The Cellar - View Single Post - I don't normally do this, but I'm pissed...

Undertoad · 03-30-2002, 12:58 PM

I waver on this stuff constantly. I have no idea who's exactly right and who's exactly wrong.

I can only think what might come of unifying religious dissent, racial dissent, and a few really screwed-up governments. The free world seems to manage to keep those things separate...

But watching CNN's NewsNight last night, I noticed something subtle. There was a virtual debate over satellite with an Israeli spokesperson debating a Palestinian spokesperson, with Connie Chung navigating between them. I felt that the Israeli guy had a few good points. Then he went off about how the Palestinian struggle is without poets, authors, thinkers and such, unlike noble revolutions of the past.

While both sides typically stayed to their points that their side is the right kind of violence in reaction to other types of violence, this statement was thinly-veiled racism, I think. He's really saying <i>What kind of a crappy culture are you guys?</i>

I heard Sharon's statement about a week ago and noticed something similar in it. He took a lot of time in his statement to note Israel's contributions to the world. He went on about how Israel has developed this and that... it seemed quite out of context. On one hand it could be considered a defensive statement about Israel's right to survive. On the other hand it called into question why the other nations have not made similar progress.

And that, it seems, is the real root of the problem. The Arabic countries want to believe in their own superiority -- a racial superiority. But when you stop and look around, you see an entire culture that has not kept pace with the west; consistently less productive, even though they sit on the huge riches in the oil of the world. The Israelis also want to believe in their own superiority, but if they're only judged on their military exploits...

OK, economists could easily explain why those countries are less advanced. They aren't free. Freedom encourages economic activity and produces riches. The obvious example came out here a few months ago: they keep their women subservient. 50% of their population cannot learn, work, or generally be as productive.

One other thing on yesterday's NewsNight really blew me away. They showed the news coverage of the events of the last two days as shown on Israeli TV and on Egyptian TV. In Egypt, the top story was the attack on Arafat, and it was spun this way: <i>The US Government has given Israel the green light to move in on Arafat.</i> This statement was made at least three times.

Yes, there is no Indymedia in Egypt.

03-30-2002, 12:58 PM	#5
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	I waver on this stuff constantly. I have no idea who's exactly right and who's exactly wrong. I can only think what might come of unifying religious dissent, racial dissent, and a few really screwed-up governments. The free world seems to manage to keep those things separate... But watching CNN's NewsNight last night, I noticed something subtle. There was a virtual debate over satellite with an Israeli spokesperson debating a Palestinian spokesperson, with Connie Chung navigating between them. I felt that the Israeli guy had a few good points. Then he went off about how the Palestinian struggle is without poets, authors, thinkers and such, unlike noble revolutions of the past. While both sides typically stayed to their points that their side is the right kind of violence in reaction to other types of violence, this statement was thinly-veiled racism, I think. He's really saying <i>What kind of a crappy culture are you guys?</i> I heard Sharon's statement about a week ago and noticed something similar in it. He took a lot of time in his statement to note Israel's contributions to the world. He went on about how Israel has developed this and that... it seemed quite out of context. On one hand it could be considered a defensive statement about Israel's right to survive. On the other hand it called into question why the other nations have not made similar progress. And that, it seems, is the real root of the problem. The Arabic countries want to believe in their own superiority -- a racial superiority. But when you stop and look around, you see an entire culture that has not kept pace with the west; consistently less productive, even though they sit on the huge riches in the oil of the world. The Israelis also want to believe in their own superiority, but if they're only judged on their military exploits... OK, economists could easily explain why those countries are less advanced. They aren't free. Freedom encourages economic activity and produces riches. The obvious example came out here a few months ago: they keep their women subservient. 50% of their population cannot learn, work, or generally be as productive. One other thing on yesterday's NewsNight really blew me away. They showed the news coverage of the events of the last two days as shown on Israeli TV and on Egyptian TV. In Egypt, the top story was the attack on Arafat, and it was spun this way: <i>The US Government has given Israel the green light to move in on Arafat.</i> This statement was made at least three times. Yes, there is no Indymedia in Egypt.