[Buddha-l] Buddhism and the "status quo"

[Timothy Smith]

Logical fallacies here galore.  But this ain't the place for it.   
Suffice it to say that there is a certain condescending tone here  
that discourages me from
continuing a dialog with you on this.

Be well.
Timothy Smith
Wheelwright Associates
www.wheelwrightassoc.com

On Sep 21, 2006, at 12:31 PM, Dan Lusthaus wrote:

> Timothy,
>
>  I don't think we can conflate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, Dan.
>
> Yes you can. Anti-semiticzionists do it everyday. That smoke screen  
> is no longer offering any shelter. You slipped up; you need to  
> rehearse. The line is "legitimate criticism of Israel is not  
> antisemitism" [actually it often is, but it needn't be]. Being  
> antizionist is being against the idea of a Jewish state, and since  
> the same people do not declare themselves antimuslim-hegemony-ists,  
> or deny that Irish should have a state, or Iranians, or... it's all  
> smoke and mirrors and mere hypocrisy, and usually a profound  
> ignorance and deep misinformation about the history of the  
> region..But this is not the list for going into all that. (we can  
> take this offlist if you are genuinely interested in why this is  
> the case)
>
> In some respects, Ahmadjinedad and Chavez are saying what many are  
> thinking, that the US' approach
> to working with others, whether friend or foe, has failed.  I think  
> Chavez isn't too far off the mark when he calls Bush "The Devil".
>
> Of course he is. Bush, however repugnant and dangerous he is, is  
> not the devil. Demonizing is a problem, regardless whether the  
> target is the home team those "other guys unlike *me*". If Buddhism  
> doesn't even teach that much, then it really is time to pack it in.  
> Politicians play to particular crowds (you like to be played?; go  
> back and read your Greek philos., e.g., Gorgias; that was rhetoric  
> 101). Follow the rest of A & C's agenda and pronouncements, and the  
> meaninglessness and cynical strategicness of their UN performances  
> will look less exemplary. Geeze, let's help Iran build the A-bomb  
> already and be done with the suspense -- that'll show that weasel  
> Bush!.
>
> As far as fascism is concerned,
>
> Well, we old soldiers of the Left like to throw that word around  
> (much like the McCarthyites used to howl "pinko"), but as right- 
> wing and dangerous as the Bush group is (and they are the puppets  
> of the oil interests, including the Saudis, who bought them the  
> white house, they're not autonomous republicans -- but you knew  
> that), the rest of the right-wing in this country has grown  
> disenfranchised with them. You wouldn't want to live in Iran, since  
> if you did and applauded anyone who said anything remotely about A  
> comparable to what A said about Bush, you'd be dead or in jail  
> (Richard would be in the next cell). In short, you have no idea  
> what fascism is. And you certainly wouldn't want to be a Jew in  
> Chavez' country...
>
> Dan
> _______________________________________________
> buddha-l mailing list
> buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com
> http://mailman.swcp.com/mailman/listinfo/buddha-l

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.swcp.com/mailman/private/buddha-l/attachments/20060921/0422d02a/attachment.html