Side Note to Previous Blog Entry about Roger Waters and Anti-Semitism

It still seems preposterous to me that people would seriously assume that Roger Waters is some bigoted anti-Semite because of the display of the Star of David on the famous pig that floats around during his concerts.

If I seriously thought, even for a minute, that Roger Waters seriously was, in fact, an anti-Semite, I would no longer be a fan of his. So, when I mentioned that I was still a big fan, the spirit that I meant that in is that I simply do not believe in the least any presumptions that he is anti-Semitic. It sounds as preposterous to me as the similar claims that former President Jimmy Carter was anti-Semitic, when he got in hot water over the title of his book, "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid".

Not only do I not think that either man was anti-Semitic, but I reject the automatic thinking by far too many that criticism of Israel in general is tantamount to anti-Semitism. That argument seems to be heard a lot, and gets a lot of press. But that does not make increase the validity, because validity is precisely what these arguments lack. They themselves are prejudices arguments, meant to dismiss any criticism of Israel, and to scare off anyone even thinking of criticizing Israel with insinuations of anti-Semitism. People often have the same reactions and disgust when someone (like, say, Mel Gibson, who truly is anti-Semitic) makes news for saying or acting anti-Semitic, in a similar way to how people get disgusted when someone is accused or found guilty of child molestation or child pornography. That is enough to scare most people away, obviously.

But criticism of Israel's harsh and brutal practices simply is not anti-Semitism. Israel is hardly beyond reproach. No country is.

To prove it, I intend to research, and then write, within one week of today, a blog that examines more closely the harshness of Israel's policies towards Palestinians.

And again, I just might be watching "The Wall", live from Berlin, by Roger Waters, while so doing. It is among my favorite concerts of all, one that I wish I had attended personally. It took place on July 21, 1990, not long after the Berlin Wall came down in the fall of 1989, and shortly before East and West Germany officially reunited in October of 1990.