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Quote by: Sonart Well I'm a fan of Chomsky's, Nono... sorta. I've listened to his lectures on tape and he's a skilled rabble rouser who's fun to listen to. But he's definitely a far, far left gadfly whose opinions I take with a grain of salt. |
Well I'd cast Chomsky in a far more positive light, though he does have rabble-rousing proclivities, i.e. he's a polemicist. Big deal. I also think he's bang on about a lot of things. Nobod'y perfect.
Which bring us to your next point:
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You believe that before peace can be achieved, Israel has to reclaim all the moral high ground, make pre-emptive political sacrifices and achieve perfection before it has any right to complain, while the Palestinians get a moral pass because they've been the perpetual suffering victims, whether or not they brought it upon themselves.
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I'd say that's a highly tendentious, reductio-ad-absurdum portrayal of my view. (In fact, Sonart, it smacks a bit of your description of Chomsky.)
1) Israel claims with breast-beating frequency to be solidly ensconced on the moral high ground. In fact, to most of its supporters as evidenced on this forum, it's simply impossible that it could be anywhere else, under any circs whatever.
But yeah, Israel claims to be a Western democracy that desires nothing but peace. Well, let's start seeing a little something to back that up.
2) As for pre-emptive political sacrifices, really I have more confidence in the Israeli public than you seem to have. I bet most people are tired of watching their politicians get jerked around by the nutcase/settlements lobby, and would welcome a clear land-for-peace policy announcement, and reward its framers. (Though Israel's constitution is an obstacle, facilitating as it does results in which the tail wags the dog.)
3) Achieve perfection, hmm? As if it was just a tad shy of perfection and here I am splitting hairs. Was the mass indiscriminate killing of civilians in Lebanon a year and a half ago evidence of slight imperfection? No, that was Goliath, not David. So give me a break with this just-how-perfect-does-it-have-to-get garbage.
4) Give the Palestinians a moral pass, eh? It's unfortunate that the ferocity of the pro-Israel contingent on Volconvo has me mostly playing the critic of Zionism. You should hear me argue it the other way.
What the Palestinians are above all is weak. And what the Israelis are above all is militarily mighty. Big time.
Both sides have a terrific victim complex. Both sides are endlessly self-righteous. Both sides make me sick.
But one side causes a lot more suffereing than the other thanks to unchallengeable power that comes from the unconditional support of Sugar Daddy in Washington.
"The Palestinians" indeed. The average Palestinian has his hands full just scraping by, when he isn't dodging missiles or artillery shells.
This is huge blind spot on your part, Sonart. If you had to live in his shoes, you'd be singing a far different tune.