I've yammered before about how political discourse is stone cold dead in this country. I'm starting to think it was slowly choked to death in the iron grip of Local Morning Talk Radio, through a steady process of misinformation and polarization.
This morning during my commute I was subjected to some Morning Zoo!!!!!, during which two political commentators -- one of whom was, of course, completely racist (he suggested, for example, that Muslim men sometimes castrate themselves to avoid having sex with their sisters) -- debated how America should treat people who donate funds to "terrorist organizations." The slightly-less-racist commentator argued that we don't treat the Body Shop -- smelly mall store of girl soaps -- any differently, even though it gives money to, and I quote, "Arab organizations." When Slightly-More-Racist guy asked if these Arab organizations were also "terrorist organizations," Slightly-Less-Racist guy kinda mumbled something in a high-pitched voice: "Well, you know, yeah."
Now, anyone listening to that program would come away with the distinct impression that the Body Shop has been donating funds to organizations that hope to explode our buildings. Anyone listening to that program and still possessing half a brain would realize how completely ludicrous that is. But only an information addict like myself could tell you that "donations" means "a humanitarian award in 2002" and "Arab organization" means "Palestinian right-of-return group."
The Body Shop does not have a position on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.The four winners of the 2002 Human Rights Award, including the National Committee for the Defence of the Rights of the Internally Displaced, were chosen by an independent jury, including international human rights experts, for being the best examples of peaceful grassroots activism on the issue of housing within a human rights framework, regardless of their religion, ethnicity or nationality.
Sounds like terrorists to me!
Rassa-frassum. Okay, I just had to get that off my chest. Go about your daily business.
I don't disagree with your point about the stupid-ization of politics and world affairs thanks to sound-bite media, and I don't want to start some massive dialogue about the Arab-Israeli conflict...
BUT...
"Right of return" is a nice-sounding phrase, kind of like "freedom fighter," that sometimes disguises something less savory.
The question of whether Palestinians should be given blanket admission and citizenship in Israel is an extremely complicated one with historical, religious and political thorns everywhere.
The sheer number of Palestinians, for example, could easily reduce Jews to a minority in Israel. Also, I'd urge you to read up some on the historic origins of Palestinians - as a group, it has no true shared culture or history before the 1940s. The same Arab leaders who demand full citizenship rights for Palestinians in Israel have repeatedly - for decades - declined to offer them that citizenship in Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, etc.
Also, some (but by no means all) "right-of return" groups are, indeed, witting or unwitting fronts for more extreme organizations.
None of this changes the fact that everyone should be treated humanely and should not be punsihed for the fates and actions of their ancestors, by the way. I'm just saying, it's not as simple as you make it sound.
I should have made this more clear in my post: I know the Palestine/Israel conflict is a complicated one, and a lot of (presumably pro-Israel) people are mad at the Body Shop for supporting a "right of return" group.
But suggesting that the Body Shop supports terrorists is entirely wrong. It suggests that the Body Shop is giving money to Al Qaeda-type groups that would hijack our planes and whatnot, which is just not true. And furthermore, by equating "Arab organizations" with terrorist groups, well, it's even worse.
I should also mention: I just discovered that the radio people got on this topic in the first place because of the story currently making the rounds that Cat Stevens was denied a flight to D.C. from London, presumably because he now goes by a less-patriotic name. For some reason, the radio people suggested that Stevens was providing financial support to terrorist groups...
People are broken.
and the only fix?
More COWBELLs!!!!
Cowbells. Not guns. Dumbasses.
In other secretly-terrorist news, a plane from London was diverted to Bangor today because it contained an elicit cargo of Cat Stevens.