An invigorating "appreciation" of Israel, or perhaps rather of Israelis, from Julie Burchill.
Even whilst bracing myself for the storm of anguish unleashed whenever anyone types the I-word, I can't resist quoting this incidental bit, because I've certainly "been there":
And the puzzle comes back to this — why do these people, above all others, inspire such ludicrous, ceaseless, surreal loathing? Why is it that one of my sweetest, youngest, most educated friends said to me one night, not even drunk: “Come on babe, admit it — don’t you ever EVER think that if the Jews had never existed how much easier life would be?”
And here, by the way, is the rebuttal.
Posted by Dr. Frank at November 24, 2004 04:45 PM | TrackBack"(Interestingly, when the Jews put their scientific brilliance to the service of the European powers, no one ever complained, as I remembered. No one ever said: “Ooo, Albert Einstein, don’t do that!”)"
I am jewish (ethnically at least) and I have never felt any need to take credit for the achievements of Albert Einstien.
Warning: Editorial based pure speculation not supported by any studies or other scientific evidence.
All the different semitisms of the world come from the same origin. The specific beliefs of a religion have as little to do with the culture that that relgion is part of as the genetic make-up of its members. A jew in Isreal is not a jew in America, is not a jew in Europe, is not a jew in Isreal 5,000 years ago. All of this debating, the jews did this so the jews should do this. That's a load of mularcky.
Posted by: josh at November 24, 2004 05:53 PMbtw: you asked for it Dr. Frank.
Posted by: josh at November 24, 2004 05:54 PMFor what it's worth - as my dad liked to say: "In any relationship gone wrong, there are always two victims and two villains." This, from my understanding (limited by not having first hand knowledge), is certainly the case in Israel. My brother-in-law is a native Israeli, and was in the Army, and worked the checkpoints. And from his stories, there are sick bastards on the Israeli side, and there are sick bastards on the Palestinian side. Certainly neither can claim moral high ground...
And for a change of pace, Universal Buzz Radio (http://www.universalbuzz.com) will be broadcasting the MTX show from Rochester, NY last February on December 2, at least here in Rochester. It'll be on WBER, which can be streamed from http://wber.monroe.edu at 9pm EST that day.