The Off Topic Topic

[DGuller]

Yeah, mournful my ass, complete with the maps and all.  Yes, we on Languish are not easily fooled.

A map showing the extent of the catastrophe the Arab population of Palestine underwent and continues to undergo is inflammatory?  You know, just fuck you and your ass and your razor-sharp Languish brigade.  Really.

[Capetan Mihali]

Not HOTT.

How was I supposed to know DGuller was in the Mind-Readers Club in college as well as the Car Enthusiast Club (and Mensa, it goes without saying)?

[garbon]

Not HOTT.

How was I supposed to know DGuller was in the Mind-Readers Club in college as well as the Car Enthusiast Club (and Mensa, it goes without saying)?

No Mensa is Age's thing.

[garbon]

Although I think CM discounts the number of European posters here that are distinctly in the "pro-Palestinian neutrality" category.

[Admiral Yi]

A map showing the extent of the catastrophe the Arab population of Palestine underwent and continues to undergo is inflammatory?  You know, just fuck you and your ass and your razor-sharp Languish brigade.  Really.

I don't find it inflammatory, but I do find it propagandistic, given that the alterations shown in your maps were the direct results of wars initiated by Palestinians and their Arab allies.

[DGuller]

Not HOTT.

How was I supposed to know DGuller was in the Mind-Readers Club in college as well as the Car Enthusiast Club (and Mensa, it goes without saying)?

Using the same powers of perception you used to figure out I was suffering from bad conscience about the whole Israel thing.

[The Brain]

Why can't we all just get along?

[Capetan Mihali]

Although I think CM discounts the number of European posters here that are distinctly in the "pro-Palestinian neutrality" category.

I know they're out there, but they understandably don't want to have the Languish Iron Dome triggered by posting something that treats the Palestinians as human beings.  Especially because they probably feel extra vulnerable to accusations of antisemitism.  So the AIPAC contingent here has effectively shut down the expression of any dissenting opinion.

As an American, I have a tangible stake in this, considering I've funded Israel's 2006, 2008, and 2014 "wars" in Gaza (plus the little ones like Operation "Pillar of Defense" where an insignificant 100 or so civilians were killed) with my tax money.

But it's really not important, since in the event Clinton wins, I know she'll follow through on her promise to take our relationship with Israel "to the next level."  Since we're already giving $3 billion in military aid, I guess the next level is double digits?  While my public defender clients were getting a full set of dentures at 37 since they couldn't afford any dental care except extraction.  Awesome.

[Capetan Mihali]

Not HOTT.

How was I supposed to know DGuller was in the Mind-Readers Club in college as well as the Car Enthusiast Club (and Mensa, it goes without saying)?

Using the same powers of perception you used to figure out I was suffering from bad conscience about the whole Israel thing.

Just a guess.  I certainly wouldn't claim to know exactly what it is that you are suffering from.

[The Brain]

Although I think CM discounts the number of European posters here that are distinctly in the "pro-Palestinian neutrality" category.

I know they're out there, but they understandably don't want to have the Languish Iron Dome triggered by posting something that treats the Palestinians as human beings.  Especially because they probably feel extra vulnerable to accusations of antisemitism.  So the AIPAC contingent here has effectively shut down the expression of any dissenting opinion.

As an American, I have a tangible stake in this, considering I've funded Israel's 2006, 2008, and 2014 "wars" in Gaza (plus the little ones like Operation "Pillar of Defense" where an insignificant 100 or so civilians were killed) with my tax money.

But it's really not important, since in the event Clinton wins, I know she'll follow through on her promise to take our relationship with Israel "to the next level."  Since we're already giving $3 billion in military aid, I guess the next level is double digits?  While my public defender clients were getting a full set of dentures at 37 since they couldn't afford any dental care except extraction.  Awesome.

If only there was a nice supply of gold fillings somewhere ready for harvesting.

[DGuller]

Although I think CM discounts the number of European posters here that are distinctly in the "pro-Palestinian neutrality" category.

I know they're out there, but they understandably don't want to have the Languish Iron Dome triggered by posting something that treats the Palestinians as human beings.  Especially because they probably feel extra vulnerable to accusations of antisemitism.  So the AIPAC contingent here has effectively shut down the expression of any dissenting opinion.

As an American, I have a tangible stake in this, considering I've funded Israel's 2006, 2008, and 2014 "wars" in Gaza (plus the little ones like Operation "Pillar of Defense" where an insignificant 100 or so civilians were killed) with my tax money.

But it's really not important, since in the event Clinton wins, I know she'll follow through on her promise to take our relationship with Israel "to the next level."  Since we're already giving $3 billion in military aid, I guess the next level is double digits?  While my public defender clients were getting a full set of dentures at 37 since they couldn't afford any dental care except extraction.  Awesome.

Somehow I don't think that our foreign policy and our healthcare system issues are all those closely connected.  But when you're obsessed enough, you find connections everywhere.  Lost your teeth?  Blame the Jews.

[DGuller]

Not HOTT.

How was I supposed to know DGuller was in the Mind-Readers Club in college as well as the Car Enthusiast Club (and Mensa, it goes without saying)?

Using the same powers of perception you used to figure out I was suffering from bad conscience about the whole Israel thing.

Just a guess.  I certainly wouldn't claim to know exactly what it is that you are suffering from.

Here is a hint:  low tolerance of fools.

[CountDeMoney]

the Languish Iron Dome triggered

Awesome.  I'm so using that in my next argument with a Jew.

[Capetan Mihali]

Somehow I don't think that our foreign policy and our healthcare system issues are all those closely connected.  But when you're obsessed enough, you find connections everywhere.  Lost your teeth?  Blame the Jews.

  Criticism of the allocation of public funds?  Antisemite.

[alfred russel]

As it were, I had been spending some time with an elderly Palestinian-American whose house was occupied and whose family fled to Jordan during the naqba ("catastrophe") of 1947/48.  So it was on my mind (it was on NPR and such, you know -- it's not a meaningless date) and I thought I'd give the topic a single post, especially given the near-total absence of sympathy for Palestine (beyond the tired bromides of "Of course Netanyahu's going too far for my taste").

Not that it's my duty to explain why I post something, but I do kind of resent the accusation that I was trying to stir shit up just posting anything having to do with Palestine.  That says more about your bad consciences then it does anything about me.

It's depressing to see so many smart people using their intellect to reason their way into a justification for accepting as necessity the vividly and profoundly inhumane behavior of Israel towards the Palestinians. 

I don't know whether it results from an identification with Zionism as a secular religion, or just a general hatred of all Arabs (Muslim and Christian alike, I guess, given the confessional variety of Palestinians), or an unshakable belief that anything "Western" must be superior and therefore defended to the end with no regard for how it got that way or how many civilians it kills (although most Western countries don't have something equivalent to the Chief Rabbinate dictating their family law...), or if it's something else entirely.  But it's sad all the same.

I think it ultimately comes from a sense--probably not altogether fair or realistic, but not totally off base either--that the typical languishite would be welcomed into Israel but at risk in the Palestinian territories.