Re: Muddy waters
Antisemittism is a strong tradition in Europe based on having somebody to blame when societies fail to achieve what they expect (during disasters, financial crisis etc.). It has led to harassment, persecution and at some points massacres. In the Middle East it contributes to innocent Jews being blown up on buses etc. so the danger is still present and real.
The racist part of the American right (of which there are quite a few posters on this forum) use the Moslems/Arabs the same way today. Their foreign policy is a complete failure and instead of examining what leads to this failure they nominate a "race" or a religion (differs from person to person) as they then can just praise themselves and eachothers and don't have to confront their own failure in functioning in the modern global landscape. It has not led to persecution or massacres, so it can't be compared to what the Jews have been victim of but they are contributing to building an ideological platform for it to potentially take part in the future (dehumanizing Arabs etc.).
Any sensible person with some basic morals and a perspective that each individual human actually has a value should try to contribute to combat both those forms of extremism as they both pose real dangers. Here I am still left with the feeling that the current actions are a result of just realizing one of those dangers since the latter has been allowed to flourish.
As to whether both forms of extremism are best combated by not allowing it to be expressed or not, I am not certain. I think it may be best to bring it up in daylight as open debate easily shows how senseless and non-constructive both antisemittism and right wing racism is and thus may contribute to the society building a knowledge buffer against it. I understand though if Mason does not want his private poker discussion site to be the arena for that.
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