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| December 21, 2006 Editor’s Desk by Aaron Selbig, insurgent49 It’s been an illogical week here at Insurgent Headquarters. The other day, I found this gem in the Insurgent49 email inbox: "This guy, Carl “I hate non-whites, especially Jews” Loerbs must find you worth reading. Next thing you know, he'll invite you over for coffee and cookies … or maybe he already has. Your website is listed on his Alaska blogs and forums section. He must not like my blog though, and I feel so sad! Check it out … alaskapride.blogspot.com." I checked out the site in question and, sure enough, it appears to be, at least in part, a white nationalist site, and it does indeed link to Insurgent49. I do not know the proprietor of this site, however, any better than the publishers of the other websites he links to (such as CNN, the Anchorage Daily News and the office of Ted Stevens) likely do. I am assuming that this writer is attempting to make the point that “all liberals and/or supporters of Palestinian rights are anti-Semites”. Perhaps it was Neil Zawicki’s latest column, in which he calls on Israel to “not become your enemy” while singing the praises of former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth, that set him/her off. Or maybe it was any one of a number of other articles Insurgent49 has published on the subject of oppression in Palestine. It doesn’t really matter. The logic behind the idea that that “all liberals and/or supporters of Palestinian rights are anti-Semites” is illogical, at least to me. It makes about as much sense as these laughable, yet familiar, knee-jerk ideas of the last few years: Those who question the Iraq War hate freedom, soldiers and America. All Muslims want jihad and support terrorism. and Anyone who dares question the right of our government to torture people and erode civil liberties in the name of security is a terrorism supporter who hates freedom, the soldiers and America … and likely has something to hide. Sound familiar? Thankfully, in our society, logic and common sense usually prevail … eventually. For instance, you don’t hear that “those who question the Iraq War hate freedom, soldiers and America” quite as much as you did in 2003, do you? Still, a reactionary conclusion like the one drawn by our email writer begs the question: how do we respond to argumentative points like these that are exasperatingly illogical? The way I see it, we have two choices. We could fight fire with fire, and come up with our own knee-jerk ideas, such as: Israel and those who defend her are Arab-hating warmongers. All Christians and Jews want a “Holy War” and support the destruction of the Middle East. and Those who support torture and the erosion of civil liberties in the name of security are … um … probably gay. The second option, and the best option, is to simply ignore any and all reactionary statements and conclusions. If you ignore your tormentor, my mother used to say, they will eventually lose interest and go away. Makes sense, doesn’t it? And so … that is what I intend to do form now on. No longer will I entertain, even for a moment, emails from people who argue that “all liberals and/or supporters of Palestinian rights are anti-Semites” or make any other kind or purposefully inflammatory illogical statements. Except that … I just did, didn’t I? Damn. Aaron Selbig is an activist and media junkie who resides in an undisclosed location in downtown Anchorage. He is the winner of a 2006 Alaska Press Club award for Best Editorial Writing, host of KUDO 1080 AM's 'The Aaron Selbig Show' and a co-founder of Insurgent49. Aaron may be contacted at editor@insurgent49.com 'Editor's Desk' appears on insurgent49.com every Thursday. |
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