You are hereBlogs / H2otown's blog / ADL genocide denial a real turkey
ADL genocide denial a real turkey
The Eisenthal report has a good backgrounder on the ADL's bizzarre failure to recognize the Armenian Genocide, and what it might have to do with relations between Turkey, Israel, and the US. Worth reading:
The Eisenthal Report: No Place For Hate and the Armenian Genocide:
ADL's position becomes explainable - though not excusable - when placed in the context of national and international politics. At the root of this issue is the Turkish government's strenuous and expensive effort to influence the opinion leaders of the United States against recognition of the Armenian Genocide. The Turkish government has retained lobbyists, such as former Congressmen Richard Gephardt and Bob Livingston, to press their case in Congress, the Executive Branch, and among non-government opinion leaders, such as the ADL.
Bonus: European Armenian Federation weighs in from Brussels. Powered by ScribeFire.
I can understand nations selling out their princples for the sake of survival. The truth be told I'm a zionist. In that I strongly support the State of Israel's right to exist. (That doesn't mean I excuse excesses or human rights violations). But, I can see why Israel might, out of need, take the position it does.
Even Amercica allied itself with Soviets against the Nazi's. And history teaches us that Stalin was a big if not bigger homocidal maniac as Hitler.
I do however have a much harder time with America not taking a stand against Turkey for not recognizing the genocide. A couple basis on Turkey is nothing worth selling out our princples for.
As for the ADL, they are suppose to be a humans rights type group. They are not a sovereign country, they should not be involved in foreign intrigue. Foxman has no business meeting with the Turkish Foreign minister in a D.C. hotel room and plotting with him to defeat a congressional resolution.
I don't understand it at all. Unless of course the ADL is not about human rights and is just another lobby.
On a lighter note, I must express my pride that another CNC columnist from Milfor has written about this and that he's a fellow Italian.
So kudos to my compatriate and fellow pundit Frank Mazzaglia for taking a stand.
Who knows perhaps this newfound "alliance" between Italo-Americans and Armenian Americans will lead to the reconciliation of the Roman and Armenian Churches that split at the Council of Chalcedon circa 450 AD.
Thanks for pointing out Mazzaglia's column, John. Here's a link. The piece appeared originally in the MetroWest Daily News.
Eisenthal and others should be reminded that it is not just the Armenian community of Watertown fired up about this issue. About 1 in 3 Watertownians can claim Armenian heritage, but I think I speak for a lot of non-Armenians when I say that Watertown's Armenian culture is a source of pride for everyone who resides here. It is a slap in all of our faces that the trials of our Watertown people, our neighbors, is trivialized by the ADL. I am not for throwing out the baby with the bath and hope that the public outcry by both the Armenian community and the greater community forces the ADL to look at their recognition of the Armenian genocide.
You know, one of my biggest peeves with the bloody sign is that it plays on people’s fears.
Watertown is not perfect. No doubt we have people who are bigoted. I just don’t see why we need focus our energy on fearing them.
We are not going to purge Watertown and create a utopia. In fact I think the more we try to impose diversity, the more it will backfire. I present as evidence of this the recent article in last Sunday’s Globe: “The Downside of Diversity”. http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2007/08/04/the_downside_of_diversity/
The article quotes the study of Harvard Political Scientist Robert Putnam. Putnam, a self-proclaimed "politically correct progressive", claims his study proves the more a community is diverse, the less cohesive and civically engaged it is.
Now I think Watertown is the antithesis of that study. We are naturally diverse and at the same time cohesive and civically engaged. But that’s because Watertown wrote the book on diversity before diversity was in the book. Moreover, we weren’t thinking about being diverse as it happened. We just came here, went to school together, went to work together and learned how to get along. No one had to teach us how to be good neighbors.
People in Watertown don’t think of their neighbors and friends as Italian, Irish, Armenian, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, black, white, straight, gay, or whatever.
They think of them as neighbors and friends. Sure, we might know their background, but that doesn’t define them for us. It’s Bill and Sue up the street. It’s Millie who lives around the corner. It’s that cigar smoking loud mouth on Copeland St.
My point is we ought to put up a sign that says
“Welcome to Watertown – Where Diversity Just Happened.”
I’d rather brag about who we are, than focus on trying to purge out anyone and everyone that might have controversial opinion we don’t like.
If this "No Place For Hate" proclamation goes down the tubes because of the Armenmian genocide controversey that's fine with me. I can understand and sympathize with their feelings.
But I think it would be even better if this NPFH program was dumped because of its basic inherent dangers to freedom of speech and expression for all of us. Simply put, NPFH is an attempt to criminalize certain positions and points of view. It is almost impossible to miss this! Plus, the proclamation is filled with erroneous comments and misinformation. Example:
The proclamation pushes Diversity as the strength of our nation. But I don't feel that multiculturalism or diversity is the strength of anything. In fact I feel they weaken a nation. Look around the world and you'll see it is filled with ethnic and religious conflict between people who would be better separated. This is strength? This is what we want between Maine and California?
America is "primarily" a Christian nation--it should stay that way. It is "primarily" a white nation--it should stay that way. (I'm sure some fruitcake will yell that's a racist comment, but it's not.) It is a nation that was built on the bedrock of European western civilization--it should stay that way. Who in their right mind would want to destroy the greatest nation in the world by polluting it with the rubbish of third world cultures?
Answer: The ADL and certain members of the Watertown Town Council
Unlike No Place for Hate, H2otown does have actual rules limiting your speech. (H2otown is paid for with private funds -- that is, my own money -- and I have every right to limit behavior on this turf, just as a homeowner or an Elks' Club would on theirs). Here are the rules: Three T's of H2otown.
If you don't like 'em, you're welcome to exercise your First Amendment rights by starting your own blog where you make your own rules; if you do, send us a link, we'll be reading. How to start your own free blog on Blogspot.
It wasn't so long ago that the official immigration policy of the United States classified both Italians and Irish as nonwhites: Immigration policy and race.
The stated purpose of the ADL is to combat "Anti-semitism and all forms of bigotry". According to the ADL, they are against all forms of intolerance and hatred, but I think it's fairly clear from this and other incidents in the ADL's track record that they will only step up to bat for you if doing so is in the best interests of the state of Israel.
I think this is particularly hypocritical of an organization which is supposedly designed to promote tolerance. If some organization were to publicly disregard the Holocaust, how quickly would the ADL be ready to label said organization as anti-semitic and bigoted? Then, would the ADL's disregarding of the Armenian genocide not make them a racist organization by that logic?
I find it interesting that in Israel it is a crime, punishable by five years in prison, to make "any statement denying or diminishing the proportions of [the Holocaust]". Albeit with the caveat that the statement must be made with the "intent to defend the perpetrators of those acts or to express sympathy or identification with them". Still, how interesting that a people who have been persecuted so severely for so long and who campaign for the sympathy and compassion of the world can show such little compassion themselves by failing to even recognize the persecution of another people.
We are too hard on the ADL. First, the Armenian genocide was against a white Christian people and not Jews. Why should the ADL care? Christians have been oppressors of Jews for aeons. They are getting some of their own back.
Second, Israel should feel no shame cozying up to Turkey since Turkey did not genocide Jews, only Christians.
Third, the ADL exists in substantial part to advance the Jewish State and not to make Armenians feel good. Yes, the Armenians can be helpful in advancing Jewish interests like No Place for Hate in America (like Hispanics and blacks), but when it comes right down to white Christian Armenians versus the good of the Eretz Y'Isroel as in the case of Turkey, the Christians are just going to have to like it or lump it.
Fourth, the answer to the question "is it good for the Jews" is "No" when it comes to calling the Armenian massacre a genocide.
Foxman and other Jewish organizations have done about as much as they can to support a pip-squeak ethnic group like the Armenians without jeopardizing Israel's ability to keep air bases in Turkey: they have admitted a "massacre" (but NOT a genocide), they have blamed it on the "Ottoman Empire" (but NOT the Turkish people), they have admitted several hundred thousand deaths, but NOT the 1.5 million deaths estimated by Armenians themselves.**
[see the text here:http://www.adl.org/ad_new_england.asp]
Of course famed rabbi Stephen Wise could call it Turkish extermination back in 1915, but back then Jews were against extermination. Things have now gotten more "complex" as Israel is a state and the Jews have their own racial and national interests to pursue. The question now is "Will it help the Jews to ignore a bit of Christian extermination?" and the answer clearly is "yes" as Abe Foxman has made clear -- and he IS in constant communication with Israeli leaders at ALL levels, so he should know.
The wheel has turned. Jews are now a "nation like any other nation" as they have wanted for so long, and their government in Israel has the same sort of problems any other nation has. The inevitable moral conflicts pose significant problems for their foreign agents like the ADL and Jews living abroad.
I think Jews in the galut who are upset with Abe should make aliyah, throw off their mental shackles and learn to stand up on their own hind legs. That is what Zionism is all about. It is not about groveling and apologizing in the USA and making enemies of Turkey, one of Israel's friends, so American Jews can feel safer, nobler, holier and more saintly in the West.
H2Otown, I disagree. Abe does not kowtow to any goyim, and particularly not to Muslim goyim like the Turks. Blaming marketing campaigns by Turks is a specious. Abe has gotten the word from Israel and will do as he is told, God bless him! Hell, Abe has no problem blaming the US government, all major Christian religions in the USA, and the American people for racism, anti-semitism, genocide, and other crimes,and he LIVES here. Nothing on Eerth could cause Abe to dance to a Turkish jig. Either the Turks are funding the ADL (which I seriously doubt), or Abe is doing what Israeli leaders want. No puzzle there.
This is why I read the Iraeli press. They don't feel like they have to sugar-coat things to make American Jewry look good. Most Israelis are not afraid to say that Abe is doing the right thing by Israel and the Jews and should be applauded. I see no reason to blame Turkish PR agencies.
Man up! Make Aliyah!
As a Jew I hope readers of this blog don't conclude that most Jews are self-serving, racist slimeballs like "pipsqueak" here. Many of us are embarrassed by the Foxman and the ADL and can't wait for the ADL to come back to its mission (and to common sense!).
And "is it good for the Jews" is certainly not the moral compass that Jewish scripture prescribes for the religion.
Post new comment