I trust people will remember my Jan 9th blog, based on Anshel Pfeffer's helpful JC article on the death from tear-gas of a woman at the Bil'in demonstration.
There were many responses to that blog, ending with this rather typical one from jose:
"jose 10 January, 2011 - 04:29 : Any intention to apologise for your blood libel, Walinuts?"
I replied to all the comments I'd received. But to my surprise, straight after my reply came this message:
"Anonymous 12 January, 2011 - 15:59 : Comments for this page are now closed."
I emailed Webmaster, who told me this closure was because "The comments on the blog had descended into name-calling and it was no longer a constructive debate." (The name 'Anonymous' had been a site error, should have been 'Administrator').
This was distressing, precisely because my response had been DRAWING ATTENTION to the name-calling and urging people to stop it and look again at what Anschel Pfeffer had actually written, and comment on that.
So -- since people weren't able to do that because the blog had been closed, I'll now copy my last comment below: and I invite people to take up the points I'd made. I hope you all will.
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Stanley Walinets
12 January, 2011 - 14:57
Oh my God!
Why don't such commenters as 'jose', 'Yoni1', 'amber' and the rest of them above (who perhaps understandably hide behind anonimity)- WHY do not they EVER read what I've written but simply leap into their (often semi-literate) howls of insults? Do you people really sincerely believe that if you see any facts you don't like, you can prove there's no truth in them by simply shrieking, and insulting, and even mis-spelling names (eg 'Walinuts') just like the kids in the playground did when I was at school? Is that how you believe truth can be found? Even Mr Hoffman spells my name correctly, though he regards it as a swear-word...
But look. I'm a patient man. So I have to point out that none of you - NONE OF YOU - have acknowledged above that what I've written there is simply quoting the article by the JC's Jerusalem correspondent Anshel Pfeffer. NONE of you seems to have even read it. Or perhaps you have, and have written to him to scream at him to stop being a self-hater...
I'll forgive you. Just read what he wrote and what I quoted. If you'll look at it again, I wrote:-
"Perhaps Anshel's article still doesn't give an absolutely clear answer. But if you're prepared to read it carefully, then re-read Mr Hoffman's version, you will see Mr H has not checked his sources honestly (perhaps he was overcome by his perceived smell of ordure...)."
I went on:-
"What's really important is that we read especially carefully paragraphs 4,5,and 7. (GO ON, READ THOSE NOW!) They show there's a whole important background to this incident going back several years; mentioning the IDF's refusal to carry out the Supreme Court Order; the 21 Palestinians who've been killed and others injured during these protests; and the reasons behind these protests - the village cut off from a large part of its agricultural land."
"I sincerely hope, dear friends, (I wrote) that you will consider this event and its history and begin to think how we ourselves would like to be treated like this."
Now - do it. Or forever give up any claim to have the ability Jews have for centuries been proud of, the ability to consider facts and think with wisdom.
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I look forward to your reasoned comments. And I'm sure Webmaster does too.
