Posted on 08/06/2006 6:52:36 PM PDT by grey_whiskers
By now, nearly everyone has heard of Hollywood actor Mel Gibson’s arrest for DUI and his subsequent profanity-laced tirade. While it was bad enough that he set such a poor public example for a professing Christian—between the carousing, the public intoxication, and finally the language and lack of respect for the police—Hollywood and many of the cultural elite see fit to pass over these items. (And why not, given the amount of partying, drinking, illicit sex, and use of drugs among the jet set? Their attitude on these matters is “Welcome to the club, Mel!”
Instead, the indignation of the chosen is reserved for Gibson’s anti-Semitic remarks. Asking one of the deputies “Are you a Jew?” didn’t just fuel suspicions. In fact, it acted as confirmation of all of the anti-Semitic broadsides launched at Mel during the run-up and initial screenings of The Passion of the Christ. And it looks like that Hollywood—which does have a large and influential Jewish population, conspiracy theories aside—has already begun a backlash against Gibson. ABC / Disney has announced that it is pulling the plug on a joint venture with Gibson on a film project about the Holocaust. (Isn’t it ironic, by the way, that after all the dire warnings of anti-Semitic activity and mob violence agaist Jews, which were supposed to result from the movie, none of them happened? But when another controversial artistic work appeared—the cartoons of Mohammed in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten—there was actual violence, including the burning down of an embassy. And calls that the Jews were behind the cartoons .)
Mel’s outburst did not stop with the one remark. He continued, by launching a diatribe about how the Jews have started all of the wars in history goes beyond mere prejudice, it comes close to tin-foil hat territory. But this raises the question—whose tin-foil hat? While it is true that in the past, the Catholic Church, for example, has been blamed for the persecution of Jews (say, during the Inquisition), these attacks have taken place in the past, hundreds of years ago. What of attacks which are occurring today?
There are two main sources of anti-Semitic attacks lately—one based on violence, the other based on words. The violent attacks are the rise of Islam resurgent, marked by suicide bombings in Israel, kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, random missile attacks on civilian targets, and calls by various ‘leaders’ to wipe Israel off of the map. For example, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted on August 3 as saying that “the solution to the Middle East crisis is to destroy Israel.” The other one, sad to say, is elements within the Modern Democratic party. While it is heartening to see the DNC leadership officially supporting Israel (see for example Democrats.org for Howard Dean’s statement on the current conflict in Lebanon), there are other, unofficial sources, such as blogs, who are not taking such a reasoned, measured tone. And in addition, some of the victims are themselves high officials within the Democratic Party. For example, consider this article from The Daily Kos: Barf Alert, titled “The case against Zionism, a historical perspective part 1.” The author, and others on the site, claim that this piece is for justice in the Middle East, but not anti-Semitic. This piece basically argues against the existence of a historical state of Israel, on various grounds—for example, that “The original colinization of Palestine by Jews, while understandable, is without moral justification.” Apparently he discounts the idea that suffering through the Holocaust might drive a moral imperative to award the Jews a land where they could live free from molestation. Or this little gem: “Back to the partition. At the time Arab's were 2/3's of the popluaton, given a little less then half the land, and given the right to be nothing more then second class citizens, like the african's in south africa.” Right. And we all know about the fabulous freedoms awarded not just to Christians, but to fellow dhimmis like Jews within Muslim lands.
But speaking of bloggers, there are even more recent examples. Consider for example the contest for the Democratic seat for the US Senate in Connecticut, pitting incumbent Joe Lieberman against challenger Joe Lamont. Blogger Jane Hamsher published a photoshop of Joe Lieberman in blackface on her Huffington Post blog entry—thereby offending two minority groups instead of one. And The Daily Kos took a slam at Lieberman as too closely connected to the president, this one instead insinuating that Lieberman is President Bush’s answer to Monica Lewinsky—again picking on two of the Dems’ favorite demographic groups. (In the interests of taste, I will not post links to these photos myself. But surfing on the archives of (say) Little Green Footballs or Michelle Malkin will help you find them.) And remember, this is in the urbane, tolerant Democratic party—and in the heart of liberal New England. Against a man who was the Democrat Party’s nominee as Vice President in the last election.
While it has been disheartening to hear of Mel Gibson’s behaviour, he is not in an official position—at best, he is an actor, unconcerned with policy. And, yes, it is true, that even political blogs do not constitute official policy of a party. But just as Catholic groups felt it important to distance themselves from Mr. Gibson’s remarks (“don’t do what I say; hmm, don’t do what I was doing right then, either”), it would be nice to hear a little more rejection of anti-Semitism from the powers that be in the Democratic Party.
The others just sink (...lower and lower and lower)
Cheers!
"...it would be nice to hear a little more rejection of anti-Semitism from the powers that be in the Democratic Party."
Shhhh...they might hear you!
Don't the Dems think they OWN the jewish vote?
Mark Steyn's got it right:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1678928/posts
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