Communication

Contributions from readers who didn't object to having their email published in Vagabond Pages.

“the most beautiful thing ...” ... “You are too strong to fight” ...

“the most beautiful thing ...”

A friend showed me an article in The Jewish Tribune about a radio show host, Jacques Fabi, who has been suspended because of a conversation he had with a caller who referred to the Holocaust as “the most beautiful thing that could happen in history.” The host seemed sympathetic and told the caller she had the right to celebrate the Holocaust but warned her to be careful, saying that Jews can be annoying and it is taboo to criticize them.

So, the Holocaust becomes not even a matter of murder but a mere matter of opinion. I have no words to express my horror.

Nikole

Caligula had a young man beheaded because he heard him softly clear his throat. There are people who have a morbid fascination with death; they may be sadists/murderers themselves or obsessed with those who do it. For example, there are people who want to rent the house where Jeffrey Dahmer murdered and cannibalized his victims because that is where it took place. How can it be anything but pathological? Simple answer: because it exists. There is an infinite variety of pro and contra on practically every subject. There are people who like Schubert and people who like extermination. Even in nature we see gratuitous cruelty; there are birds – I don’t remember which – that before consuming insects, puncture them with a thorn. It’s just an instinct. Cats have a natural tendency to play with their mouse victims. There are people, empathetic, who are charitable and there are people who are excited by weakness, even orgiastically. Therefore, because we live in a super diverse and Darwinist universe, there is nothing more important for the potential victim than to be aware and to reach for more power. Police, law, cannot always intervene. There must be neighbourly vigilance to protect the weak and vivid interest in self defence by everybody. To the victims I’d say ‘Be united like the cruel ones are.’ This is the biggest imperative for everybody. The stronger wins ,,. WM

“You are too strong to fight”

Dear William,
In one of your articles, “Almanzor’s Revenge” you describe the poem by Mickiewicz where the Moorish leader, Almanzor, contaminates himself with plague so that he can destroy the Spanish invaders. If Hamas and its like are fanatic enough to commit collective suicide on themselves and their own population, like the Jihadists do, in the name of Holy Martyrdom – does that mean that Israel has no right to defend its own population to the maximum because -- it’s too strong?!

When Hamas throws missiles at Israel, it’s not military action because it’s almost only civilians who are targeted; the missile just goes blindly into the territory. The goal is to scare Israel and empty Israel of Israelis. That’s not military. It’s obvious but it doesn’t seem to bother anybody except Israel. And when Israel responds, everybody protests that Israel has no right to use maximum power because it’s too strong! Nowhere in the world was this philosophy of military action used. If those reactions to Israel are not anti-Semitic I wonder what it is.

I don’t know if it’s anti Semitic but it’s surely confusing. As for political wisdom, Israel could use its power otherwise, toward peace and not war. It’s enough to recognize the West Bank as a sovereign place, which Israel accepted when it put its signature on the Peace Agreement. Everything would change. No more illegal settlements in the West Bank, no more occupation one way or another. Negotiations could remain around Jerusalem’s status and Hamas would not have legal or moral rights to isolate Gaza from the West Bank. Probably new elections would take place WM

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William Markiewicz