Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Fireflies and Mousketeers
1. Fireflies
The Caring Classes in Israel, including much of the leftist media,
are suddenly all aghast because of the attempted suicide by a leftist
"social justice" protester. The "protester," one Moshe Silnan,
attempted to commit Oslo by lighting himself on fire. It is of course
possible that Silman was mentally ill, in which case his failed
attempt at suicide (which left him badly injured) is indeed a tragedy.
It is also possible that he is an attention junkie.
He was active in radical leftist groups, including those engaged
in protest over "social justice." His personal grievances seem to be
over the refusal of Israel's National Insurance Institute (similar to
Social Security, but also in charge of welfare payments) to keep him
on the dole. The guy in fact owed back money to the Institute. He is
57, and I say this as someone older than him - that there is no
visible indication that he could not seek a job. And trust me when I
say that he is healthier than I am physically (I do not know about
mentally). He claimed he was trying to commit suicide because he was
angry at the state of Israel and its Prime Minister. See
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israeli-man-sets-himself-on-fire-during-tel-aviv-social-protest-1.451041
Those my age recall the Buddhist monks setting themselves on fire in
Vietnam as protest. Silman is no Buddhist.
Silman instantly became the poster boy for the leftist "social
justice" protesters. You see, they bleat in unison, Israel is so
unjust and so anti-egalitarian that inequality is driving people to
SUICIDE! Never mind that the suicide rates in those lovely
egalitarian Scandinavian countries are much, much higher than those in
Israel and much higher than those in the worst most inequitable
capitalist societies!
Copycats began to show up hours after the Silman story. A welfare
recipient in Beer Sheba came to the City Hall this week and also
threatened to set himself on fire. He failed to deliver on the
threat. A Russian 36 year old committed suicide recently by hanging
himself. The Left (and Haaretz) decided that he must have also been
upset over inequality.
Meanwhile, the tenured Left got REALLY REALLY upset when it turned
out that a professor at Ariel College commented on his Facebook page
about Silman and referred to him as a parasite. Amir Hetsroni teaches
communications there. The leftists grasped onto the "incident" in
part because the government is debating this week whether to upgrade
Ariel College to full university status. The tenured Left is leading
the jihad to prevent that from happening, because the upgrade would
eat into the loot divvied out to the OTHER universities and of course
because they disapprove of the fact that Ariel is located on the
correct side of the old Green Line. Never mind that Ariel is a more
serious academic institution than Ben Gurion University and never mind
that lots and lots of Ariel students are in fact West Bank Arab
"Palestinians."
The professorial chat lists have been filled with hand-wring by
eye-rolling leftists expressing their horror at the comments by
Hetsroni, whose freedom of speech was in their opinion forfeited the
moment he dared utter a politically incorrect sentiment. But the
irony is that the campaign against Hetsroni on these chat lists was
launched and led by one Ofer Cassif, who teaches political science at
a minor community college in Israel. Cassif, it turns out, is a
member of the central committee of the Stalinist Israeli Communist
Party. See http://isracampus.org.il/third%20level%20pages/Editorial%20-%20Ari%20Ben%20David%20-%20TA-Jaffa%20College%20-%20Ofer%20Cassif%20-%20publication-less%20wonder.htm
So the same guy leading the charge against the Ariel professor who
dared in an insensitive manner to dismiss Silman as a "parasite" is
also a leader of the party that celebrates and defends the mass
murders by fellow communists of tens of millions of people as
parasites. So his ultra-sensitivity about the word and the concept
appears to be a bit selective, would you not say, Comradeski?
2. Minnie Mouse, better known as Abigail Disney, is the daughter of
Walt and she is the bimbo mogulette scioness mouseketeer of the Disney
fortune and dynasty. She is upset with the Israeli cosmetics firm
Ahava (whose name means LOVE) and is boycotting it. She owns some
stock in the company and says she is so upset that the company
harvests minerals from the "Palestinian" Dead Sea that she will be
donating all her stock dividends from her investments in AHAVA to
those who are protesting this "injustice" and "exploitation." I
suppose by that she means the Hamas terrorists. She says she is
horrified by "occupation," but not enough to turn the territories she
owns in Anaheim and Orlando over to any Indian tribes.
She wants a Palestinian state? Let her wait for it in the endless
queue to ride Thunder Mountain, from which few ever return in tact.
The Caring Classes in Israel, including much of the leftist media,
are suddenly all aghast because of the attempted suicide by a leftist
"social justice" protester. The "protester," one Moshe Silnan,
attempted to commit Oslo by lighting himself on fire. It is of course
possible that Silman was mentally ill, in which case his failed
attempt at suicide (which left him badly injured) is indeed a tragedy.
It is also possible that he is an attention junkie.
He was active in radical leftist groups, including those engaged
in protest over "social justice." His personal grievances seem to be
over the refusal of Israel's National Insurance Institute (similar to
Social Security, but also in charge of welfare payments) to keep him
on the dole. The guy in fact owed back money to the Institute. He is
57, and I say this as someone older than him - that there is no
visible indication that he could not seek a job. And trust me when I
say that he is healthier than I am physically (I do not know about
mentally). He claimed he was trying to commit suicide because he was
angry at the state of Israel and its Prime Minister. See
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israeli-man-sets-himself-on-fire-during-tel-aviv-social-protest-1.451041
Those my age recall the Buddhist monks setting themselves on fire in
Vietnam as protest. Silman is no Buddhist.
Silman instantly became the poster boy for the leftist "social
justice" protesters. You see, they bleat in unison, Israel is so
unjust and so anti-egalitarian that inequality is driving people to
SUICIDE! Never mind that the suicide rates in those lovely
egalitarian Scandinavian countries are much, much higher than those in
Israel and much higher than those in the worst most inequitable
capitalist societies!
Copycats began to show up hours after the Silman story. A welfare
recipient in Beer Sheba came to the City Hall this week and also
threatened to set himself on fire. He failed to deliver on the
threat. A Russian 36 year old committed suicide recently by hanging
himself. The Left (and Haaretz) decided that he must have also been
upset over inequality.
Meanwhile, the tenured Left got REALLY REALLY upset when it turned
out that a professor at Ariel College commented on his Facebook page
about Silman and referred to him as a parasite. Amir Hetsroni teaches
communications there. The leftists grasped onto the "incident" in
part because the government is debating this week whether to upgrade
Ariel College to full university status. The tenured Left is leading
the jihad to prevent that from happening, because the upgrade would
eat into the loot divvied out to the OTHER universities and of course
because they disapprove of the fact that Ariel is located on the
correct side of the old Green Line. Never mind that Ariel is a more
serious academic institution than Ben Gurion University and never mind
that lots and lots of Ariel students are in fact West Bank Arab
"Palestinians."
The professorial chat lists have been filled with hand-wring by
eye-rolling leftists expressing their horror at the comments by
Hetsroni, whose freedom of speech was in their opinion forfeited the
moment he dared utter a politically incorrect sentiment. But the
irony is that the campaign against Hetsroni on these chat lists was
launched and led by one Ofer Cassif, who teaches political science at
a minor community college in Israel. Cassif, it turns out, is a
member of the central committee of the Stalinist Israeli Communist
Party. See http://isracampus.org.il/third%20level%20pages/Editorial%20-%20Ari%20Ben%20David%20-%20TA-Jaffa%20College%20-%20Ofer%20Cassif%20-%20publication-less%20wonder.htm
So the same guy leading the charge against the Ariel professor who
dared in an insensitive manner to dismiss Silman as a "parasite" is
also a leader of the party that celebrates and defends the mass
murders by fellow communists of tens of millions of people as
parasites. So his ultra-sensitivity about the word and the concept
appears to be a bit selective, would you not say, Comradeski?
2. Minnie Mouse, better known as Abigail Disney, is the daughter of
Walt and she is the bimbo mogulette scioness mouseketeer of the Disney
fortune and dynasty. She is upset with the Israeli cosmetics firm
Ahava (whose name means LOVE) and is boycotting it. She owns some
stock in the company and says she is so upset that the company
harvests minerals from the "Palestinian" Dead Sea that she will be
donating all her stock dividends from her investments in AHAVA to
those who are protesting this "injustice" and "exploitation." I
suppose by that she means the Hamas terrorists. She says she is
horrified by "occupation," but not enough to turn the territories she
owns in Anaheim and Orlando over to any Indian tribes.
She wants a Palestinian state? Let her wait for it in the endless
queue to ride Thunder Mountain, from which few ever return in tact.
# posted by Steven Plaut : 6:43 AM
