A funny thing happened ...
... on my travels through the blogosphere this afternoon; through a helpful link courtesy of Protein Wisdom, I found what may in fact be the very first thread at the Daily Kos that I'm actually happy to link to.
Despite the title, "Imagine a world without Israel", once you get past the actual diarist's post the comments are surprisingly very supportive of the Jewish state. This may in fact be a first for a mainstream 'progressive' web site.
The timing was a bit odd though, since I had just come back from the wilderness of Think Progress where, not an uncommon occurrence, a series of 'blame Israel for being attacked' comments were popping up in all kinds of unrelated threads. First in a Tom Delay post and then in one about warrentless wiretapping. Unlike the Kos thread, these comments were not only not shot down but, as of the time of me writing this, picked up and praised by several other commentors (but admittedly ignored by most).
So far, in the Kos thread, only rusrivman's comments seem to be crossing the line into ridiculous. His apparent assertion that Christianity is the root of all the world's problems because of its evangelical teachings is a prime example of a 'declaration of truth despite all facts to the contrary' type of argument.
Ignoring the fact that almost ever country that allows a true freedom of religion is based on Judeo/Christian beliefs, or the fact that there is no Christian teachings that push forward a 'convert or die' philosophy, or even the fact that some of the very examples he puts forward as examples of Christian intolerance of other religions, like the Crusades, were in fact responses to previous attacks by those same religions (the majority of the Middle East used to be Christian territory before they were attacked by the invading Muslim armies), he totally ignores the fact that from it's very conception Islam has been very much a 'our way or the highway' type religion. Just google Mohammad and Medina to see how the great prophet of Islam treated those who would not convert to his religion. At least it's good to see some people in the thread are challenging his thinking.
Could this be a sign of hope that at least some on the left haven't totally abandoned their senses? Only time will tell.
Despite the title, "Imagine a world without Israel", once you get past the actual diarist's post the comments are surprisingly very supportive of the Jewish state. This may in fact be a first for a mainstream 'progressive' web site.
The timing was a bit odd though, since I had just come back from the wilderness of Think Progress where, not an uncommon occurrence, a series of 'blame Israel for being attacked' comments were popping up in all kinds of unrelated threads. First in a Tom Delay post and then in one about warrentless wiretapping. Unlike the Kos thread, these comments were not only not shot down but, as of the time of me writing this, picked up and praised by several other commentors (but admittedly ignored by most).
So far, in the Kos thread, only rusrivman's comments seem to be crossing the line into ridiculous. His apparent assertion that Christianity is the root of all the world's problems because of its evangelical teachings is a prime example of a 'declaration of truth despite all facts to the contrary' type of argument.
Ignoring the fact that almost ever country that allows a true freedom of religion is based on Judeo/Christian beliefs, or the fact that there is no Christian teachings that push forward a 'convert or die' philosophy, or even the fact that some of the very examples he puts forward as examples of Christian intolerance of other religions, like the Crusades, were in fact responses to previous attacks by those same religions (the majority of the Middle East used to be Christian territory before they were attacked by the invading Muslim armies), he totally ignores the fact that from it's very conception Islam has been very much a 'our way or the highway' type religion. Just google Mohammad and Medina to see how the great prophet of Islam treated those who would not convert to his religion. At least it's good to see some people in the thread are challenging his thinking.
Could this be a sign of hope that at least some on the left haven't totally abandoned their senses? Only time will tell.
posted by Bic at 6:03 p.m.
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