In January the health magazine Natural Solutions ran an article about how to deal with traumatic events. The piece began with a moving description of a 16-year-old Gaza boy who had seen Israeli soldiers kill his best friend and who now wanted to die. The article apparently got several letters from the Israel lobby. Cause that's how the lobby works, it takes action when anyone humanizes Palestinians. And Natural Solutions (sorry, this part's not online) then apologized for its editorial judgment.
Lanny Cotler was outraged. He wrote to the editors:
In
your April edition, you prefaced the Letters section with an apology:
"Asking Forgiveness" —It's worth repeating, because the devil is in the
details. You wrote: "We received several letters
from readers upset with us for starting 'Reclaiming Calm' (January)
with a story of a young Arab boy. We certainly never intended to give
the impression that we chose sides in the Arab-Israeli conflict or that we had any political agenda.
We merely used one boy's struggle as an example of how alternative
treatments can help PTSD. We will be more sensitive in the future."
your April edition, you prefaced the Letters section with an apology:
"Asking Forgiveness" —It's worth repeating, because the devil is in the
details. You wrote: "We received several letters
from readers upset with us for starting 'Reclaiming Calm' (January)
with a story of a young Arab boy. We certainly never intended to give
the impression that we chose sides in the Arab-Israeli conflict or that we had any political agenda.
We merely used one boy's struggle as an example of how alternative
treatments can help PTSD. We will be more sensitive in the future."
Question:
If the boy had been an Israeli boy and you had received letters from
Arab readers, would you have published the same apologia? I doubt it.
And we all know why.
If the boy had been an Israeli boy and you had received letters from
Arab readers, would you have published the same apologia? I doubt it.
And we all know why.
I am appalled that some
Jews feel that such umbrage is appropriate. It is not. Kristin
Bjorsen's article—besides being brilliant and spot on—was not expressive
of any political favoritism, nor should you have felt the need to
apologize. In doing so, you fan the flames of Jewish or pro-Israeli
rightwing nationalism/chauvinism.
Jews feel that such umbrage is appropriate. It is not. Kristin
Bjorsen's article—besides being brilliant and spot on—was not expressive
of any political favoritism, nor should you have felt the need to
apologize. In doing so, you fan the flames of Jewish or pro-Israeli
rightwing nationalism/chauvinism.
To be clear:
I am Jewish. I was raised Zionist. My father was a cantor. My brother
is a cantor. And I once considered studying for the rabbinate and
emigrating to Israel. But then I studied the history of Israel and of the Zionists' treatment of the Palestinians. And I learned how racist and criminal and inhumane Zionism can be. Of course, saying this, I risk being called a "self-hating Jew" or "anti-Semitic Jew". So be it.
I am Jewish. I was raised Zionist. My father was a cantor. My brother
is a cantor. And I once considered studying for the rabbinate and
emigrating to Israel. But then I studied the history of Israel and of the Zionists' treatment of the Palestinians. And I learned how racist and criminal and inhumane Zionism can be. Of course, saying this, I risk being called a "self-hating Jew" or "anti-Semitic Jew". So be it.
I
realize that you cannot express your political agenda (as I can in
Letters), but at the very least, don't grovel before those who are
moved more by hate and fear than love and forgiveness. Peace won't come
that way—no matter what AIPAC, JINSA, the ADL, and rightwing Jewish
neocons batter you with. Stand up and let a few cancel their
subscriptions.
realize that you cannot express your political agenda (as I can in
Letters), but at the very least, don't grovel before those who are
moved more by hate and fear than love and forgiveness. Peace won't come
that way—no matter what AIPAC, JINSA, the ADL, and rightwing Jewish
neocons batter you with. Stand up and let a few cancel their
subscriptions.
For every rightwing Jew (that
used to be an oxymoron) who cancels, I'll go out a get you two humanist
Jews to take their place. That's the way to fight the drift to fascism.
used to be an oxymoron) who cancels, I'll go out a get you two humanist
Jews to take their place. That's the way to fight the drift to fascism.
Lanny Cotler, Vietnam vet
Willits, CA
Thanks, Lanny, for a beautiful, brave letter.
And speaking of Zionists' cruelty to Palestinian people, your home reminds me of the IDF addiction to bulldozing fruit groves out of spite.
I hope you're enjoying living in lovely Willits: I honeymooned there long ago and we've never forgotten its charm and gorgeous old-growth redwood trees.
Hurray for Lanny Cotler! Bullies need to be stood up to. If they keep at it, then punch them in the nose!
Lanny Cotler sounds like one helluva guy. Vietnam Vet too.
It is sad, sad state of affairs when opposition to the maiming of children is considered controversial. Fortunately, there are people like Lanny Cotler who are no longer afraid to speak the truth.
Great letter, but why would anyone advertise the fact that they participated in the Vietnam war?
In what sort of depraved country is something like that still a badge of honor?
In the previous post there is a comment about members of the US intelligence community who are concerned about the influence of pro-militant Israel power dealers. From experience reading blogs, I would say the military has many members who share that concern.
While the use of the military by the government is highly problematic, those individuals who served in the military or who have a family tradition of military service are not to be despised. It makes about as much sense IMO to condemn them as it does to condemn the poor for being poor. (If that comparison doesn't work, I'm willing to discuss it.)
Yes, Lanny Cotler is brave and true in behalf all humans. Considering the socio-economic military draft during the Nam Era, and the fact, whether a volunteer or a draftee back then, the average GI
(average age 19, as the old pop songs says) was most vulnerable to both patriotic propaganda instilled by his government, and the fact of the military draft itself, backed by the full physical force of the state, I really don't get r's objection to Cotler's ID as a Nam vet. To me it gives him
extra credence–he has paid the price for his own past ignorance, much more so than 99% of congress, for example. R, it's not a badge of honor, but one that shows clearly his hard-won
self-evolvement from the cards fate gave him. How old are you?
Would a former Nazi who had come to regret his participation in a ghastly crime against humanity identify himself as "member, waffen SS" ?
The United States has STILL not come to terms with the utter depravity of Vietnam, which well-outpaced the holocaust in terms of raw sadism and brutality against innocent people. We still want to attach noble intent to it. This is a disease, in my view.
r, all warfare contains the potential for individual acts of brutality, and is an act of brutality by one polity against another. IMO the problem is the willingness of people to allow their governments to take military aggression against others. I don't consider it a disease, but rather learned behavior that can be combated by changing public consensus regarding what is acceptable. (Not that I consider doing so easy or likely to happen rapidly, especially in a world with Witty-like characters who apply concepts of justice only to those within their extended kin-group.)
Margaret. I agree. The US should start by declaring the Vietnam War a genocide, similar in intent to the Nazi genocide. We should apologize and pay reparations to the victims. Then we should open a museum on the national mall devoted to America's abominations in Indochina.
The Germans did these things and are a better nation because of it. Meanwhile, the Vietnam War remains one of the most thoroughly whitewashed atrocities in history. I believe this whitewashing paved the way for America's crimes in Iraq, where an additional million + people were slaughtered and 4 and a half rendered homeless–probably permanently.
r, if we could get people to question the direction of State military strategy, to forswear military intervention in favor of other methods to support the continuing development of the technological globe, to abandon tactics such as drones and targeted killings, I would consider it a tremendous memorial for the dead from past wars, many of them secret victims of our State foreign policy.
Perhaps then the Holocaust Museum eventually would come to reflect all those dead, instead of the dead of one war, only.