Monday, July 11

Dennis Prager, God's Chosen Asshole

Evil Targets God's Chosen

Could someone explain to me exactly what Michael Kinsley is doing, or am I too late in askin'?

[Mr. Prager's comments in blue, for fear someone would confuse them with my own.]

Addressing the ball: "If the west understood the meaning of the Muslim terrorism against Israel and of contemporary Muslim anti-Semitism, it would be far better prepared to fight the sort of terrorism that struck London last week."

Words and phrases I take issue with it the above sentence: "west", "understood", "meaning", "Muslim terrorism", "Israel", "contemporary Muslim anti-Semitism", "would", "far better", "prepared", "fight", and "sort of terrorism that struck London". I'll grant the "last week" part.

For "if" the Dennis Pragers of this country would understand that modern day Israelis are not the Israelites of their Bronze Age fantasies, if he would stop picking and choosing which political/ethnic/religious/epithetical designation best fit his argument at the moment, then perhaps we could begin to discuss what real-world solutions might somehow make us more secure. Or quit pussyfootin' and call for a religious war, already. You guys have been practicing political camouflage for so long you can't find the forest or the trees.

You know, Dennis, the State of Israel was founded by groups which, by anybody's definition, used terrorism to further their aims, including blowing up a large building with innocent people inside. Their idea of why God chose them seems to differ somewhat from yours.

The Anti of my anti-semitism is an anti-semite: "However, as almost always happens, too many dismiss anti-Semitism as the Jews' problem or even the Jews' fault, when in fact it is the most accurate predictor of an evil that humanity will have to fight."

Words and phrases I take issue with it the above sentence: "almost always happens", "too many", "dismiss anti-Semitism", "Jews' problem", "Jews' fault", "in fact", "most accurate predictor", "humanity", "will", "have to", "fight".

The Anti of my anti-racism is a racist: "...the claim of Jewish chosenness could not be racist because a) The Jews are not a race. There are Jews of every race. And b) Any person of any race, ethnicity or nationality can become a member of the Jewish people and thereby be as chosen as Abraham, Moses, Jeremiah or the current chief rabbi of Israel. "

Declining the old "I don't own a dictionary" gambit: What, exactly, do you do with your time, Mr. Prager? The idea that there is some genetic Ideal which can be defined as "race" in some meaningful way was finally overthrown about the time you learned to read.

The A Word: "As for the claim of chosenness being irrational or even bizarre, it is so only to an atheist. But anyone, even the atheist, must look at the evidence and conclude that the Jews play a role in history that defies reason. "

Brief rebuttal: No.

End simple hallucination, begin hallucinating in color: "Without the Jews, there would be no Christianity (a fact acknowledged by the great majority of Christians), no Islam (a fact acknowledged by few Muslims) and nothing that developed in those cultures that was based on belief in the God the Jews introduced to the world — such as science and the abolition of slavery."

There may be a slight exaggeration or two in the above: Like, fer instance, the implication of religious intolerance in the made up statistics of the first clause, or the idea that science grew out of monotheism (are you guys planning on writing the Greeks out of high school geometry texts next? I see an investment opportunity). As for the abolition of slavery, while I'm tempted just to say, "Eat shit, Prager," and be done with it, I'd like to mention something that bothers me. It's not that slavery as an institution was tolerated in the West from the beginnings of Christian hegemony until the end of the 19th Century (1888, Brazil, Mr. Prager; US and Western history are not the same thing). It's not that the Christian Bible was used in defense of slavery, and then of racial separation. It's not even that the Christians who played such a large role in the abolition of institutional slavery in the US were not Biblical literalists. It's the simple fact that following the 14th Amendment, a mere 140 years ago, slavery was replaced with an institutionalized racism which by most measures was at least as odious as slavery had been. Those were good white Christian crowds lynching black men and boys for looking at white women, Mr. Prager. With all due respect to the many Christians who fought, and died, for racial equality, the end of institutional racism in this country is the work of activist judges and liberal politicians, the ones you insult on a daily basis.

Tell me again why the Times prints this crap: "The Muslim world is obsessed with the Jews and with annihilating the one Jewish state, an obsession analogous to that of the Nazis. "

Final word, Mr. Riley? I should have stopped at "Eat shit, Prager."

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

i think kinsley runs shit like this to show people what an idiot prager is.

Anonymous said...

So... but the Muslims and Christians and Buddhists also play a huge role in history... Do... how...

I guess your rebuttal there really somes up my feelings on that issue.

And seriously, what's with this new "Science stems from Christianity!" idea? Is there any actual historical evidence for this? Is there even any textual evidence in any of the abrahamic holy books?

Anonymous said...

"Simple rebuttal: No" -- that doesn't exactly inspire confidence in your ability to think. Jews are roughly .25 percent of the world population and 2 percent of U.S. population, yet make up 23% of the world's nobel prize winners and 37% of U.S. nobel price winners. Source: jinfo.org. Jews don't deserve to be treated better than anyone else, but they've had an impact on the world that belies their numbers. You hate Prager so much that you stop thinking as soon as you hear his name.

hidispenser said...

"It's the simple fact that following the 14th Amendment, a mere 140 years ago, slavery was replaced with an institutionalized racism which by most measures was at least as odious as slavery had been."

It must be easy, going through life without having to think before speaking.

Anonymous said...

I see hatred of this sort every day from the Left whenever it concerns virtually any conservative person and often when it concerns the Christian religion and its followers. If you actually listened to Prager's show, you would know that he never spews this kind of hatred and intolerance (whatever happened to the liberal mantra of "give peace a chance" and why is all of the intolerance that I see coming from the Left?). He has contempt for those who commit acts of evil, of course, as should we all, but Leftists don't seem to believe in evil, despite the myriad of examples throughout history (though they do use the word to describe conservatives on a daily basis, which is either ironic or hypocritical).

pwlsax said...

Dennis doesn't rant and fume hatefully on-air for 2 very good reasons.

1. He needs to maintain an air of calm rationality so he can convince his audience he is not quite the bleeding asswipe that Savage or Limbaugh is.

2. He needs to be ready to make caim, seemingly-rational arguments that more-or-less sane, rational ideas/acts/statements/policies are actually evil, based entirely on the fact that they originate from the loony/radical/PC/Mooslem Left.

markkwalker said...

Haha! The Left. Gotta love em.

markkwalker said...

Haha! The Left. Gotta love em.

Unknown said...

"What, exactly, do you do with your time, Mr. Prager? The idea that there is some genetic Ideal which can be defined as "race" in some meaningful way was finally overthrown about the time you learned to read."

Are you fucking kidding me here? You're claiming Mr. Prager is a racist simpy because he used the term race? Prager said nothing about a genetic ideal, all he did was say that the Jews aren't an ethnic group. And I don't think it is particularly hateful or archaic to acknowledge ethnic groups. Your race doesn't determine anything about your character, but people can be classified by race. Racial bounds often coincide with cultural bounds and as a result race is talked about in the contemporary world. The fact that race is discussed makes it a relevant topic. If anything Mr. Prager is devaluing race here because he's attributing Jewish identity to culture instead of race, the fact that he used the damn word doesn't make him a racist.

Also, you're a fucking idiot.