I have read the article and all comments thus far and a counter-intuitive thought crossed my mind. Believe it or not they all seem to be quite cathartic and may serve a good purpose. It’s a release of inner fears and desires that all these sentiments and thoughts are out in the open and are discussed without the facade of political correctness, no matter at times their obvious lack of civility. It’s good for all parties involved to air out grievances – people do that all the time with shrinks, and no matter the monetary cost, it’s good for their psychological wellbeing.
May I add my spin on the whole debate here? Playing victim isn’t a winning strategy. Jews can always point to instances when/where they were victimized, but so can Christians in fact, the Greek Orthodox Byzantine Empire is an example. Ultimately, such posturing doesn’t advance the debate, not here not any debate no matter where it takes place. Answering specific charges though, it will.
If I were to summarize the debate, at least on the non Jewish side here, I would say that the Jews hold inheritance to the liberal or progressive or marxist or communist, however one wishes to call it, legacy left over on human societies by Jews and the heavy burden and dire consequences this holds for Western Civilization. I wish to know more in detail as to how the Jewish side specifically repudiates this charge. A second point of contention here is the creation and survival of the State of Israel. I would have liked to have more specific discussions, and a more clear statement from the non Jewish side, on this issue. Do they want the State of Israel to exist or not at the end?
I place myself among those Westerners, in America to be exact, who pride themselves in being mild mannered, cool and detached as possible from the emotional issues surrounding any discussion. Within such a framework, I would welcome any reaction to the two implicit claims made in this blog that first, the Jews must admit ownership and in fact denounce this liberal-communist legacy; and second, that the State of Israel must be defended by the West, as its existence serves their own self-interest, at least.
