jjppmd:

this guy (Glenn) badly needs help for some very deep pathologic anti-Semitism--it's as simple as that.

No, it's as simple as this:

Here in the US, thanks to AIPAC and the ADL, anyone voicing a valid criticism of Israel's actions is immediately tarred as an "anti-Semite." Shame on you for perpetuating this BS.

Norman Finkelstein brilliantly exposed this despicable practice in his 2005 book Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History.

If Glenn had spoken out against a situation similar in many ways to the Gaza siege, such as the 1943 Nazi crackdown on the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, no doubt you'd label him an "anti-Aryan."

There was a pro-assault pundit from Israel on the BBC who justified collective punishment - what he said was that the people of Gaza voted for Hamas - thus, they are guilty due to their vote.

This is quite similar to the Al Qaeda justification for attacking Americans - "they're involved; they voted for these leaders, etc." It's a psychopathic perspective, but that's the agenda: "punish them until they beg for mercy."

What is disagreeable is the ongoing effort to hold up Zionism and demand that Israel remain a religious state - why? If Israel is supposed to support American values, shouldn't they start with separation of church and state? Secular governments avoid religious conflicts - that should be a condition of U.S. military aid... but then we'd have to talk about the Saudi Royals as well. The British used to have kings and queens, and they still do - ceremonial and beloved, but they don't control Parliament.

Right now, Israel looks a lot like Serbia, and Palestine looks like Croatia and Bosnia (the West Bank and Gaza, respectively). Milosevic would have understood the Israeli desire to ban journalists from Gaza, as would any number of other thugs down through history. Were the Croats and Bosnians all innocent? No - but Milosevic thought collective punishment would work there as well.

What we need to do is stop funneling weapons into the region, for one thing... and let's also recall that it was Israel who broke the cease-fire and initiated the latest round of violence, not Hamas.

"It is sad that an individual with as much intellectual/cognitive power as Friedman chooses to channel that ability into lower expression rather than speaking as deeply and eloquently as he is able towards human understanding and growth."

-- Compassion-sans-ego

I have never read or heard anything from Mr. Friedman to make me believe he has any more intellectual or cognitive power than any other average college grad.

I don't think he has "intellectual power." I don't think he has "cognitive power." I think he is a performer. He is an actor. And his role is that of shaper of public opinion, validity-maker, apologist, for the Zionists. He just as happily cheered your job leaving our shores as he cheers killing children. His record is full of errors, mis-judgements, and a blatant disregard for those facts which would destroy his various theses.

People think he is smart, because they are told to. There is no evidence whatsoever that Mr. Friedman is smart. He is a charlatan. He is an actor. He is a performer.

Maybe you have read some things I have not, or heard some thing from him that I have not. What makes you think he has intellectual and cognitive power? Other than that is what we are told to think?

His is a very specific role to play, and he does it beautifully. He does it on the pages of the NYT, he does it on cable news talk shows, he does it on Charlie Rose. But he doesn't fool me.

---

On a related note - (i.e., thinking for yourself)

The Fate of an Honest Intellectual

http://www.chomsky.info/books/power01.htm

"Was it bigoted when people in the 1930's said "Gee, what a surprise, another German Nazi kills an innocent family?"

No, it was bigoted when people called German Americans Nazis and accused them of being involved in those atrocities simply because they were German Americans.

"this is the dumbest thing I've ever read"

Well, then you ain't seen nothin yet. 291 pages of sheer mind-numbing, ball-breaking, end-of-the-world-bringing, can't-possibly-be-but-he-really-is-that-stupid stupidity.

http://letters.salon.com/09cd031e370979a2dae94173fb255484/author/

Thomas Friedman is involved in these atrocities. He is arguing for them on an international platform.

duh.

"The Morning After The Morning After" my cousin's grandmother lay dead in Saida after having spent the majority of her life as a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon. Several of my family members scrambled to get out of Lebanon alive, most of them were children and American citizens. They escaped on the road to Damascus with American/Israeli jets bombing the road behind them. I'm sure that, if they'd been killed as well, their Arab ethnicity would have made their deaths more palatable to people like Tom.

This is not an intellectual exercise, this is human life and the extermination of it. The man behind the curtain is always Israel.

You're just a troll.

Yer a towel!

What's the deal?

Man 'o Steele?

Yatih khalafi...you done good. Its nice to have another ay-rab in these part.

Da ragil "Steele" majnoon...

Majnoon gidan.

Your reference to the ambiguity of the "t" word hits home. The word "terrorism" is at the center of Buschco's hijacking of the lexicon and its use to cloak the myriad of deceptions they have perpetrated. Thus, Hamas is routinely referred to as "terrorists," despite the fact that Israel is committing war crimes thru its use of white phosphorous and other unjustified aggressions. By labeling Hamas (and others) as terrorists, Bushco is able to exert significant control of the public debate in Israel's favor, because the label is a cue to the reader or listener that terrorist = bad guy = Hamas. To the extent that someone opposes the United States' occupation of their country for reasons of nationalism, the "terrorist" label may be harder to stick, so instead they are called "militants". These are not mere word games, but some of the most powerful tools used by this criminal administration to accomplish their goals. Thus, thanks to 9/11, we have a "war on terror" and the consequential trillions of dollars diverted to friends and causes dear to Bushco. To help quash the public debate about these matters, Bushco appropriated the term "patriot" - a term grounded on the courage of one's convictions - and bestowed the term instead upon those who agreed to forego the courage of their convictions and blindly agree with the "war on terror." Since we are too small to fight Bushco physically, words are our best weapon. Like a capture the flag game, we need to get our lexicon back . . . my first post here