Letters to the Editor
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The ADL Mission
The ADL charter states that the mission of the organization is
"to stop, by appeals to reason and conscience and, if necessary, by appeals to law, the defamation of the Jewish people."
But this is only the proximate mission of the ADL. It is not its highest goal.
Its ultimate purpose is to secure justice and fair treatment to all citizens alike and to put an end forever to unjust and unfair discrimination against and ridicule of any sect or body of citizens."
These sound like noble goals to me. But only if their proximate goal remains consistent with their ultimate goal. As long as their first goal doesn't work against their ultimate goal.
I hope the ADL choses to follow its own goals as they were conceived and written back in 1913, rather than warping them into a mission which is not only not written in their charter--but is antithetical to it.
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"Never again? "
When Rep. Keith Ellison (D. Minn.) compared the passage of the Patriot Act after 9/11 to the Rieshstag fire he was excoriated by the ADL, with Fox news leading the charge. Ellison was forced to back down but his point--that we must must be careful because if we look to history we can see the terrible consequences of fear-mongering and must avoid them--was wholly sympathetic to the stated mission of the ADL. Nevertheless Abe Foxman scolded, "Whatever his views may be on the administration's response to 9/11 and the conduct of the war on terrorism, likening it to Hitler's rise to power and Nazism is odious and demeans the victims of 9/11 and the brave American men and women engaged in the war on terror. Furthermore, it demonstrates a profound lack of understanding about the horrors that Hitler and his Nazi regime perpetrated."
A Muslim, who was addressing a group of atheists at the time (which sounds like the set up to a joke), Ellison had little choice but to cave and backpedal as Foxman fired from both barrels: the Jewish Holocaust AND the victims of 9/11. It was an ugly, public dressing down--and why, exactly? Isn't the point of an organization like the ADL to note just the sort of thing Ellison was saying? Apparently not, if it isn't politically expedient. If Foxman hadn't already exhausted any moral authority he may have had over his waffling about the Armenian genocide then the incident with Ellison erased all doubt. And for me the question remains: if we silence the people who warn us about the lessons of history how can we ever truly say "never again"?
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Frankly, my dear,
Compare and contrast:
1942:
Germany should be wiped off the map.
The Nazi regime currently occupying Germany must be wiped from the pages of time.
Do you begin to see the difference yet?
Well, maybe you don't.
I just hope that people around the world do not confuse the republicans and the democrats with America and Americans.
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A liberal worth his salt
Who's in the least concerned with human rights would work to have them removed from places of power and influence in the US and throughout the world. The time has come, again, it's us, or them. And when the time comes you are yoked together under the lash of your Jewish slavemasters, don't say we didn't warn you. Sieg Heil.
You see how effortlessly seamless that was? Good job, libs.
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A troll worth his salt
wouldn't post the same thing over and over again with minor variations.
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Where is the ADL on people who compares theoretical Iranian Nukes to...
Concentration camps.
Shimon Peres, has compared an Iranian nuclear bomb to a “flying concentration camp.”
And surely they must take issue with Olmert who told a German newspaper last year: “[Ahmadinejad] speaks as Hitler did in his time of the extermination of the entire Jewish nation.”
There are 25,000 Jews in Iran. If Ahmadinejad hates "Jews" so much why hasn't he killed them?
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Why Doesn't The ADL Condemn...
Israeli soccer fans who chant "Death To Arabs"?
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Osama bin Saddam Hugo Chavez is Worse than Hitler.
To the ADL - the whole Hitler metaphor is already cheapened beyond recognition and it happened on your watch, and the cheapening was done by your "friends". The "worse than Hitler epithet" is nothing new, conservatives have been doing it for years with the full cognizance of the ADL. Shrub 41 compared Saddam to Hitler, and over the years so were many other people. None of them were. I don't recall the ADL attacking bush 41 on that either!
Times change however, and if shrub jr. succeeds in attacking Iran, he may just trigger WWIII, killing billions, which would actually make him "worse than Hitler". Much worse - certainly stupider.
Why doesn't anyone ever say worse than Ghenghis Khan? Or worse the Europeans and later Americans who annihilated millions of aboriginals? (it's a mouthful I know, but hey, you could try?)
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Thank you pantanal
For pointing out Foxman's position on the Armenian genocide. I didn't know that. Now, this exactly the kind of politics that can ruin an ADL.
An ADL is supposed to honor and protect the memories of people like you uncles and aunts (sorry to hear about that). Showing the same concern for some Armenian's uncle or aunt isn't going to take away from their mission. It will broaden their misson.
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@ Bill Owen
Why doesn't anyone ever say worse than Ghenghis Khan? Or worse the Europeans and later Americans who annihilated millions of aboriginals? (it's a mouthful I know, but hey, you could try?)
-- Bill Owen
Good point.
Because we adore violent conquerers and generals in history even though nearly all are armed robbers. Hitler is just about the only exception.
Name 'em: Attila, Genghis khan, Napoleon, Julius Caesar, Alexander! Heck, only thing Alexander hasn't been credited with is sperm!
Remember what Columbus did to the natives who greeted him so warmly? We celebrated Columbus Day today!
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Democrats Seem Ready to Extend Wiretap Powers
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/washington/09nsa.html?hp
We do have a serious problem with the democratic party. I'm not at all certain they would have respected citizen's rights any more had they been in office after 9/11.
Maybe I should make sure they do before I vote another one into office next time?
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Hidden in Plain Sight
The problem the ADL has is that there almost no actual anti-Semitism in the US and hasn't been much in decades. And anti-Semitism has never been very strong here. Most, but not all of it, fits a more universal pattern. The nativists didn't the Scot Irish, our original immigrant minority group (the nasty stuff they said about them) , then they didn't like Germans, then they didn't the Irish, then they didn't like Italians, or Poles or Puerto Ricans and they didn't like Jews either. Riots, real violence has occurred against some of these groups. But none of these groups were are the real evil receiving end of American history. And we all know who was.
And none of these groups are so wonderfully lovable -- if you are not them. And the English and Scots are also not so wonderfully lovable either. And the Arabs, the Moslems, the Iranians are not the most lovable guys. We're mixed lot and there is reason to dislike, as well like any group. And that's why it's such a difficult problem. Often the prejudiced are in fact losing power, feel genuinely they being pushed from a neighborhood, being forced to make room - physical, political, economic and religious for folks that they don't identify with. It's not that they are right to be prejudiced-- they are wrong. But there is prejudice all around, some groups have power some don't
How many anti-Semites have any of us run into. The anti-Semites are always over there somewhere -- like the recent campaign to convince skeptical Americans that Europeans are anti-Semitic. We're not over there, what do we know? I've heard a hundred anti German, Moslem, Arab, Black slurs for everyone I've heard about Jews.
Without much in the way of anti-Semites the ADL has had to magnify every single weird marginal group that comes along. I'm not sure on this issue but much of it seems counter productive, the overreaction empowers the very groups opposed, but they are so weak and often stupid that it never goes anywhere anyway. The ADL and allies have redefined anti-Semitism, distorted-and stretched the term magnificently. Spent their time attacking Israel's few vocal critics. Some of the logic is truly Stalinist, you can objectively anti-Semitic like you be objectively anti-revolutionary whatever you think and feel. Or it's 1984 and if you say something they don't like and they call you an anti-Semite and get you pissed off, then you are anti-Semitic.
ADL's power, it's influence, its continued economic support, comes from creating waves fear of anti-Semitism. And the over the top way they are doing things is sparking real irritation and anger and even possibly dangerous doubt that there is real anti-Semitism. ADL and allies have pursued power over the issues they care about with bias, extremism,intellectual dishonesty and truly questionable methods. It's achieved tremendous power over the issues of interest and that's been corrupting. ADL needs new leadership. It needs resident in-house skeptics lest it defame others. It's needs somebody running it with two eyes, as of now it's run by one eyed men.
Someone fearlessly honest about the Israeli Palestinian conflict would be a great place to start.