There is an interesting controversy in Brooklyn after the city yielded to the Hasidic community in sandblasting off bike lanes on roads. Hasidic leaders complained that they are having trouble obeying their religious law forbidding them from staring at members of the opposite sex with women biking around in shorts. Bicycle advocates have been trying to repaint the lanes.
The Hasidic community has long viewed this enclave as their special area, even though other families and artists have moved in recently. That has caused trouble with the Shomrim Patrol, a Hasidic neighborhood watch group. The Shomrim recently apprehended two cycling advocates who were repainting the lane and called the police. No charges were filed but the bikers were prevented from repainting the lane.
I find it incredible that the city would yield to such demands by a religious group to erase bike lanes. A Department of Transportation spokesman said: “We will continue to work with any community on ways we can make changes to our streets without compromising safety.” However, this is a religious-based objection to women who are not covered. Yet, reports indicate that Mayor Bloomberg wanted to appease the Hasidic community before his recently close election.
Hasidic leaders say that the cyclists endanger families and children. However, this is not the view of the city in creating these lanes and they are found in every major city. The real objection appears to be their lifestyle and the rigid religious beliefs of this sect. It is a clearly improper decision that uses city resources to enforce values of a single religious group.
For the full story, click here
Gus,
“Ask a Jew where his/her allegiance is in the VERY hypothetical case that your country goes to war against Israhell.”
I cannot answer your question but I can allow you a glimpse into my own mind…
I recently applied to the army with the intent on getting shipped out to the front lines. I felt needed there. Regardless, my application was turned down due to a prior medical condition that had been corrected. During the application process, my mind raised the question regarding what I would do should I find myself on the offensive against Israel. I recognized then that I would end my own life first.
Part of the human frailty is making mistakes, Israel neither more nor less than any other nation. Let their corrections come forth as they may, this particular individual will not strike.
MrB. wrote:
“If the JEW is not a RACE they can still be a PEOPLE, jackass.”
Getting your goat is way easy too easy. 😉
MrB,
Not Jewish. If you say something worth taking seriously, I’ll take it seriously. Until then, I’m going to make fun of your movie villain idea of what it means to be Jewish.
By the way I said Jews could be wrong, not the Jews. I don’t expect you to get the difference (English ain’t exactly your strong points), but thought I’d try and clarify.
Josh,
I too read Speer’s book when it first came out and you introduction and explanation of the context he wrote it was excellent. Speer’s writing poses a question that any country that values free speech must wrestle with. Since words can be poisoned barbs that gain credence from constant repetition. The anti-Jewish spewing we see on this thread is so closely related to NAZI propaganda as to be mostly indistinguishable. However, in American history, as in the history’s of most nations of the world, similar examples were used to achieve similar aims. This is true for the African-American slaves and for the
Native Americans, both of which were victims of genocide.
What made the NAZI genocide of the Shoah breathtaking was the businesslike manner in which it was carried out. However, genocide is genocide and slaves and “indians” suffered just as cruelly as did Jews. That a higher percentage survived in America is due to the fact that the genocide was never openly admitted to or sought as a stated goal. With the NAZI’s it was an object and article of faith. However, although many of the bigots here claim Jews believe their experience unique, most of us are informed enough to know that genocidal behavior and xenophobia is a trait that runs through all of humanity. Perhaps, as some say, it is the fault of our “lizard brains.”
Despite bigotry’s charges Jews do not claim uniqueness in our suffering, but do feel proud that as an ethnic group that has always been small numerically, we’ve managed to survive a long while with our basic identity intact.
It is pretty damn funny.
And I do know funny.
“I’m being accused of being a bigot toward the Jews because I allegedly lump all the Jews together and don’t distinguish between good and bad Jews.”
No, you’re being accused of being a bigot because your words prove you are and you are too cowardly to admit it. In your protesting being called a bigot I find it so amusing that you are actually being a whining victim complaining about how tough people are being on you. Are you so dense that you don’t see the hilarious irony of that?
“I don’t qualify as a bigot because for one thing the Jew is not a distinct race.”
You are too ignorant to understand the term bigot. It is not specifically about race. however, as you continue along you show yourself to be just what I said you were.
“If “nice guy” Jew enablers, like yourselves, get caught in the crossfire, tough shit.”
Crossfire goes both ways and it is usually those so blinded by hate and arrogance that underestimate their opponents. Jews have been around about 3,500 years now and we’ll be around much longer, perhaps in a time when hatefuly bigots like yourself have petered out because they couldn’t find people to reproduce with.
Spinell —
There’s just no pleasing you “people.” Mockery and hyperbole is not an answer. I’m being accused of being a bigot toward the Jews because I allegedly lump all the Jews together and don’t distinguish between good and bad Jews. My paraphrase of your point. I wasn’t trying to give you a “dictionary” definition of the word you ass I was responding to your slander. Are you offended as a “religious” Jew, as a “racial” Jew, or are you simply offended because that’s the Jew’s knee-jerk reacton to anyone who doesn’t kneel down and kiss their ass?
Oh, the Jews aren’t always right, well, a major breakthrough. I’m not convinced, though. Could you please be more specific? One instance, please, where Jews were wrong, admitted fault, and said they were sorry. Shouldn’t be too difficult.
Dave Wyman —
If the JEW is not a RACE they can still be a PEOPLE, jackass.
Josh,
I read Speer’s book when I was 14. I didn’t sleep for a week. I too have had similar experiences Holocaust survivors. Most of them have, as you note, an incredible capacity to forgive. Thanks for your post. Very well done. Many returns.
All,
I just finished reading Inside the Third Reich by Albert Speer, in which he details events leading to the rise of Hitler all the way through the end of WWII. He should know, he was one of Hitler’s inner circle and his book is one of very few primary sources written by an actual high ranking nazi. One has to to view this work keeping in mind that he was very close to being executed during the Nuremberg trials and there are implicit questions of his motivations of depicting some of the events as they are portrayed in his autobiography. Not to say that he was an apologist for Hitler or the nazis; on the contrary, his basic premise through the whole of the book is the horror and shame he felt after the reality of what the war machine he and others had engineered had sunk in.
What is striking is that much of what has been said in many of the posts above is almost verbatim from Speer’s depiction of the nazis antijewish propaganda. It really is frightening how two or three people spewing hatred can cause others to start to rationalize and then project this onto a whole people, “the jews”. Speer details how the construction of the death camps started with words, such as those seen in many of the posts above.
And if you are a holocaust denier or revisionist, don’t even go there. The holocaust was much worse than the accepted figures. I have had the privilege of knowing two holocaust survivors, husband and wife, for a very long time. They are the most amazing people because, despite losing EVERY member of each of their families, brothers, sisters, aunts uncles parents grandparents to the deatchcamps, they harbor no ill will towards the Germans, or anyone for that matter. I have asked them “But how could you forgive a people that caused you to literally live in Hell?” and they tell me that if they could not forgive, then this would be to accept the same evil which lead to the holocaust, that of the hatred of another people because of the actions of a relative few.
Awww, what’s the matter MrBinary? Are you a slow reader? Is comprehension a problem? Can you just not concentrate, son?
And just so you know, Mr. 1/0 Troll, I was reading and writing at an 8th Grade level when I was in the 2nd grade. By the 4th grade, I was reading and writing at college levels. I can read and write much more difficult texts now. This is a play room for me. My work room? It’d be incomprehensible to you if you couldn’t read the above. Not because the writing was nonsense, but because the sophistication of use meant it was lot like a Neanderthal looking a jet engine. You being the Neanderthal of course.
I made it at an 8th grade level so ignorant bigots like yourself could understand that you are actually being insulted. See, unlike you trolls I actually know how propaganda works. I literally wrote a book about it. And then I promptly burned it to keep if from people like you. But I know every message must be carefully crafted to the target audience. However, if 8th Grade reading level is too much of a challenge for you?
Maybe I should have kicked that down to a 3rd Grade level.
Mr Binary is a mean old poopy head. He hates everyone but himself. He’s mean to puppies and kitties. He’s mean to Mr. Rosenbaum, the school librarian. Not because Mr. Rosenbaum is mean or bad. He’s a very good librarian and the kids all like him. He reads us good stories. He’s mean to Mr. Rosenbaum because of his hat. He’s mean to Mr. Rosenbaum because he goes to church on different nights than Mr. Brainless. He hates Mr. Rosenbaum for not eating cheeseburgers.
There. Now there should be no misunderstanding. Those are terms simple enough for you to understand.
Try not to let your lips move as you read.
Aye, Dave.
Good showing. Keep up the good work.
Dave,
May I just say I hope you stick around, I’ve greatly enjoyed your wit on this topic.
MrB,
I’m not saying that Jews are always right, just that you’re a bigot afraid of a blood drinking boogieman you’ve constructed to represent THE JEW. There is no THE JEW, just Jewish people. Also, I have a sneaking suspicion you might be afraid of THE DICTIONARY (which by the way were kicked out of France for eating the toes off of the local Marquis’s second cousin) based on your insistence that you can only be bigoted against a race.
“for one thing the Jew is not a distinct race”
OK.
“A people of sulking, whining, congenital liars”
But you just said…..oh, well, foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.
Stunning how the Jew is always right and the “anti-Semite” is always wrong.
I don’t qualify as a bigot because for one thing the Jew is not a distinct race. More like a mongrel assortment of idol-worshipping goat herders with a talent for ripping-off the productivity and generosity of host nations before stabbing them in the back. For another, I don’t blame individuals for the collective sins of their people, just the loudmouths and know-it-all apologists papering over evil with a smiley face. What? Do you think because “individual” Jews might be “nice people,” the Jew, as the distinct people they insist on claiming themselves to be, is exonerated for the evil done by other Jewish “individuals” in the name of and on behalf of all Jews? And I’m sure not all Nazis were “bad people.” Perhaps if Germans, as “individuals,” were actually “good” Nazis, as opposed to “bad” Nazis, like “good” Jews and “bad” Jews, they would have had the moral fortitude and intellecutual honesty to renounce their faith in the Nazi Party instead of excusing evil, looking the other way, and blaming others for their problems. Oh, the poor, persecuted, victimized Jew. A people of sulking, whining, congenital liars. The “sympathy” tit you’ve been milking is DRY. If “nice guy” Jew enablers, like yourselves, get caught in the crossfire, tough shit. As always, you’ve brought the ire of your host nation down on your own heads. Some will overlook the treason of the Jew. Others will not. You just don’t get it, do you.
Mr.B,
Couldn’t even deal with my brief history lesson on Edward I. just reasserted the claim and then upped it with the medieval charge the we Jews drank Christian children’s blood. You really are far into your hate and ignorance, as are many of the other posters here. Like all of you bigots posting here though you hide anonymously behind your rage and hatred and that is another hallmark of the true bigot: cowardice.
Everyone else,
Laughter, and picturing him cowering under his covers.
Buddha,
You’re right, humor is the best way to get them to reveal themselves.
“I don’t hate anyone, any group, or any ethnicity solely because of that…I hate groups and people that hide behind religion while commiting acts of hatred around the world…in the name of whatever particular religion.”
You link to Rev. Pike pretty much sums up who you are. The “new bigot” recognizing that most people strongly disagree with him/her, tries to cloak his/her bigotry in what would seem to be reasonable terms and protestations of not being bigoted. The problem with this approach is that they still are marked by the highlight of bigotry. The hallmark of bigotry is to take the actions of some people in a group and apply it to the whole group. If I for instance said that all Christians were in favor of murdering Doctors who do abortions, that would be bigotry
Ted Pike and his National Prayer Network is obsessed with Jews and not too happy with gays either. Sophisticated operation, at least for bigots and I’m sure stands in brotherhood with “God Hates Fags.” Good money raising scam for people who use religion to make themselves rich. Thanks mbinary you’ve shown where you come from, or perhaps are a part of. I could only speculate on the other objects of your hatred and rage. Since in no instance have you actually engaged in debate with me, other than to avoid points I’ve made, it really isn’t worth it to continue to give you any recognition, since that is what your posting is about, getting recognition for your pet hatreds. You really ought to try re-reading the Gospels from a non-biased point of view. You might see a whole new Jesus, a loving prophet, rather than a raging bigot which you pretend Christians now label him to be.
It’s so sad that I as a Jew know more about Jesus than you or Ted Pike. One would think a Christian would want to follow her/his savior’s teaching, rather than the rantings of the Book of Revelations, written almost 200 years after Jesus’ death and aimed at the Romans and not “end times.” Many christians like you miss the beauty of Jesus teachings, preferring instead the hatred that fuels their rage. In doing so they miss the whole point of what Jesus taught. Too bad you’re unable to at least be honest with yourself, or about yourself, it is so unproductive to carry around all that rage.
Gyges —
To answer your question, no; I don’t think Jews can transform themselves into bats, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they could. If you aren’t aware of the “occult” practice of ritually drinking victims’ blood — which no doubt inspired the vampire legend — then you should probably roll over and go back to sleep and let the grown-ups talk.
Gee, I guess the Jew can do no wrong. My mistake. Has the Jew ever publicly taken responsibility for ANY specific wrong committed by the Jew, or does the Jew get a free pass because he’s a Jew? I have never once heard the Jew admit, “Yes, we were wrong, we did it, and we’re sorry.” The Jew refuses to accept responsibility and the guilt of his own actions. If so-called anti-Semites didn’t point a finger, no one would.