thread: 2008-11-07 : Hope & Courage
On 2008-11-12, Ron Edwards wrote:
Whatever, Ben. I do not accept your argument by analogy, what-if, what-if. There is no "what if." Do not attempt to pose some case which I "obviously" would agree with in order to expose special-case logic. This is about Emanuel's politics, not a technicality of legalism/eligibility.
Your parallels do not apply because in neither case is/was the U.S. wrapped up in such a problematic relationship as we currently are with Israel. As in, our tax dollars hemorrhaging into this nation's military, the way our representatives typically vote and veto in the U.N. Security Council, the role of the Israel Lobby in the run-up to the Iraq War (granted, one of several powerful allied influences), the extent of spying on the U.S., and any number of other confluent, two-way interactions which serve to the detriment of democracy, peace (or shall we say "not carnage"), and human rights in both nations.
All of the above comprises a current, specific destructive situation which is long past crisis and has clearly been intractable to correction via ordinary, representative processes. That's why activism is called for - basic, plain, multi-organization protest against any further entrenchment.
Calling that "exceptionalism" in the sense of the term's traditional use toward Israeli-U.S. issues is bogus. It's a marginalize-opponent term, dismissing an opponent as a weak and prejudiced thinker. My views are specific to the current circumstances, yes, which is nothing more than sensible. Not the same thing.
There are any number of websites where you can butt heads with people about what exceptionalism is and how Israel is or isn't different from whatever country. If this is genuinely about your interest in what *I* actually think, and not an excuse to chop logic in public, then give me a call.
