Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Unholy Laughter

Laugh at anti-Semitic humor? Well, you'll die trying. Jamie Glassman, who writes for the Ali G Show, saw a bit of Jew-bashing at the Edinburgh Festival and thinks that there's "a growing trend among left-thinking people in this country and around the world to accept as dogma that those on the Left should hate Bush, Blair, American imperialism, Israel and, while we’re at it, the Jews." What's worse is that the jokes he cites are painfully unfunny.

I don't know if he's right about these people being anti-Semites because they're on the left. I mean, comedians aren't exactly the most healthy people psychologically. But, I am getting pretty sick of running into anti-Semites on the left. There are perfectly legitimate criticisms to be made of Israel, so I've got no time for those stupid people who have to trot out the same old anti-Semitic tropes about world control and secret cabals and what-not. People on the left should be more intelligent than this, and we should be as compassionate as we always claim to be. The endless hatemongering, demogoguery, and dehumanization by both the Israelis and the Palestinians has led to nothing but a pile of ashes in that part of the world, and piling on isn't ethical, or compassionate, or liberal, or logical. It's just piling on. The world is too clogged with demogogues as it is, and the left needs them like a hole in the head. Maybe we need a few anti-anti-Semitic jokes...

Why did the anti-Semite cross the road?
To escape reality.

How many anti-Semites does it take to change a lightbulb?
None. They'd rather blame the Jews than try to fix anything themselves.

What do you call an anti-Semitic roofer?
Shit on a shingle.

Knock-knock.
Who's there?
A batshit crazy anti-Semite.
Piss off! We don't want any!

6 comments:

SecondComingOfBast said...

Those are good, did you make them up? I'm going to forward this to a Yahoo Group I'm on. You know, the Anti-Zionist types who swear they aren't Anti-Semites, while repeating the same anti-Semitic shit they used to criticize other people for spouting.

Rufus said...

Go ahead. I don't think they're that great, but they're better than the jokes in that article.

You might want to consider sending a copy of Martin Luther King's letter on 'anti-Zionism' too.

SecondComingOfBast said...

Interesting that you brought up the subject of Kings letter. That has been circulated twice in the group. Both times somebody sent it, it was mainly leftists who disavowed it, and claimed it was fake.

And, for all I know, it might well be. But it's indicative of the kind of mindset of the left that the subject would even be brought up.

It was a conservative, by the way, one of the few in the group, who sent it, unless I'm mistaken.

There's certain subjects I don't even bother to discuss with them any more, they piss me off too much.

Rufus said...

It might well be a fake, actually. John Lewis has quoted MLK as saying the same things, and actually, he said the same things at Harvard University. But, the letter might be a wishful exaggeration.

I'm not sure that you can discuss Israel/Palestine with anyone without pissing them off. I'd love to have the certainty of left and right-wingers. It would save me a lot of time dealing with doubt.

SecondComingOfBast said...

That's it in a nutshell. It's their comfort zone, whatever it is, and damned you if you try to shake them out of it. It's their way to keep out the fear, soothe their conscience, sleep at night, and wake up the next morning sure they have it all figured out and it's going to be fine, or if not, then it's the other guys fault.

Rufus said...

It helps to keep repeating:

"You have two nations that have been historically wronged and have a legitimate claim to justice. It is disingenuous to argue about which of them was more wronged.

You have two nations that have been overrun by demogogues telling them that they are in a struggle for their very survival against an evil enemy. In both cases, the demogogues are getting kids killed and ruining any hope for peace, and hijacking their society.

Both nations have done great evil to each other because of these demogogues, and both have surrendered the moral high ground. Arguing about which nation has done worse things is also pointless.

Therefore, I can't possibly choose sides in good conscience. The feeling intellect revolts against both Israel and Palestine. I am furthermore amazed at the 'clarity' of people who can assign blame to one or the other."