-1#comment-34618 Elisson Fri, 05 Dec 2008 05:31:59 +0000 http://www.yourish.com/?p=5702#comment-34618 It's like that old guy who used to daven <i>shacharit</i> at the Kotel every day since he was a bar mitzvah. "How's all that davening working out for you, Pops?" "To tell you the truth, it's like talking to a wall..." It’s like that old guy who used to daven shacharit at the Kotel every day since he was a bar mitzvah.

“How’s all that davening working out for you, Pops?”

“To tell you the truth, it’s like talking to a wall…”

]]> By: Steven http://www.yourish.com/2008/12/04/5702/comment-page-1#comment-34617 Steven Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:27:17 +0000 http://www.yourish.com/?p=5702#comment-34617 Meryl, Great post, probably one of your best ever. You concisely communicated so much of what is wrong with the reporting and in the process will probably open the eyes of many people that don't realize how poor the reporting is on Israel. I have sent this post to everyone that I could think of. Thanks Meryl,

Great post, probably one of your best ever. You concisely communicated so much of what is wrong with the reporting and in the process will probably open the eyes of many people that don’t realize how poor the reporting is on Israel. I have sent this post to everyone that I could think of.

Thanks

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