Subject: RE: Yes, anti-Semitic, but unintended, and harmless

[L A Hazard]

There is certainly ground for someone who wanted to cut and paste, to build 
a case of accusing SOME Jewish leaders of conspiring to kill Jesus. There 
is also a case to be built, again if one wishes to cut and paste, putting 
the blame on SOME Roman leaders. To take the guilt of a few individuals and 
then to transfer it to an entire race or group of people requires one to 
leave truth behind, turn people into objects, and operate from one's own 
foundational racist or anti-Semitic prejudices to maintain such claims and 
beliefs. For me, however, regardless of whether one likes the way it sounds 
or not, the death of Jesus was something arranged for, according to the 
Bible, by God, before the world was even created! The same book even 
suggests that Judas had no other option but to betray Jesus into the hands 
of the authorities. So if ANYBODY is to be blamed for the actual 
crucifixion of Jesus, it is the God of Judeo-Christian-Muslim religious 
tradition. (Theological discussions as to the NEED for it to have happen in 
the first place being on account of every human's "sin" needing a 
"sacrifice" in order to be forgiven does not eliminate that God, as defined 
by the Bible, set the whole thing up BEFORE the first human took a breath. 
So, again, if you want to "blame" someone, blame God!) My point in the 
above is it really is, at least in my opinion, a bit ridiculous to try and 
compare what is currently going on in the West Bank and Gaza to the 
crucifixion of Jesus.

On the question of stereotyping. There is a big difference in hating or not 
liking another individual based on specific things he or she has or has not 
done, is or is not, as an individual, (i.e., specific actions by the 
individual in question) and objectifying an entire group of people as evil 
or vermin or fill-in-the-blank. Part of the problem is when people speak of 
"the Jews" or "the Palestinians" or "Afghanis" or even "Americans," as if 
EVERYONE who qualifies to be in such groups is equally guilty of the 
actions of some or identical to all others.

I recommend Derrick Jensen's newest book - The Culture Of Make Believe - 
2002 - Context Books - for folks wishing to look beyond such 
objectification to a disturbing look at what might be at work in the heart 
of current human civilization. (Yeah I know, that's a sweeping 
generalization in itself. It's the problem with trying to quickly sum up 
700+ pages of discussion. I think, however, that he is on to something as I 
believe the following passage indicates.)

*************************

 From The Culture OF Make Believe - Derrick Jensen - 2002 - Context Books 
(pages 38-39)

"Nobody talks about this," he continued, "but they're branches from the 
same tree, different forms of the same cultural imperative...."

"Which is?"

"To rob the world of its subjectivity."

"Wait..." I said.

"Or to put it another way," he continued, "to turn everyone and everything 
into objects."

Again he paused, before he said, "The methodology used by each is 
different. Corporations are carriers of ruin, turning everything they touch 
to money. They are culturally sanctified, supported, and protected in their 
role of turning the living - forests, oceans, mountains, rivers, human 
lives - into the dead: money. And because they are culturally sanctified 
they get to act aboveground."

"And hate groups?"

"Beneath, hidden, hated. But serving the same function of objectifying. 
Their entire self-definition is based on this objectification." He paused. 
"Of course that's true for corporations as well, in a different way."

Neither of us spoke, until finally he returned to the subject of hate 
groups. "I can hate another person BECAUSE of who he is without denying his 
individuality. In fact it's possible to hate him BECAUSE of who he is. But 
if I hate a person because she's black, or an Indian, or a Jew, or a woman, 
or a homosexual, I'm not even giving her the honor of hating her in 
particular. I'm hating a stereotype that I'm projecting onto her."

The movement toward depriving others of their subjectivity, I thought, is 
THE central movement of our culture.

*****************************************

L.A. Hazard

The above post represents my current thinking and feelings. I've been wrong 
before and thus remain open to reconsideration of what I currently believe 
to be true.

"Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More 
outrageous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to 
act without asking questions." Primo Levi.