This display of left-wing idiocy is indefensible. The article says a “lack of tolerance” is to blame. Malarky. It’s a lack of basic intelligence. (Via Eugene Volokh; David Bernstein follows up with a well done discussion of “Zionism,” which I commend to you.)
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“This is worse than the Warsaw ghetto,” muttered a Jewish man in the queue.
Heh.
The rise of bigotry at Berkeley is shameful.
I’m still wondering, however, when a less absolutist vocabulary will emerge that permits rationale debate on this topic.
Even Berstein, in his otherwise excellent explanation, resorts to overgeneralization and emotional appeal and eventually contradicts himself.
He writes: One can be anti-Zionist without being anti-Semitic, or even prejudiced. But then goes on to dismiss as hypocritical or hateful any rationale for being anti-Zionist.
Which is it?
By the time he throws out the “those who, as the saying goes, would like to drive Israel into the sea” card (lumping together “Islamofacists, their leftist enablers, and other miscreants”) he’s essentially left no room at all for rationalism.
Von, are you supposed to be the ‘moderate’ voice on this blog? If so, why are you using terms (or is anyone here for that matter) like ‘this display of left-wing idiocy’? When can we expect your series on all of the ‘displays of right-wing idiocy’ that is our lot today? If you purport to be any kind of Centrist, surely you can see the bias here, no?
If someone here made a Post about Right-Wing Idiocy, let alone a snarky comment, i think people would be dog-piling and mentioning ‘terms of service’. Is there a double-standard at O.W.?
Wilfred, what’s the problem here? What von is linking to _is_ idiocy, and _is_ idiocy that’s left-wing rather than right-wing. He’s not sayiequating what this article describes with the entire (or even a significant part of) Left, and it’s certainly not like he’s has turned a blind eye to right-wing idiocy in the past. so what’s the problem?
please excuse the typos. 🙂
More accurately, I would say this is student idiocity. And students can be very, very idiotic in the service of their chosen obsession. I do not speak from any position of moral superiority: when I was a student, my obsession (pursued to the point of idiocity) was mostly Star Trek directed, but had I been obsessively into politics then, I hate to think what I might have uttered that I would later regret.
Mark, the point was not the post but the phrase. Why can’t it just be seen as ‘not smart’ or ‘idiotic’ but why ‘left-wing idiocy’? If someone would say ‘right-wing idiocy’ they would be dog-piled here and this is supposedly about left-center-right meetings but you can left bash here but the opposite is frowned upon.
If so, why are you using terms (or is anyone here for that matter) like ‘this display of left-wing idiocy’? When can we expect your series on all of the ‘displays of right-wing idiocy’ that is our lot today?
Wilfred, I try to call it as I see it. These folks are idiots. They are also left wing. (I can also live with Jes’s assessment, which is more charitable.)
As for when I plan to start calling the right on its idiocy, I do so. Quite a bit. (I wasted four or five posts on LGF alone.)
Trust me, there are plenty of idiots to go around on both sides of the aisle — as well as the center, on occasion. (Indeed, we all fit into that category, at one time or another. And that’s a “we” that definitely includes “me”.)
as well as the center, on occasion
I suppose that’s true, but I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a single post on any blog ranting about centrist lunacy. Got any examples?
thanks for the reply Von. i saw the LGF posts, just didn’t remember you calling them ‘right wing idiots’.
Wilfred, I try to call it as I see it. These folks are idiots. They are also left wing. (I can also live with Jes’s assessment, which is more charitable.)
Yeah, well, I’m reminding myself to be more charitable next time something like this crosses my radar: Von might call it right-wing idiocity, but again I think it’s just student idiocity.
I don’t mean to be rude to the young as a group. But student political groups can get scarily intense – a lot of people who feel very passionately about one issue, who are less likely to see shades-of-grey (hey, I was the same when I was that age), and who have the time and the space to set up some really assholic stunts. Most of the time no one gets hurt.
Personally, I think they should decriminalize hash, and prescribe it to all student political groups for weekly use. If they were all required to get mellowed out once a week, maybe a lot of these crazier things wouldn’t happen.
Actually, if that worked, maybe this could have a wider application.
I’m hoping that this is just the actions of the fringe being ascribed to the majority. [That certainly tracks with my experiences of the pro-Palestine/anti-Israel crowd here in Madison.] Regardless of who’s responsible, however, they’re morons and deserved to be condemned as such.
I’m hoping that this is just the actions of the fringe being ascribed to the majority.
I take that for granted: we don’t exactly have an unbiased press reporting on pro-Palestinian events.
I never thought I’d say this about a college, but these kids at Berkley need to spend less time “thinking” about politics, and more time partying and trying to get laid.