Reader JH sends along:
Story of the Good White Southerner
(circa 1950)
I am a good White person. I believe in a separate but equal society. My red line is the separate part, because those agitating to allow Coloreds to eat in the same restaurant and ride in the same part of the bus with Whites know that this will eventually lead to social mixing and then race mixing, which is miscegenation and illegal. We must stay separate. Those others are just calling for White racial suicide by another name and they know it.
But because I am good and moral, and I am in fact a devout Christian person, I am working as hard as I know how to achieve equality as soon as humanly possible. I know that some Whites profess belief in a separate but equal society, but then secretly try to undermine it. That is not who I am.
Some may try to call me a White supremacist and prejudiced, but that is very hurtful to me and I deeply resent it, because in my heart I know that I am a truly moral person. About the only thing I can think of to say to bigoted name-calling people like that is, well, they must really hate White people.
Story of the Good Liberal Zionist
(circa 2013)
I am a good liberal Zionist. I believe in a Jewish and Democratic Israel. My red line is the Jewish part, because those agitating to allow Arabs to return to their homes know that this will eventually lead to the end of Jewish self-determination and then minority status. We must stay separate. Those others are just calling for Jewish national suicide by another name and they know it.
But because I am good and moral, and I am in fact a dedicated Liberal person, I am working as hard as I know how to achieve Israeli democracy as soon as humanly possible. I know that some Liberal Zionists profess a belief in a Jewish and Democratic state, but then secretly try to undermine it. That is not who I am.
Some may try to call me a Jewish supremacist and a believer in apartheid, but that is very hurtful to me and I deeply resent it, because in my heart I know that I am a truly liberal person. About the only thing I can think of to say to bigoted name-calling people like that is, well, they must be Anti-Semites.
this is truly excellent!
the only thing i would change is the word ‘believer’ in the last paragraph. i would change it to ‘supporter of apartheid’, because liberal zionists do not believe israel is an apartheid state. i don’t think people are calling liberal zionists ‘believers’ in aparthied, but i know what the writer is saying. and i do think liberal zionists are supporting apartheid, especially in their denial.
As Southern White familiar with that ‘moral’ person’s –separate but equal belief — I say the comparison is perfect.
“I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed by the white moderate,” he wrote in his Letter from Birmingham Jail. “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block is not the White Citizen’s Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice, who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice, who constantly says ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action,’ who paternalistically believes that he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom.” ~ MLK
It is also instructive to read historical defenses of South African and Rhodesia, such as this one: A. L. Geyer: The Case for Apartheid, 1953
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1953geyer.html and this one John Ray: Rhodesia: In Defense of Mr. Smith, 1973 http://jonjayray.tripod.com/rhod.html — The hasbara talking points are evident.
A perfect example of a liberal Zionist, Beinart…and why a liberal Zionist is just a plain old zionist. ..with all the hypocrisies about Jewsih rights vr Palestine rights on display.
Why Liberal Zionists Won’t Join BDS
by Peter Beinart Feb 12, 2013
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/12/why-liberal-zionists-won-t-join-bds.html
I’ve started reading more of open Zion’s articles, I already know their basic positions on Israel, but I am fascinated by all the small ways their racism comes thru. For example when writing about the Brooklyn BDS flap, even when correcting the story that Jewish student were “thrown” out ….they still, still had to blow it by describing the ‘ugly’ signs the Muslim student were carrying…while describing the Jewish students disruption as ‘polite”. It’ always a word here and description there that shows their core zionist mentality. Just like in the above article where Beinart describes Hamas and Abbas positions in ‘evil’ terms——but describes Israel’s ‘transgression’ in terms of the political and needs.