I think Alice is trying to illustrate that both Tutu and Ahmedinajad are essentially saying the same thing--there is no future in Israel's current "apartheid" like policies--but yet it is Ahmedinajad who is villified for advocating genocide, when of course neither man is.
I didn't think that would be ambiguous. It's a device I often use, and that I've used before in my posts to highlight hypocrisy and double standards: I take a passage from a newspaper article and substitute one group or person for another. I find it very effective in removing our blinders.
In this case, all you have to do is open a newspaper or turn on your tv news. Over and over, "experts" and "analysts" are informing us with a straight face, that Ahmedinajad is 'advocating genocide against the Jews'.
Upon this spurious basis, is being built a case for bombing Iran, possibly even with nuclear weapons. The moral justification for a wholesale slaughter of Iranian human beings, and another illegal invasion and occupation, is being erected on this lie. The other justification, equally false, is that Iran represents a nuclear threat.
In a terrifying echo of Saddam's links with al-Qaeda and his massive arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, including nukes aimed at American cities, the drums of agitprop and war mongering are becoming deafening, drowning out reason and facts and justice and decency.
Yet the only difference between what Ahmedinajad said and what Desmond Tutu said, is that the US is not interested in bombing South Africa.
As for the way this thread jumped its tracks and got tangled in the Holocaust quagmire of "how many millions of Jews were murdered by the Nazis?": I don't understand why we can't leave that question for historians to answer. That is their job and their field of expertise. For the record, I think it's very odd that this particular historical topic has been taken out of its proper arena (history) and made into an article of faith.
We might as well go back to the practice of jailing or executing people for things like claiming that the earth is round, or that it revolves around the sun.
Nevertheless, whether 6 million or 10 million or 500, those poor people are already dead, beyond any help that we mortals can give them.
But in their name, and in the name of all those who have been murdered and terrorized and oppressed by rogue terrorist states run amok, it's past time for us to see beyond such artificial and dangerous barriers as religion, race, ethnicity and even gender, which make terrible crimes palatable to people who consider themselves quite moral and decent.
I'm sure there were many good, decent Germans during WWII and before, who were saddened and distressed as they watched their Jewish neighbours being taken away, yet shrugged that the authorities must know what is best. Some may have been grateful that they were spared the grim duty of carrying out the painful, unpleasant, but necessary measures needed to protect the Homeland. Oops. Fatherland.
Although it's true that bullies have huge arsenals and rely on terror and intimidation, it's also true that they rely on the silent complicity of their populations. They're not asking you to back them 100%, just be confused enough to shut up and stay out of it. That's all they need.
Most of us believe that WHAT we believe doesn't matter, that we are helpless to influence the course of events. Yet the very fact that the media and government devote so many enormous resources to shape your opinion, is evidence that they fear the power you think you don't have.
All I was doing with my "shocking" title, was to substitute Tutu for Ahmedinajad, to highlight the fact that both said almost exactly the same thing. The fact that it caused such a stir in itself supports my thesis that a double standard is being applied, that we have fallen for the malicious agitprop of dangerous men, that we have not yet learned the lessons of the Holocaust, or Iraq for that matter.
Laws, principles and standards must be applied equally or they become just another weapon used by the strong to bully and crush the weak.
Oh, and Nordic: how dare you. I know I shouldn't be, because obscene-mouthed misogynists like you are beneath my contempt, but go figure, I am outraged, and hurt that no one else objected.
Several leading diplomats and legal experts have urged the United Nations to charge Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with inciting genocide against Israel.
...
Criminal lawyer and Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz said that if the UN International Court failed to act, then the Jewish people will "reserve the inherent right of self-defence," against a potential Iranian attack.
http://www.itv.com/news/world_fce844572 ... 765c2.html
Canadian Jews: Indict Ahmadinejad
Canadian Jewish and other community groups urged the government to support an indictment against Iran’s president for incitement to genocide.
That was one of several strong recommendations that Jewish community officials made at a protest rally Thursday that attracted some 3,500 people to a Toronto synagogue. The focus was the recent Holocaust denial conference in Tehran, along with the Iranian government’s attempt to acquire nuclear weapons and its repeated calls for Israel’s destruction.
Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, who spoke at the rally, called President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “the Hitler of the 21st century”and urged Canada to help bring him before an international tribunal. The UJA Federation of Greater Toronto and the Canadian Jewish Congress took lead roles in organizing the event, which was supported by a coalition of 120 communal organizations.
http://jta.org/page_view_breaking_story.asp?intid=6186
