I made the conscious decision not to get dragged into the recent blog nastiness and mud slinging, and I even tried to ignore saying anything about this much linked Warren Kinsella story just because it is so closely related to the afore said blog nastiness and mud slinging - but I’ve now seen it linked once too often and the BS has reached a level that needs to be spoken to.
In discussing an award presented to Ed Broadbent in February Kinsella says
It was an extraordinarily emotional moment, and one that signalled — some hoped — the beginnings of a rapprochement between Canada’s political left and those who support Israel. In recent years, and as the National Post has reported many times, there has been an undeniable and yawning gap between Jews and the left.
The beginnings of a rapprochement?
I was pretty sure what Kinsella was getting at but I went to look it up anyway… just to make sure.
rapprochement (the reestablishing of cordial relations)
reconciliation: the reestablishing of cordial relations
Generalizations of this nature do nothing more than perpetuate the myth that the left (however it is being defined today and who it is being defined by) is anti-the-state-of-Israel-existing or anti-Semite …. I’ll say it again, it is a myth, and it doesn’t matter how many times Kinsella, or people like him, or people who can’t come up with a legitimate argument as to why the government of Israel should not be criticized for anything it does or says, try and change that, it will always be a myth.
It is a myth, for exactly the same reason that criticism of the government of America is not anti-American.
It is a myth, for exactly the same reason that criticism of the government of Canada is not anti-Canadian.
It is a myth, for exactly the same reason that criticism of the Pope is not anti-Christian.
It is a myth, for exactly the same reason that criticism of a war is not anti-war.
What critics of those who criticize the government of Israel need reconcile is the idea that one can criticize a government without being anti-the-people that government represents.
I’m curious, what do these critics of critics have to say about these people, are they anti-Semitic leftists?
A profound division has developed between Zionist advocates of Israel and Jews, secular and religious, who reject or question Zionism and actions taken by the state of Israel.
The Kinsella story goes on to say
As prominent NDP supporter and lawyer Clay Ruby has observed, “Some critics of Israel conveniently focus on Israeli wrongdoings to mask their blatant anti-Semitism.” Too often, these days, this sort of criticism has emanated from the left.
Of this I have no doubt, none what-so-ever; but some, is not all, and the critics of the critics risk irrelevancy by crying wolf each and every time someone criticizes something they don’t like.
My suggestion is simple, when you find a bigot denounce them roundly, expose their bigotry far and wide, but wait until you actually do find one, otherwise people are not going to pay attention when you do.
Oh, great. You said the “K” word. Like having Scenty haunt the site wasn’t bad enough.