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Beth Goodtree is a writer specializing in political commentary, Islamism and the Middle East and also writes the occasional science and humor articles. She has a background in advertising and works as a consultant on Islamism and terrorism to a security firm.
Her web site is:
http://hometown.aol.com/bgoodtree/
She may be reached at
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By Beth Goodtree
March 22, 2005
I never thought I'd see the day when Jews tried to censor free thought and speech. But then I never thought I'd see the day when I was no longer the youngest, thinnest and prettiest. However, getting middle-aged and zaftig is not nearly the crime that the Israeli government is now trying to foist upon the Jewish people.
I should have seen it coming. Most recently, a very well known writer on Jewish issues made an appeal to me, supposedly speaking in the name of 24 other writers, to help in censoring a fellow Jewish writer.
To say I was surprised would be an understatement. This censorship-advocating writer was one who had consistently advocated freedom and equal rights, particularly regarding the residents of Yesha, who are about to be ethnically cleansed from their homes, businesses and land.
The writer about whom this campaign of censorship is being secretly waged may be somewhat on the fringe, but does not compare to others whom this censorship campaign has chosen to ignore. For example, I despise every evil fiber in Noam Chomsky's being, yet I would never censor him. Nor would I respect anyone else who made such an attempt.
But shortly before this, Ariel Sharon bullied through a decision to prosecute/persecute those who would speak about resisting the ethnic cleansings he plans in Yesha or against his government.
I shoulda seen it coming.
Why wasn't I taught about this is religious school?
Why wasn't I taught that censorship and fascist rule was the apparent modern-day Jewish way of life. But then again, why wasn't I taught that to be liberal meant to stifle opposition and to pick on and demonize the weakest members of society? Why wasn't I taught that to be liberal meant to advocate ethnic cleansing if you thought it might benefit you?
However, what I have learned through experience is that censorship is the act of a government that is terrified and guilt-ridden. We have seen it before. In Stalin's Russia, in the communist USSR, in WWII Germany, in North Korea, in Saddam's Iraq, in Saudi Arabia and in Iran. In fact, in every despotic regime, when they feel they might lose their stranglehold grip, they resort to censorship. But in the case of Ariel Sharon, this latest move will not work.
Why? Because a word is merely a string of letters indicating a sound. While a word does represent an idea, banning the word does not ban the idea. And it is the idea -- freedom of thought -- that Sharon is now seeking to ban. But I can demonstrate that although the word 'Nazi' may become verboten, I can get the idea across very clearly without ever using it. Here is an example:
Curiously, the powers-that-be seem to be moving Israel closer and closer to another country from our recent past. When I hear about plans to rip infants from the arms of their mothers, I am reminded of this fallen relic.
When I hear about taking away generational homes from Jews, forbidding them on their own land and turning it over to those sworn to their genocide, I am further reminded of this aberration on the history of civilization.
When I hear of assigning four 'specially-trained peacekeepers' to every unarmed man, woman, infant, child and elderly person, to drag them away from their homes and load them into buses to forcibly and permanently remove them from their towns, I am reminded of the crimes against humanity committed by the tools of this fallen relic --the Gestapo, the SS and Hitler's other minions.
When I hear about forbidding Jews to enter certain areas, I am reminded of a Hitlerian Germany that Israel was created to prevent from happening again.
And I said it all without once using the dreaded 'N' word.
So before the law passes, I want to get as much use out of that soon-to-be-banned word as possible. NAZI, NAZI, NAZI...so there! I bet you know who you are.
Banning a simple collection of letters that form a word will not erase the idea that what the Sharon government is doing is the ultimate in despicable evil and reminiscent of the tactics used by that soon-to-be-banned appellation. And the very idea of this ban proves that Sharon and his cronies are running in abject and utter fear.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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