Censored Article: A city divided

[newyorican]

Currently, Jerusalem is deep inside the West Bank, and may be the single biggest impediment to a two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. After the Diaspora, or scattering, Jews left their ancient seat of government and went all across Europe. Then the Holocaust came, the Great Burning, and Jews started to leave the Europe that hated them for centuries because of their exclusive religion. Nobody can really convert to Judaism — you are born Jewish, or you are not.

The Jews did not like to integrate with other peoples. When the Greeks met the Egyptians, they said, “Oh, your Ammon is our Zeus. We worship the same gods. Let’s feast together and exchange presents.” When the Greeks met the Jews, the Jews told them, “No, our God is not your God. Our God belongs to us alone. Take your God and shove it.”

People didn’t like Jews because of this; they feared whatever secrets their exclusive god might be hiding. Scholars think this attributed to the hereditary prejudice against Jews, and in response, Zionism attracted the scattered Jews back to the land their ancient kingdom once rested upon. Israel was formed.

Instead of keeping the barriers put in place by the United Nations after the Six-Day War, in 1967, Israel proceeded to grab as much land as possible over the last century. Crazy religious zealots believe that the entire realm of Palestine is theirs, since an ancient book says an invisible being in the clouds gave it to them. This argument doesn’t hold up too well in real estate law. Try it sometime.

But the crazy religious zealots, affectionately termed “settlers” by sympathetic press, go and squat on occupied Palestinian orchards, cut down all the trees, and built a little town. The Palestinians get upset, and the Jews take all the water and resources. Leaving Palestinians in little more than cages is not an appropriate act for a race released from concentration camps. But, monkey see, monkey do.

The new apartheid wall is not helping things either. This wall cuts off some Palestinian towns entirely from anything else — jobs, commercial centers, roads, everything. Left with no options (Palestinians are not citizens, cannot vote, and have no rights) some people are blowing themselves up.

Why can’t they work it out? Both sides claim Jerusalem as their own city.

Source

Disclaimer: While I don't agree with much written in this opinion piece, I vehemently disagree with censoring the article. While an effecive rebuttal would serve to educate, it appears CAMERA said jump and the editorial staff of the Vanguard said how high.

Student Editors Apologize for Anti-Semitic Column

Editors at Portland State University’s student newspaper, the Daily Vanguard, have righted an egregious wrong.

On Oct. 18, the newspaper published a column by staff member Caelan MacTavish. The opinion piece, entitled “Religious disputes over Jerusalem require diplomacy,” blamed the Jews themselves for anti-Semitism, disparaged the Jewish people, and included a number of absurd factual errors about Judaism and Israel.

Along with an abundance of other inflammatory rhetoric, the column suggested that “the Jews” themselves are to blame for historic anti-Semitism and even the Holocaust, claimed that nobody can convert to Judaism, and claimed that Israelis are imitating the Nazis.

That same day, CAMERA contacted the Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper to point out the problems and errors in MacTavish’s column and to express grave concern with the piece. We also urged the newspaper to publish an apology for running the column. Portland State students, faculty and others also protested the newspaper's decision to publish the hateful column.

To his credit, the editor listened to our concerns, and readily agreed to consider our points and discuss the matter with his colleagues. This week, the crude and bigoted column was pulled from the Daily Vanguard Web site and replaced with the following editor’s note:

Editor's note, Oct. 27, 2005: This article has been removed from the web site by the editors because after review, we find it does not meet the editorial standards of the Vanguard. A statement on the article by the editorial board has been published and is linked below, along with other opinion pieces about this article.

Source

Note: Both articles have been abbreviated to comply with copyrights. Click on the link provided to read the articles in their entirety.

[pelsar]

1. whats the point?

its just one more of many stuiped articles:

People didn’t like Jews because of this; they feared whatever secrets their exclusive god might be hiding. Scholars think this attributed to the hereditary prejudice against Jews

sure that really explains a lot

[Colorado Blue]

2. This is one of the most off the wall articles I've seen in some

time.

1. Jerusalem has always been in the same place. Currently it is in the same place as it was when it was founded, give or take a bit for continental drift, shift or shimmy:)

2. Jews are amenable to accepting converts with a sincere desire to become Jewish. We just don't go door to door pestering people to convert. Nor do we damn people to eternal suffering if they don't convert, we don't refer to people as various animals if they aren't Jewish, we don't call non Jews "infidels" and we DO encourage free thinking and free will.

3. I don't know whether to laugh or cry at the descriptions of the Jews meeting with the Egyptians and the Greeks. The Egyptians had Jewish advisors but also enslaved us. The Greeks and the Jews have had a long and productive philosophical history together, though we certainly aren't pagan and Christian dogma, over the centuries, damned us and rendered us outsiders, often mocked and humiliated in Greek puppet comedies. I suggest a close reading of Lawrence Durrell's works on Greece for some examples. Modern Greek antisemitism has taken on a darker edge, for example with the brilliant and inspired composer Theodorakis, who wrote a stunning suite about the concentration camp Mauthausen, apparently turning on the Jewish people in recent years.

This is profoundly ironic since Christianity could in fact be seen as a melding of the two traditions.

Finally, I'm not sure that "Take your god and shove it" was in the lexicon of the day, however I'm sure the erudite creator of this lovely little rant has some historical document to which we can refer.

4. Suggesting that people don't like Jews because Jews have insisted on maintaining their own culture and religion is interesting. What does this say about human nature? Conformity is certainly a desirable trait in primitive or totalitarian societies and certainly, people who don't adapt the God du Jour are going to cast doubt on the almightyness of whatever almighty may have been in question at the time.

I'm not sure what secrets the not-so-exclusive god of the Jews might be hiding, since He is mighty talkative, judging from the length of His prophets' contributions:)

Ahem. The reader will forgive this little jest.

5. The rest of this diatribe is so silly, so bigoted, and so historically out of whack with reality that I really have no desire to comment further.

Why has this piece of hooey been posted on a serious progressive website? Maybe it's all just a seriously flawed joke. But I agree with the sentiment that people should start trying to work things out instead of resorting to blowing themselves - and others - to smithereens.

[newyorican]

3. Exactly...

And the response is to sweep it under the proverbial rug, by pulling the article, instead of rebutting it on every point he wrong. It is a *college* newspaper. Where education is *supposed* to occur.

I learned most from mistakes I've made. There are many mistakes in the original article that might have actually taught somebody something if discussed in a factual manner. You might say, "what's the point, it's old stuff", but the one new element is young students. Isn't math, reading and writing "old stuff", yet it is taught year in and year out. This was a learning opportunity missed.

[Colorado Blue]

4. A learning opportunity? Perhaps. It is also an opportunity

to spread malicious lies and perpetuate a very old and pernicious form of bigotry.

[eyl]

5. In general, I agree

that education on the mistakes is better than censorship.

In this case, however, consider that the Vanguard may have been motivated to cover up their own negligence. After all, regardless of the opinions expressed, the number of severe basic factual errors are hardly a credit to the Vanguard's editors.

[barb162]

8. Vanguard editors: sleeping when they let this one slip through n/t

[pelsar]

6. to educate?...

sure how about:

Arabs are all terrorists....for a screaming title..and then we can discuss and educate that its not true:

or All Palestenains, like iran want to wipe israel out and celebrate suicide bombers....shall we discuss it?

perhaps: Muslims in Britan are all a 5th column just waiting to take over...

oh...you mean they're not true...gosh darn, perhaps we should discuss it?...and if its discovered that my research was "not up to snuff"...i'll apologise.

theres a line somewhere between a new article that is simply false vs a poorly written one.....

[ProgressiveMuslim]

9. Pelsar, you make a good point

I'd hate to see pieces like you mention above offered under the guise of "education." (after all, that's what right-wing talk radio is for...)

But there are threats to the legitimate, scholarly discussion of the issues in the form of organizations like Campus Watch, that seek to eliminate any challenge to the traditional, Orthodox pro-Israel position.

[pelsar]

11. theres the blantent lie...and the legit disagreement....

there is no question in my mind that theres a "wide gray area" that seperates the two...where one persons truth will be a seconds persons non truth (our disagreeement on iran...which is rather funny since neither of us really know whats really going on...let alone compare to the days of the shah....).

but there are the extremes which really have no place in a serious discussion. They have to right to believe such things, they have the rigth to write them...but at best we should if possible ignore them and not give them the legitimacy of discussion.....otherwise we find ouselves constantly discussing BS and attempting to show that its not true...which means time and energy taken away from real discussion and real communciation.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

12. Agreed.

But I still maintain that the more serious threat to discussion comes, not from a renegade college know-it-all, but from organized groups like Campus Watch, that have paralyzed the teaching of Middle Eastern Studies at schools like Columbia.

[number6]

10. I've seen it,.. in our press and all over the internets :)"

"Arabs are all terrorists....for a screaming title..and then we can discuss and educate that its not true:

or All Palestinians, like iran want to wipe israel out and celebrate suicide bombers....shall we discuss it?

perhaps: Muslims in Britain are all a 5th column just waiting to take over..."

[Coastie for Truth]

7. To educate?

An interesting discussion is in the thread where some interesting responses are presented:

I posted

I read everything with a skeptical eye --- including DU, LU, The Nation, DailyKos, and I am "even" skeptical of Randi Rhodes, Mike Malloy, Ed Schultz, Al Franken, Jerry Springer, etc.

I may rely more on Krugman and Franken and The Nation, and less on, say John Tierney or David Brooks or Bortz, or Ann Coulter and even less on Bill O'Reilly -- but nobody is 100% right, 100% of the time on 100% of the issues -- not even the late Fred Rogers. (Altho, Groucho, Harpo, and Chico came close - they were the "Al Franken" and "SNL" of my generation)

I was always taught to read widely, broadly, deeply, "compare and contrast."

Isn't that what an education is all about?

to which NYCGirl responded .

Sandnsea posted , "Left, right, middle. Everybody has an agenda. Question it all." and we got into a subthread ,

Years ago there was a canned set of lesson plans for teaching Bronislaw Malinowski's economic anthropology classic "Argonauts of the Western Pacific" (RPI, CMU, CWRU, etc.) -- and the first 4-6 weeks were "compare, contrast, question, criticize, and analyze" a whole bunch of totally and completely inconsistent references of a wide range of scholarly quality (and I'm an engineer, not an economist or anthropologist - and this was at an engineering school). One of the best critical reading classes I ever had.

Today, with so much in the print media, the 24 hours news cycle, and the blogosphere (and DU, LU, CU, FP, P4C, etc.) that model is an absolutely necessary survival skill.

To which BouncyBall replied

Bloom's Taxonomy. Classic scale taught to all education students.

That does sound great. Would that every kid had the same thing on their reading level.

Which gave me a lead-in a or segway to reply

Plus Print Media, Broadcast Media, College Media,... Blogosphere, DU, LU, CU, FR, etc.

Everyone has an agenda.

But in order to see the subtlety of their agenda you have to read widely, contrast, compare, analyze, dissect, and then apply your own life experience, knowledge, education, biases, prejudices, judgment, and AGENDA.

And, I hope no appenders take offense at

Heck,

I am even much more skeptical about some DU appenders and some college newspapers.

No offense intended, just part of that good old political discussion. By spirited discussion we all learn.

[Coastie for Truth]

13. My new study

004.135 O ye who believe! stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to God, even as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be (against) rich or poor: for God can best protect both. Follow not the lusts (of your hearts), lest ye swerve, and if ye distort (justice) or decline to do justice, verily God is well-acquainted with all that ye do.

004.136 O ye who believe! Believe in God and His Apostle, and the scripture which He hath sent to His Apostle and the scripture which He sent to those before (him). Any who denieth God, His angels, His Books, His Apostles, and the Day of Judgment, hath gone far, far astray.

I have begun studying Islam and Shariah -- and from time to time I will post my (reading and preparation and class) notes.

We are starting with Sura 4-135 and 4-136.

[Lithos]

14. Locking

I assume everyone knew that the original article contained errors. This was not the issue.

The issue was one of whether it should have been censored, or have appropriate additional commentary generated to compensate for the obvious short comings. This debate has not been forthcoming in a positive way and grown inflammatory.

Lithos
I/P Forum Moderator