January 12, 2008
An old joke, but one that's been apposite for thousands of years...
I was really angered by this piece, by a fake-pacifist, about how Jews are being obnoxious by not "moving on" from the Holocaust, and how Israel is causing all its own problems by defending itself with weapons instead of "befriending its enemies." With, of course, not the slightest criticism of Moslems, or suggestion that they befriend anybody, or do anything positive.
I was going to fisk it, but really, it's hopeless to reason with this kind of dirt. So I'll just post an old joke:
You've all heard about the Romans used to feed Christians to lions in the arena. But you may not know that they also did so to Jews. With one difference; the Jews were always buried up to their necks first!
One time, when this was happening, a lion stepped over one of the Jews. The Jew stretched his head up and managed to bite the lion on the balls.
With one motion the entire arena full of Romans stood up and screamed, "Fight fair, Jew!"
Update: I just remembered another one of these things, from years ago, but still aggravating to me. For a while Israel was discouraging Palestinian suicide bombers by bulldozing the houses of their families. And it worked! Violence dropped off. For a while at least, until the killers started concealing the identities of the bombers.
and that was the occasion for another fake-pacifist to heap harsh criticism on the Jews, for supposedly violating Jewish morality. Ohhh-kay. The Palestinians wrap dynamite with nails and ball-bearings, and shred whole pizza-parlors full of women and children. Then the Israelis respond with tactics that do not kill or injure a single human being. And THEY are the ones who have violated moral laws? And it's a "pacifist" who objects? Is it any wonder I call them fakes?
Posted by John Weidner at January 12, 2008 03:00 PMIt's helpful to remember that before the founding of Israel Jews were at the mercy of the nation they lived within. History of anti-semetism aside, Jews in Germany were very well integrated into society. Jews filled all occupations. Exclusionary laws were winked at. They worked in the German civil service. They fought in Germany's wars.
When the Nazi's came for them they came for them all. Marrying into an Aryan family could not save you. Being from an old family of Christian converts couldn't save you. Having a single Jewish great grandparent was sufficient to send you to the death camps. As the war drew to a close and German material and human resources were stretched to the limit the eradication of the Jews kept its high priority. And the world did nothing.
All too true, Terry, except for your last sentence.
Prior to 1 September 1939, the world did do nothing. On and after 1 Sep 39, the world did start to do some things. It took too long, but in the end the slaughter was stopped. Alas, it was as much by the destruction of almost all of European Jewry as it was by the destruction of Naziism.
It's just too damn bad our immigration laws weren't more liberal than they were in the '30s. Unfortunately, our grandparents had their prejudices too.
Posted by: Hale Adams at January 12, 2008 07:29 PM
