Reality Check Checked

WARNING: THIS POST HAS LITTLE IF ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE WAFFLE HOUSE.

Yesterday I received my first comment from a complete stranger. At least, I assume, I don't know her. Her name is Anonymous. And I suggest that you all read the comment. There are a number of interesting points raised. I'm not sure if this is in defiance of blog etiquette, but rather than post my response to the comment in the comments section I'm going to respond to it in the main blog section. If you're interested to read any of the posts in question, refer to "Reality Check" of May 31, 2005.

Begin Response:

First of all, I am thrilled that someone other than my immediate family and friends are reading what I am writing. And to get such a length response is only a further honor. As I mentioned above, this is the first comment I have received from an anonymous non-acquaintance, non-family member. Kudos, Anonymous.

Since I don't know you or anything about you, I'm going to try my very best not to assume too much. I will have been using "she" as the third person singular personal pronoun to refer to the respondant, "Anonymous," but this is arbitrary. The word, "you" has no gender, so I am not as concerned about it.

OK. Interestingly the first thing that you chose to point out in your response to my post, "Reality Check" is that there have been "17 incidents of houses being demolished." While multiple houses have been demolished per incident. That actually strikes me as a lot incidents. Even assuming these houses contained terrorists (rather than the innocent relatives of terrorists) wouldn't have been more logical and especially more humane to have arrested these folks rather than destroy their homes?

The second point that you make is that I failed to mention that Israelis suffered from terrorist attacks. I am not trying to deny that many Israelis' "evenings have been ruined" by terrorism. I have spoken with many Israeli citizens who are suffering to this day because of terrorist attacks. It is tragic. I don't think that anyone in the world could argue honestly that Israelis aren't suffering immensely at the hands of terrorists and at the hands of the Sharon government. Furthermore, pointing out the suffering of Palestinians does not in any way entail that Israelis are not suffering as well. Therefore, I in no way feel obligated to mention the suffering of Israelis every tiime I mention that of Palestinians or vice versa.

You go on to deny the innocence of the Palestinian people whoose homes were demolished. You say that by giving food and shelter to terrorists they were commiting a crime somehow. These are the families of Palestinian people. Often they are estranged for months perhaps years from their sons and daughters who go on to commit acts of terrorism. What kind of person would deny their own son or daughter food and a place to stay? We are talking about human beings who live and breathe and love eachother.

I have been to Israel and Palestine. I have seen the sadness and poverty that Israelis and Palestinians must deal with on a daily basis. To my mind there is only one remedy for these awful conditions: love. Be it a the love of a mother for a son, or a man for his neighbor across town. You may scoff at this as overly idealistic or silly, but you seem to be doing much worse. You, Anonymous seem to be advocating for hatred. By your rule, a Palestinian mother should throw her son out on the street if she suspects him of some violence or ill will towards his Jewish neighbors. Such hatred only leads to more hatred.

You say you won't lose a wink of sleep if a Palestinian's house is destroyed which somehow prevents a terrorist attack. I hesitate to make such a blatantly ad hominem attack on you, Anonymous, because I said that I would try not to; but I can't stand it. Somehow I doubt that you would lose a "wink of sleep" anyway. Israel and Palestine is beautiful country. You can't go there and not be overwhelmed by the sheerly awesome beauty of it: the history, the desert, the art and architecture. But Israel and Palestine are being destroyed by a few small groups of fanatics! It has got to stop! Now, Anonymous, I suspect that you are Jewish. And I suspect, from the nature of your comments that you are not living in Israel (I could be wrong on this point... call it a hunch). But I cannot help but assume that you are some sort of fanatic yourself from the nature of your comments. OK I'm going to back off of the ad hominem stuff here.

Here's my whole schtick in a nutshell: I believe killing is wrong. Everyone should be allowed to live, Israelis, Palestinians, Arabs, Jews, Christians, everybody. I might even go so far as to say that "life is sacred." I would be quoting the Buddha in that case. When we begin to talk about "targeting" individuals or groups we are dehumanizing them to a great degree. (e.g. you are no longer human, you are the target of a terrorist attack or a military investigation etc.) My problem with such dehumanization is that it makes it easier to kill. And killing is BAD. You write, "sometimes Palestinian women and children get caught in the crossfire." This makes me sick. I hope this is not OK with you, even if you think it may deter some future terrorist attack (unlikely as that seems).

I don't see a Palestinians dancing and cheering every time a Jew is killed. Perhaps I am watching a different news program than you are, Anonymous. And perhaps you should consider changing the channel. Please, I implore you to be aware of the suffering that is taking place across the board in the middle east. I have seen Palestinians and Israelis frustrated, angry, exhausted, crying first hand. I do not need news media to show me this. Conversely, I know that there are fanatics on both sides who will be dancing and cheering for death every time. But not all Muslims are fanatics, not all Jews or Christians are fanatics. I assure you that I have explored the facts much more than most Americans. I reject anti-Jew rhetoric when I come into contact with it. I sincerely hope that you won't construe anything that I have written here or elsewhere as such. It was certainly not intended as anti-Jew rhetoric. If anything, I feel like I have expressed opionions which are "anti-death," "anti-suffering," or "anti-poverty" perhaps... certainly "pro-love," and "pro-peace," and "pro-justice."

You write that you have found that "approximately 80% who hear the FACTS associated with the conflict and not just anti-Jew rhetoric tend to side with Israel." I would be happy to provide you with the email addresses of 10 people who, if you coresponded with them would reduce your number to a solid 72.5%.

Thank you so much for your interest in my blog and my politics. I welcome any response you may have to my response either in the comments section of my blog or elsewhere.

I will be honest, it is extremely frustratating to have to explain myself like I just have again. I have had many similar conversations with other very passionate, concerned people. But I have never been able to reconcile these folks' point of view with mine at all. Perhaps this is because I am not Jewish or an Israeli. I don't know. Anyway, Anonymous, thank you again.