> I must say this exchange has really amazed me. Unimagined
> abysses of stultitude are opening before my feet. I had no idea
> that so much of the "left" was still mired in a mid-70s
> Village Voice mentality.
>
> I recall a demo, back in '82, against the Israeli invasion
> of Lebanon. I was plodding around with my placard, somewhere
> near the UN, when a grizzle-bearded garden gnome, obviously
> fresh off the crosstown bus from from the West Side, popped
> up in my face screaming "What about the Tadzhiks?! Why aren't
> you protesting about the Tadzhiks?!" He was genuinely furious
> -- literally spraying saliva on my glasses.
>
> Why *my* face? Probably because there weren't too many
> other people there who weren't Palestinian or Lebanese or black,
> at that stage of the game. No doubt he saw me, quite reasonably,
> as the potential weak link.
>
> Unfortunately for him, I have a strong sense of the comical, so
> "What about the Tadzhiks" has become one of my touchstone phrases
> -- the label on a mental file-folder.
>
> This has been a "What about the Tadzhiks?!" conversation.
This post is completely argument-free. Especially since, as you know, the argument you're responding to generates no objections to attending an anti-Lebanon invasion demonstration.
Although I do appreciate the comedy of 'What about the Tadzhiks?' (Also the title of a popular sitcom in Uzbekistan.)
SA