The Six-Pointed Star that Separates Good Bigotry From Bad

It is, for instance, perfectly acceptable to criticize someone for acting like a white man. Not so much to criticize someone for acting like a black man. (Both examples are ridiculous, there being no homogeneity within either group.) Criticizing a man for behaving "like a man" is allowed; criticizing a woman for behaving "like a woman" is not. The moral justification for the distinction is unclear and, I suspect, nonexistent.

What brings this to mind just now is the defense by people who ought to know better of a very trendy and stylish form of bigotry which goes something like this: Death to the Jews.

Anti-Semitism is a classic. It has been around for thousands of years, punctuated from time to time by attempts to actually eradicate the Jews for the loathsome crime of . . . being Jews. It's never actually stated that way, though. A convenient excuse is found, some perceived offense, never accurately stated.

The current round of "death to the Jews" involves the nation of Israel having had the audacity to defend itself against the people who have fired thousands of missiles into Israel from nearby territory. The persons attacking Israel are members of Hamas, an organization that has pledged that it will bring about the elimination of the Jews. You don't have to take my word for it. You can read the organization's charter. (There, you will discover that among the Zionist lackey organizations - and no, I'm not making this up - are "Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, the Lions and others in different parts of the world for the purpose of sabotaging societies and achieving Zionist interests.") Hamas operates largely out of an area called the Gaza Strip, because it is close to Israel.

Hamas longs for restoration of "the Islamic Caliphate." You may have heard that phrase recently, if you were among the few paying attention, because it is what an outfit called the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is seeking to re-establish. Yup - different chapters, same club.

Generally speaking, if a country has people on its border attacking it daily and promising the extermination of its people, the country takes that personally and does something about it. And generally, it is thought to be well within its rights in doing so. Unless, of course, that country is the Jewish state.

It is a matter of fact, not opinion, that Hamas likes to put its rocket launchers in schools and hospitals and civilian neighborhoods. It builds tunnels into Israel so as to launch terror attacks. This, too, is undisputed. Nor is the fact that Israel broadcasts the locations it believes contain launch and tunnel facilities and that are likely to be attacked. It broadcasts warnings to the people in those areas. It drops leaflets warning them to get out of the way, with plenty of time for the civilians to do just that. Hamas, though, tells the residents of Gaza to stay at those sites as human shields. CNN's Jake Tapper: "[W]e actually have the video of the Hamas spokesman going on Palestinian television, urging people to serve as human shields, staying in their homes, even if the IDF is warning people in those homes."

No other country in the world would be faulted for taking the actions Israel has taken. Nor has any country ever been faulted for taking far more stringent actions. For instance, an elected official not long ago said, "This is a core principle of my presidency: if you threaten America, you will find no safe haven." This was to justify bombing attacks on persons located several thousand miles away and not firing rockets into American cities. Imagine an official saying, "If you threaten Israel, you will find no safe haven."

The difference? Israel is the Jewish nation. And that, friends, neighbors, and others, is prima facie anti-Semitism. Interestingly, Israel welcomes Palestinians and other non-Jews to live and work there. Palestinian Arabs serve in the Israeli Knesset. Anyone claiming that Israel is a warlike nation does so without the benefit of supporting facts.

But, hey, "Death to the Jews" is an always popular form of bigotry. It appears in various guises, the latest and most popular being "Boycott, Divestment and Sanction," a Palestinian movement primarily preying on the credulity of those saved by tenure from the ravages of reality. Its goal is death of the Jews by starvation.

And so we have a wet-behind-the-ears - literally - young woman dumping a bucket of something red over her head while spouting something brown, the BS of BDS. That's not especially surprising - many college students do things that they are likely later in life to find embarrassing and stupid. That many of her fellow students rushed to her defense is not surprising, either. They're here to learn that they do not yet know everything, and they haven't graduated yet.

That explains the students' reaction, even if it does not forgive it. Children of privilege do so want to feel relevant. The claimed death threats against the bucket woman should, of course, be fully investigated and the result of that investigation be made public. A lot of hate crimes turn out to be other than they seem to be.

Editor's note: Dennis E. Powell was an award-winning reporter in New York and elsewhere before moving to Ohio and becoming a full-time crackpot. His column appears on Mondays. You can reach him at dep@drippingwithirony.com.

Identity politics only matters when you serve The Party.

Even when they are in power, they claim they cannot be racist/sexist because they do not hold the positions of power with which they can do any harm with their bigotry.

... if a country has people on its border attacking it daily and promising the extermination of its people...

Sort of like the US. People on our border (including our water borders), people illegally crossing our border, people within our border; supported by various groups like La Raza, La Mecha, The Socialist International (The organization formerly known as The ComIntern), various black supremacy groups (NOI, BLT, et al), radical Islam, etc., who wish to destroy the US and exterminate all the "White People".

No other country in the world would be faulted for taking the actions Israel has taken

The political Left will fault any nation which takes action to preserve its national identity and to protect its citizens. Certainly the US is faulted for even talking about protecting its borders. If any European country ever tires of being destroyed from the inside, and kicks the barbarians out, they will certainly be faulted by the political Left for doing so.

It isn't just about Anti-Semitism. It's also about attacking any country or people who don't want to be enslaved by the political Left.

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