- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
Actually you both got me on one point: I hadn't read Steele's comments about "pussies," etc. Once the thread balloons to over 30 pages, it is hard to read the whole thing. I read the last few pages and then go from there.
I don't defend Steele's comments. I disagree with all the generalizations, the sloppy use of racist/elitist labels, and the use of "pussies" and "whiners" and so on.
That said, it seems to me that accusations of anti-Semitism preceded the Steele comments. It also seems to me that, Steele's comments aside, the charge of anti-Semitism *IS* used as a weapon to invalidate criticism of Israel's actions.
As for comparisons to statements about blacks, I see some non-parallels in the analogy. But mostly I see the same problems that always occur when generalizations are used sloppily, or with ill intent.
Whatever Steele has said, does it help anything to go around calling him "Jew Hater" over and over? How about we all stick to the subject of whether Israel's actions are justified, what can be done about Hamas, what Israel expects the average Palestinian citizen to do, and so on?
There's a lot of misdirection going on. The conversation gets diverted into generalizations about a group of people, or into accusations of racism, and pretty soon nobody is talking about anything meaningful at all.
