Thinking Meat

There is no fool like a persistent fool

Seems that the fans of Saddam Hussein over at ANSWER have banned Rabbi Lerner from speaking at one of their anti-war rallies. Who is Rabbi Lerner?

Lerner is the progressive Jew. He edits Tikkun, a magazine mostly written by lefty Jews... He can be counted on to sign on to most liberal causes. He is a signatory to the Not In Our Name antiwar pledge. His Tikkun Community is a member of the United for Peace & Justice coalition that opposes a U.S. war against Iraq. ... He has been a leading Jewish voice against the hawks of Israel and a supporter of Palestinian rights, while calling himself a Zionist.

Lest anyone misinterpret ANSWER's reasons for this, they make them crystal clear:

On January 28, Tony Murphy, the media coordinator for ANSWER, appeared on a radio show in New York and said, "I know that the ANSWER coalition would not have a pro-Israel speaker on its platform." (Lerner is pro-Israel in that he supports the existence of the Jewish state.)

Wait, wait, there's more:

ANSWER's anti-Israel stance has also been reflected in its relationship with at least one troubling anti-Zionist. At its January march in Washington, ANSWER handed a microphone to Abdul Malim Musa, a Muslim cleric. On October 31, 2001, Musa had appeared at a news conference at the National Press Club with other Muslim activists and members of the New Black Panther Party, where speakers asserted that Israel had launched the 9/11 attacks and that thousands of Jews had been warned that day not to go to work at the World Trade Center. At that press conference, Musa blasted the "Zionists in Hollywood, the Zionists in New York, and the Zionists in D.C." who "all collaborate" to put down blacks and Muslims. ANSWER has room in its antiwar coalition for Musa, but not Lerner.

Now, assuming I ever hit this level of stupidity (say, after a 24-hour Beastmaster marathon), hearing something like this would, I hope, be all the clue-by-four I'd need. Not to say that I'd suddenly reverse every political opinion I hold, but maybe, just maybe, I'd try to distance myself from the freak show that had just told me, in no uncertain terms, that they considered me one of The Enemy. Nope, no such luck for the good Rabbi:

Yet Lerner didn't let his differences with ANSWER trump his opposition to the war; he encouraged people to attend the rally.

Wow. In case you weren't paying attention (or were too stunned to comprehend what you just read), Rabbi Lerner encouraged people to attend a rally sponsored by openly anti-Semitic Saddam-worshipping lunatics. And why? Because he is opposed to the U.S. going to war on Iraq. (Fine; why not organize your own rally, then? I mean, how principled can these anti-war protesters be, anyway, if they are willing to make alliances of convenience with open advocates of mass murder?) I hate to make such ugly comparisons, but the word kapo comes to mind.

And Lerner is not alone, nor is he the dumbest of the bunch. Believe it or not, others were even more accomodationalist:

"This is about the suppressing of dissent among the dissenters," Lerner asserts. "My progressive Jewish allies said, 'Don't raise this issue, it's more important to stick to the struggle against the war.'..."

Those are some progressives, boy, lemme tell ya! They'd follow the march of progress right to the gas chamber! Hooking up with openly fascist thugs who'd kill them at the first opportunity for being in the "oppressor class"? No problem, just as long as the get to show their "progressiveness" to the world, and stop the true enemy -- Bush and Sharon.

I might start listening to these fools on foreign policy, if they'd at least make like they care about whether all of us would survive their "success."

Update: Andrea Harris is just as incredulous:

I'm sorry, I'm just not getting these antiwar people. Are they so hungry to have an experience akin to that of anti-war protesters in the Sixties that they will twist logic, deny concrete evidence, and practically bend the very fabric of space-time until they get what they want? How much do you have to hate yourself to do this to yourself? What is wrong with people like this? Is it all the drugs they did back then?

Somehow I have a feeling that we're way beyond drugs here.

(By the way, while you are at her site, check out her cool mouse-over-link effect.)