McClatchy News Article On IDF Rabbinate's Literature To Israeli Soldiers Going Into Gaza And My Immediate Reactions
Just read this, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/64518.html, and found myself disturbed and appalled by what the IDF military rabbinate, if the allegations made in this article are indeed true, chose to distribute to Israeli soldiers before they went into action in Gaza.
Mind you, whether the motivation and rhetoric is religiously-based or not matters one whit to me. Not at all. One can be a thorough-going secularist and come up with similar logic and rhetoric to justify whatever foul deeds one's planning on doing.
Hamas does likewise with its people, the Americans with theirs, and so on and so forth.
What bothers me is that such thinking and rhetoric, regardless of the source, the reasons behind it, or the cause, ends up with the same result, lotsa dead bodies, and for what????
To ensure that some phoney-baloney idea, social or economic interest has been served??? Is that it???!!!
More like so those pulling off dirty deeds won't feel so bad about doing 'em, and that their publics, as well as the world public, can rest assured that the Right Thing was done.
Ay-Yup. Pardon me if I laugh cynically at that.
I don't at the ordinary soldiers and civilians who believe that with all sincerity, though sincerity, and I used to believe the opposite, doesn't excuse nor justify doing absolutely horrible things to others. Not by a long shot.
My laughter and scorn, and far worse feelings, are for the leaders, their immediate supporters, and those intellectuals and others who knowingly, but gladly, give their time, talents, ideas and energies to such enterprises and who supply the necessary justifications for them.
Some may indeed by True Believers in their causes, while others, whose sole real cause is themselves, go along with for the ride, because they see some advantage to be gained for themselves by doing so.
Either way, I think they're kidding themselves, and they're trying to kid others.
Well, can't speak for anyone but myself, but No Sale here, Mister. Don't care what your cause is, its nobility, and its justness. If that's the best you can do to spread it, it's pretty shoddy merchandise to start.
This doesn't just go for the Israelis or Palestinians, BTW. I come from a land that was built up, at least partially, by people who weren't bothered over-much by putting Native American tribes off of their lands, enslaving African-Americans to use for cheap labour, as they later on used European, Asian and Latin American immigrants for the same purpose, and invaded countries to re-arrange the latter's internal arrangements to their liking.
Most countries, at least those bigger than, say, Luxembourg, Monaco or Bhutan, have done similar deeds at one time or another. Doesn't mean that those deeds were and are any less appalling. They were and are, period.
I really do wish I'd the power and resources to put a stop to such idiocies, regardless of the source. But, I don't.
In the meantime, I do what I can with what I have. But, I know that doesn't even begin to come close to even beginning to be enough.
So, I put my words down here, to at least let some people know for the record where I stand on this. Where I am is this, just frankly disgusted and appalled by the cynicism and attempt at fooling oneself and others displayed by the IDF rabbinate, just as I am by the clerics and secular ideologues who fire up Hamas and their supporters, and all the rest of those world-wide who do the same for their respective causes.
'Bout enough to make me spit with anger.
Sure stinks enough to gag a maggot, that's for sure.
Be seeing you.
Mind you, whether the motivation and rhetoric is religiously-based or not matters one whit to me. Not at all. One can be a thorough-going secularist and come up with similar logic and rhetoric to justify whatever foul deeds one's planning on doing.
Hamas does likewise with its people, the Americans with theirs, and so on and so forth.
What bothers me is that such thinking and rhetoric, regardless of the source, the reasons behind it, or the cause, ends up with the same result, lotsa dead bodies, and for what????
To ensure that some phoney-baloney idea, social or economic interest has been served??? Is that it???!!!
More like so those pulling off dirty deeds won't feel so bad about doing 'em, and that their publics, as well as the world public, can rest assured that the Right Thing was done.
Ay-Yup. Pardon me if I laugh cynically at that.
I don't at the ordinary soldiers and civilians who believe that with all sincerity, though sincerity, and I used to believe the opposite, doesn't excuse nor justify doing absolutely horrible things to others. Not by a long shot.
My laughter and scorn, and far worse feelings, are for the leaders, their immediate supporters, and those intellectuals and others who knowingly, but gladly, give their time, talents, ideas and energies to such enterprises and who supply the necessary justifications for them.
Some may indeed by True Believers in their causes, while others, whose sole real cause is themselves, go along with for the ride, because they see some advantage to be gained for themselves by doing so.
Either way, I think they're kidding themselves, and they're trying to kid others.
Well, can't speak for anyone but myself, but No Sale here, Mister. Don't care what your cause is, its nobility, and its justness. If that's the best you can do to spread it, it's pretty shoddy merchandise to start.
This doesn't just go for the Israelis or Palestinians, BTW. I come from a land that was built up, at least partially, by people who weren't bothered over-much by putting Native American tribes off of their lands, enslaving African-Americans to use for cheap labour, as they later on used European, Asian and Latin American immigrants for the same purpose, and invaded countries to re-arrange the latter's internal arrangements to their liking.
Most countries, at least those bigger than, say, Luxembourg, Monaco or Bhutan, have done similar deeds at one time or another. Doesn't mean that those deeds were and are any less appalling. They were and are, period.
I really do wish I'd the power and resources to put a stop to such idiocies, regardless of the source. But, I don't.
In the meantime, I do what I can with what I have. But, I know that doesn't even begin to come close to even beginning to be enough.
So, I put my words down here, to at least let some people know for the record where I stand on this. Where I am is this, just frankly disgusted and appalled by the cynicism and attempt at fooling oneself and others displayed by the IDF rabbinate, just as I am by the clerics and secular ideologues who fire up Hamas and their supporters, and all the rest of those world-wide who do the same for their respective causes.
'Bout enough to make me spit with anger.
Sure stinks enough to gag a maggot, that's for sure.
Be seeing you.
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