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Thursday, May 20, 2004
Going, going...
Out of the country for a couple of weeks. When I come back: Words have meaning. Even words like genocide, racism, bigotry, anti-Semitism ('tis true, dowingba), and fascist. Unless we speak the same language, we have no chance of understanding one another. Discuss.
posted 12:29 PM
Monday, May 17, 2004
Thanks, Norm!
That was a fun self-knowledge exercise.
posted 5:36 PM
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Dear Imshin,
There is another way to look at it. Maybe, for the vast majority of the kind of "caring people concerned about Palestinian rights" you are talking about, there is actually nothing "not about the Palestinians that is worth listening to." Frankly, I would not waste my time. It's not like convincing a "pro-life" person that there are specific cases of incest, rape, or illness that may possibly allow abortion. It's like trying to convince a "pro-life" person that any child under five should be freely killed by his or her parents.
UPDATE: Here is what I mean: ihath is a wonderful writer. (I was going to write "blogger", but she is much more wonderful than that. She is funny, intelligent, poignant, and every time I read her blog, I feel like I've learned something, be it a new way of looking at Iraq or just a new turn of phrase.)
But here is the thing: when it comes to Israel or the Palestinians, new rules apply. For example: Israelis are the most evil people ever. She lived in Israel for five years, and did not mange to meet one nice Israeli. Now, I have never lived in Israel. But, I bet, had I been able to live in Nazi Germany, I would have been able to find a nice German. Not Ihath and Israel, because Israelis are the most evil people ever.
Similarly, the rules you thought were universal, aren't. Here is the Merriam-Webster definition of genocide: "the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group". Here is an example: 800,000 Tutsi Rwandans killed in 100 days. Here is the Ihath definition: "from 914,000 in 1950 to more than four million in 2002". How do I know: because Ihath cannot write a poignant, thought-provoking, unique article on the situation in Iraq without making sure to mention "slow genocide against the Palestinians".
Point being: if you cannot convince Ihath that there is something you may say, not about the Palestinians, that is worth listening to, you certainly cannot convince the 95% of the human race who are stupider and less open-minded than Ihath. I wouldn't bother.
posted 4:38 PM
Incidentally, Angua, why not just close down shop?
Because we had a local black-out at work yesterday. I work in a software shop -- five PCs per desk, mysterious electronic-related stalactites and stalagmites, server rooms guarded more thoroughly than the Temple of Doom, that sort of thing. A blackout gets noticed. My first reaction was, "I blame the Jews! Who wants to go see if the coffee-maker still working?" It took a full 30 seconds of people staring at me oddly to realize that I said the first part with my "outside" voice.
So, I do still need a place to say things that are better left unsaid in polite company. That is all.
posted 12:49 PM
Tuesday, May 04, 2004
London, England, first week of June
posted 5:53 PM
Monday, May 03, 2004
Incidentally, Angua, what happened to your blogging?
Well, I could amuse myself with the latest from
- Tim Blair
- Gary Farber
- Damian Penny
- Pejman Yousefzadeh
- Juan Cole (Shorter Juan Cole 1: When INSERT BAD THING HERE happens, it's Israel's fault. Shorter Juan Cole 2: Trying to blow up the World Trade Centre in 1993 is the natural and expected reaction to American torture of Iraqis in 2004.)
- My favourite news source
- etc.
- etc.
- etc.
- etc.
Or I could go home, fuck my fiance, cuddle my cats, watch the Simpsons, and eat almond croisants from Bregman's with some spiked hot chocolate. What would you do?
Yes, I am coming back eventually. But not now, not yet.
posted 3:31 PM
How pathetic, useless, and sub-human must the average Canadian teenager be...
... if the only way for him to experience compassion or empathy is by being humiliated, threatened, and left to freeze outside overnight?
The saddest part of this, of course, is that, if Canadian teenagers really are this inhuman, all they will learn from this experience is that they do not like being frozen, humiliated, or threatened. The ability to project these feelings to others takes emphathy and compassion -- the very things that we presume that these students lack. Because, if they had the modicum of human feelings, they would be able to learn with amazement that having your parents killed in from of you is not just like going on a picnic, from merely listening to Winston Harmon's story. I did, but I guess there must be something wrong with me.
posted 12:40 PM
