Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id EAA03443 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Sun, 12 May 2002 04:29:29 +0100 X-Originating-IP: [209.240.222.132] From: "Scott Chase" <ecphoric@hotmail.com> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: Fw: future language Date: Sat, 11 May 2002 23:23:06 -0400 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Message-ID: <F151iGuHGRsoIQOJXWW00012172@hotmail.com> X-OriginalArrivalTime: 12 May 2002 03:23:06.0929 (UTC) FILETIME=[557B8A10:01C1F964] Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>From: "Kenneth Van Oost" <Kenneth.Van.Oost@village.uunet.be>
>Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>To: <kennethvanoost@myrealbox.com>
>Subject: Re: Fw: future language
>Date: Sat, 11 May 2002 21:47:54 +0200
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Scott Chase <ecphoric@hotmail.com>
> > As for legislation, one probably cannot legislate racism out of
>existence
>of
> > people's minds, but at least laws should pertain to overt behavior that
> > crosses some line of intolerance and violence towards others.
> >
> > A possible problem that could arise with laws or censure against
> > anti-Semitism (reasonable laws should be in place BTW given the horrid
> > history of hatred towards Jewish people) is when these laws go so far as
>to
> > be used as a weapon against those who are critical of Israeli policy.
> > Anti-semitism is hatred of Jewish people and should be censured and laws
> > should be in place to deal with overt actions taken against Jewish
>people
> > based on anti-Semitic bigotry.
> >
> > Anti-Semitism is not rational criticism of Isreali politics or not being
> > supportive enough of Israel against its detractors. That's a crucial
> > distinction. I wouldn't call Chomsky an anti-Semite, even if he's more
> > critical of Israel than I could be. *I* can read Sharon's autobiography
>and
> > actually have some empathy for the guy in places, misgivings aside. He
>is
>a
> > fellow hawk after all, unlike Chomsky, though I'd side with Chomsky on
>some
> > criticisms of Israeli policies.
>
>Hi Scott,
>
>Agreed, but somewhere down the line, IMO you just can 't seperate
>the man from his political thoughts, behavior and acts !
>Somewhere down that line they will meet, and the fact that Sharon is
>a Jew defending his country in the ways he does sets the spiral of
>violence,
>hate, intolerance and critisism in motion, despite the fact of what happe-
>ned with the Jews in WO II and jùst because of that fact !
>Those things are interlinked and people just don 't understand how
>Israel can act in the ways it does !
>
In ways I think Sharon as military guy or field general is easier to
tolerate than Sharon the politician or prime minister. Generals make good
generals, but when they enter the political arena...
Though sanitized for our protection and necessarily truncated due to the
constraints of fitting such a long life into a book format, I've found his
accounts of Israel's many wars to be fascinating, especially the 1973 Yom
Kippur war where Syria and Egypt jumped on Isreal by surprise and Sharon was
deeply involved in the difficult ordeal of the Sinai. His strategic concerns
like the Bar Lev line and whether to cross into Egypt were also important as
insights into how that war unfolded, replete with political bickering and
chain of command/hierarchy troubles when it comes to someone in the field
absorbing the consequences of decisions made from afar.
I also am strongly compelled to agree with him, as he was one of the players
in support of the operation apparently, that Israel's attack on the Iraqi
nuclear reactor was important. In retrospect it was probably beneficial not
only to Israel, but to the U.S. to take that reactor out.
Sharon does seem to ride heavily upon the hero archetype though. The book is
called _Warrior_, you know. Autobiographies tend to play on one's good
points.
It's good to see the peace process between Israel and Egypt (ie-Sadat/Begin)
trough Sharon's eyes.
My feathers start getting ruffled when it comes to Sharon's discussion of
the settlement policies.
I'm not quite to the point of the book where he talks about the Lebanon war,
the Christian Phalangists, and the events at Sabra and Shatilla. I'd like to
hear what he's got to say about that.
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