Polls -- Not Good News
The ADL reports that anti-Semitic incidents are at their highest level in nine years. At the conference, Abe Foxman reported that not one EU country didn't see a rise in anti-Semitism. The findings said that thirty percent of all Americans believe Jews killed Jesus -- this number is up 5%. When asked if it was Mel Gibson's movie's fault, Abe said it certainly didn't help. Another troubling statistic is that African Americans are four times more likely than whites to be anti-Semitic. This was truly shocking to me.
"At a time when anti-Semitism is at a high in France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Canada and other countries, it is disturbing to see that it is increasing in America as well," said Mr. Foxman. "While most of the incidents in the U.S. are less violent than those experienced recently by the Jewish communities of Europe, it is troubling that so many people in this country feel a need to act out their anti-Jewish animus in ways large and small. Just one act of anti-Semitism can deeply affect an entire community. Sadly, in an America where Jews enjoy a level of safety and freedom unparalleled in history, we still experience anti-Semitism at an average rate of nearly five incidents per day."
posted by Esther @ 8:13 PM
11 comments
11 Comments:
Check this out Esther:
http://www.indystar.com/articles/8/235034-8678-009.html
Oh Marty, little gets my ire up more than the phrase "honest broker" with regards to the US and Israel support. Honest how? Because the US seems to like Israel more? We'd look like idiots if we didn't. One is a fellow country and a democracy to boot. The other is run by a terror-loving mafia, holding what could very well be good people hostage to their tyranny. Gee, that's a hard choice. Still no reason to think the US isn't able to broker peace, no matter which party they like more. Frankly, with the way our state department behaves, I think they offset any perceived bias on the part of the president.
felis, that was HORRIBLE!!!
"that was HORRIBLE!!!"
Sorry Esther, I didn't mean to upset you.
aw, Felis, i don't shoot the messenger. ;) I just feel bad about it -- it's a horrible waste of good pie!
Regular Ron, you must have sent that just as I started writing my response to Felis. I'm very familiar with Frontpage -- it IS a good site. Thanks for the book suggestion.
As for no one on the left supporting Israel, I definitely disagree. I happen to know of a few left-leaning bloggers who've visted the blogway here who qualify as huge Israel supporters. Mostly we disagree on the disengagement but we agree that we support Israel regardless.
It seems like the latest AS theory is: The Pope was Jewish, and that's why he was 'good to the Jews'
http://www.jewwatch.com/jew-religions-christianity-penetration-pope-john-paul-2-jewish.html
This will be long, but I have strong feelings on this ...
The best description I've ever read or heard on what it is to be an American ...
Michael Douglas speaking as the President, From The American President, by Alan Sorkin
For the last couple of months, Senator Rumson has suggested that being president of this country was, to a certain extent, about character...and although I have not been willing to engage in his attacks on me, I've been here three years and three days, and I can tell you without hesitation: Being President of this country is entirely about character.
For the record: Yes, I am a card- carrying member of the A.C.L.U. But the more important question is why aren't you, Bob? This is an organization whose sole purpose is to defend the Bill of Rights, so it naturally begs the questions. Why would a senator, his party's most powerful spokesman and a candidate for president, choose to reject upholding the Constitution? If you can answer that question, then, folks, you're smarter than I am, because I didn't understand it until a couple of minutes ago.
Everybody knows American isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say, "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating, at the top of his lungs, that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free, then the symbol of your country can't just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest." Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.
I've known Bob Rumson for years. I've been operating under the assumption that the reason Bob devotes so much time and energy to shouting at the rain was that he simply didn't get it. Well, I was wrong. Bob's problem isn't that he doesn't get it. Bob's problem is that he can't sell it.
Nobody has ever won an election by talking about what I was just talking about. This is a country made up of people with hard jobs that they're terrified of losing. The roots of freedom are of little or no interest to them at the moment. We are a nation afraid to go out at night. We're a society that has assigned low priority to education and has looked the other way while our public schools have been decimated. We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious men to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, friend, I promise you, Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things and two things only: Making you afraid of it and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections. You gather a group of middle-aged, middle-class, middle-income voters who remember with longing an easier time, and you talk to them about family and American values and personal character. Then you have an old photo of the President's girlfriend. You scream about patriotism and you tell them she's to blame for their lot in life, you go on television and you call her a whore. Sydney Ellen Wade has done nothing to you, Bob. She has done nothing but put herself through law school, prosecute criminals for five years, represent the interests of public school teachers for two years, and lobby for the safety of our natural resources. You want a character debate? Fine, but you better stick with me, 'cause Sydney Ellen Wade is way out of your league.
I'm African-American. When Esther told me a poll showed increased anti-semitism among African-Americans, I didn't dispute it, since I didn't see the poll, but the results sounded ludicrous. And I wondered how the poll ? was worded. I've created polls. Pollsters know the results they want and word their ?s to get those results, and if they didn't mean to word the ? that way and got whacked results, then won't the answers still prove what the pollster wanted to hear?
For instance, if you asked most people do they dislike another ethnicity or religion, they are going to say no. But ask them, 'Do you believe that some of the money the U.S. gives to Israel would be better spent here in the U.S. on educaton?', a yes answer from African-Americans who support improved education could be deemed anti-semitic. Even though those polled would disagree vehemently. The pollster worded the question to get the results he or she wanted.
But look at it from the other angle, where the pollster doesn't intentionally word the questions for a specific results but has such an unawareness of the audience the question still gives the pollster the results his inherent biases wanted. For instance, if a pollster asked Jews or any ethnicity besides blacks, 'Do you think there is a deficiency in black leadership?', the mere fact that a pollster buys into what many blacks consider to be a media created concept endorsed by a few tripping power hungry blacks that blacks need a leader (name one other ethnicity that has unelected leaders) would tell those blacks that the pollster is so unaware of blacks that the poll results show nothing but the pollster's own biases.
But as I said, I didn't see the poll.
What I do see is far too often in our need to protect ourselves we spend way too much time in fingering our dissimilarities and not our similarities. As a good friend's mother told me just this week, 'there has to be a way to compromise.'
Being American may be advanced citizenship, but citizenship, is definitely about advanced character.
So what are we each really doing? Advancing, holding back, or staying stagnant - maintaining the status quo the feeds into the hands of the real powers behind the thrones who need us in disarray for their profits?
I was asked by Esther about why the media would perpetuate black leaders. As publisher/editor of blackberryspeak urban news magazine, here's a commentary i wrote a while back, but still relevant. http://blackberryspeak.com/ZZ%20-%20Idaberry%20Commentary/For%20If%20You%20Lead%20We%20Will%20Not%20Stray.htm
Thanks for posting that, renee. I think it'll go a long way to helping people understand the point you're making. Thanks!
"In the end, Israel surely benefitted from Bush's pro-Israel bent, but the fall out includes A.S."
But haven't the majority of American Jews voted Democrat over the last 4 elections.
I know many polls indicated that around 70-75% of American Jews voted Kerry.
Thanks for dropping by and posting, Andrew. I don't mean to speak for american ol, but I think what he means is that if people hate Bush's policies, which includes his support for Israel, then people will blame Israel for how things are and that will lead to people hating Jews, regardless of whether they voted for Bush or Kerry.
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