Other nasty governments

It is quite true, as Paul E states, that there are many nasty governments in the world. In terms of sheer brutality times number of people brutalized, it would probably be hard to beat China. Their invasion of Tibet, and subsequent occupation these many decades, is indeed particularly horrible. They've packed the region with ethnic Chinese, have attempted to hijack the choosing of the next Dalai Lama, and have even locked people up for the "crime" of displaying a likeness of the current Dalai Lama in their own homes! Their recent drum rolls aimed at Taiwan are extremely frightening, I am sure, to everyone living there. They're doing their best to kill Hong Cong's freedoms a little bit at a time.

Many of the countries which were formerly part of the Soviet Union are brutal dictatorships today. In one of them, at least one prisoner was tortured by being boiled to death. Russia itself is fast becoming a police state under Putin.

Just about every African nation is a corrupt kleptocracy. South and Central America are a bit better, but are still laced with corruption and theft.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia have zero protected freedoms and routinely torture dissidents. Turkey is hardly better. Ditto Iran. And of course, life in Iraq under Saddam was almost as bad as life under U.S. occupation.

No list would be complete without mention of the crimes that Palestinians have committed, and continue to commit, against Israelies. Blowing up a bus full of civilians can only lead to more violence and more innocent deaths among the Palestinians themselves.

Every brutal government deserves condemnation. If I focus on Israel (and I do), it is because of its intimate and unique relationship with the U.S. Though tiny both in land and population, it receives more foreign aid from us than any other nation. The world rightly perceives its policies as being tacitly agreed to, as well as funded, by the U.S. For that reason, I believe that it is particularly vital to the health of the world for the United States to change its policy toward Israel.

The Holocaust adds a highly emotional complicating factor to any discussion. There are, as we know firsthand, still people who deny that Nazi Germany slaughtered millions of Jews during World War II. The exact numbers are subject to reasonable debate, but either way it's still millions of innocents, and with a cold-bloodedness which boggles the mind.

It is, however, a trap to allow Israel to parlay sympathy for past crimes against Jews into silence in the face of the crimes Israel is now committing. The U.S. media have largely fallen into that trap: how often is the Wall of Separation deep in occupied Palestinian territory mentioned? One survey of newspapers found that the death of an Israeli child receives 10 times the number of stories, on average, as the death of a Palestinian child. In my view, no good can come of treating the lives of one group of people as more valuable than another.

JdL

In a message dated 12/11/2003 7:16:10 AM Eastern Standard Time,
jdl@... writes:

> In my view, no good can come of treating the lives of one group of people
> as more valuable than another.
>
> JdL
>

I would agree and extend it to your exaggerated coverage of the evils of
Israel in the world. It creates the wrong impression. Israel's crimes, by your
own estimation, may not be as bad as most all other countries. Your treatment
appears unfair, regardless of your motives.

IMO, Johnny Reinhard

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[I wrote:]
>>In my view, no good can come of treating the lives of one group of people as more valuable than another.

[Johnny:]
>I would agree and extend it to your exaggerated coverage of the evils of Israel in the world. It creates the wrong impression. Israel's crimes, by your own estimation, may not be as bad as most all other countries. Your treatment appears unfair, regardless of your motives.

You agree with me, then, that the U.S. media is biased in favor of Israel? Then surely we must also agree that this must be corrected, no?

JdL

Johnny,

--- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, Afmmjr@a... wrote:
> I would agree and extend it to your exaggerated coverage of the evils of
> Israel in the world. It creates the wrong impression. Israel's crimes, by your
> own estimation, may not be as bad as most all other countries. Your treatment
> appears unfair, regardless of your motives.

I thought today's post by JdL showed quite deliberate reasoning behind his focus on the US/Israeli political interests. I would also note that for whatever skew it may seem *against* Israel by posting this, you more than make up for it by skewing in the other direction. I, myself, don't mind seeing both sides of the issue, and even while it is contentious at times the two of you manage to do that quite well.

Best,
Jon

In a message dated 12/11/03 7:15:45 PM Eastern Standard Time,
JSZANTO@... writes:

> I, myself, don't mind seeing both sides of the issue, and even while it is
> contentious at times the two of you manage to do that quite well.
>
> Best,
> Jon
>

(I have to remind myself not to give Jon a public apology. It shakes his
world too much.)

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, Afmmjr@a... wrote:
> (I have to remind myself not to give Jon a public apology. It
> shakes his world too much.)

This is baffling, but I'm giving the benefit of the doubt and saying "thank you"... I think.

Cheers,
Jon

In a message dated 12/11/2003 4:53:30 PM Eastern Standard Time,
jdl@... writes:

> You agree with me, then, that the U.S. media is biased in favor of Israel?
> Then surely we must also agree that this must be corrected, no?
>
> JdL
>
>

I agree that the media slants in favor of the present administration, as well
as to the corporate entities that own them. The media reflects so many
biases that the only way to deal with them (other than shut them off and out of
mind...to some degree at least) is to read multicultural media and media of
different politics than the majority. There is media representative of diverse
sides, like tunings.

There is no black and white, however, and I don't think we should pretend
that there is. Clearly, not everyone agrees with what Israel or the US is doing.
I'm not sure I agree with what the majority of the world is doing. I
certainly abhor some of the things the world has done in relatively recent history.
But I don't think 2 wrongs make a right. If you slant all your "media"
against Israel, a reader is just as disclined to sense this onesidedness and choose
the opposite on impulse and intuition.

best, Johnny Reinhard

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]