on Politics and Norman Finkelstein
for the record, i like to consider myself politically 'moderate'
i suppose it's because i'm torn about a lot of the core issues--possibly because i'm just generally 'torn' but also because i think the issues --the key issues, anyway--are such that they have no easy answers, but rather they can be interpreted on multiple levels and that there is very rarely a single 'right' or 'wrong' answer.
today's incident: a girl was chatting with a mutual friend about politics, and made some references to fascism and its parallels in the current administration. I'm hardly a fan of Bush, but comparing him to Hitler seems stupid to me. The girl trusted that I had, in fact, ccepted her logic, saying: "we all know this [about Bush], assuming present company [referring here to me] follows the line of rational thinking."
in other disturbing news, norman finkelstein is being given a platform on campus to spew his hateful theories. the lecture title: "Israel & Palestine: Misuse of anti-Semitism, Abuse of History."
He seems to think that as the son of Holocaust survivors he has a "right" to anti-Semitism, even Holocaust denial. Finkelstein on the Holocaust: "If all those who say they are survivors are telling the truth, then who did Hitler kill?"
i suppose it's because i'm torn about a lot of the core issues--possibly because i'm just generally 'torn' but also because i think the issues --the key issues, anyway--are such that they have no easy answers, but rather they can be interpreted on multiple levels and that there is very rarely a single 'right' or 'wrong' answer.
today's incident: a girl was chatting with a mutual friend about politics, and made some references to fascism and its parallels in the current administration. I'm hardly a fan of Bush, but comparing him to Hitler seems stupid to me. The girl trusted that I had, in fact, ccepted her logic, saying: "we all know this [about Bush], assuming present company [referring here to me] follows the line of rational thinking."
in other disturbing news, norman finkelstein is being given a platform on campus to spew his hateful theories. the lecture title: "Israel & Palestine: Misuse of anti-Semitism, Abuse of History."
He seems to think that as the son of Holocaust survivors he has a "right" to anti-Semitism, even Holocaust denial. Finkelstein on the Holocaust: "If all those who say they are survivors are telling the truth, then who did Hitler kill?"
posted by shoshana at 2:39 PM
3 Comments:
what i find utterly offensive, then, is when people impose their views as the ultimate truth, the only 'right' answer.
I don't find it quite offensive, since that would mean that I actually attribute some value to the opinions of silly people who don’t think others have a right to their own opinions, and worse yet, believe in “ultimate truths,” especially with regard to their own views.
I don't agree. There are certain behaviors I find objectively offensive, without necessarily taking personal offense. I'm not personally offended by Norman Finkelstein, either, but I find him offensive.
Well, okay, high profile people like Norman can be 'offensive' even if you're not personally offended, but I was referring to people like the girl you mentioned...Saying she was offensive is giving her way too much credit (I think).
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