What is Digg?236 Comments
- millixaw, on 10/12/2007, -11/+59FTA: "Two in five Americans believe that Israel was given to the Jewish people by God, and one in three say that the creation of the state of Israel was a step towards the Second Coming."
This is exactly what's wrong with this country (USA) and the amount of religious leaders in politics. They actually believe that the Second Coming is, well, coming and that America ("God's Nation") is at the fore-front of the rapture. Supporting Israel goes along with the Armageddon prophesy, even if most Christian Americans actually don't like Jews. - texaspete1978, on 10/12/2007, -19/+66The reason is because we are shielded from the truth about Israel. We have a right to know what the Israelis have been doing with our money and our weapons for the past 40 years.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7828123714384920696
Thank God for the internet! - TruthElixirX, on 10/12/2007, -3/+36The best thing about democracy is the majority is in control.
The worst thing about democracy is the majority is in control. - friend18, on 10/12/2007, -5/+34Maybe it's the media's propaganda tactics like refering to Israel as "she" and calling Israel "the good guys"
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+29New York City has the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, in the whole world.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+30@endtime
"Flagged as inaccurate for bias."
Idiot-to-english translation: flagged as inaccurate for not telling me what I want to hear. - blackjack75, on 10/12/2007, -0/+24@oala
"If only the US did not create israel, after the world war 2, it would have been a long time peace. None of this would happen."
Actually the U.S. were not for the creation of Israel. It was mostly european country (UK above all) who supported it. The 100% support for israel really began with the hardening of the cold war. - lived666, on 10/12/2007, -6/+29@tailboom22 We give Israel 3 billion dollars a year in aid. American taxpayers pay for those missiles and bombs
- Atavachron, on 10/12/2007, -1/+24"One of the big problems with their statistics is that countries like Spain and other EU countries have a large population of Arabs working in their counties."
Not Quite. Muslim population in USA is around 2%. More than Germany (1.7%) or Spain (1/1.5%) and a bit less than UK (2.5 %). Only France has a considerable number of Muslims (5%). - Dogtown7, on 10/12/2007, -1/+21Bah...don't you guys see it? Israel - Palestine is a proxy battle used by countries looking to counter US influence and gain infuence over a very oil-rich section of the world. US was/is a super - super power...China, Russia, even the EU are looking to blunt US's unfettered influence. Has nothing to do with details of who is right or wrong in this conflict. If there was any world situation that arised, we would see the same forces line up against the US. US's best hope to retain the lead in world affairs is to chip away at the alliances that grown recently. No big player in the region wants the conflict solved, since it weakens the number 1 power in the world.
- friend18, on 10/12/2007, -6/+26Not backing Israel doesn't make you an Anti-semite. Israel is a country, with borders and a government. Leave religion out of it. Acusing everyone who doesn't support Israel of being a n anti-semite is absurd. I never even brought up the currect conflict going on.
- Arizona_Glover, on 10/12/2007, -3/+22I read this story a couple of days ago... and before I go any further I should probably disclaim: as a subscriber of the Economist I hold the publication in high regards.
It is great that digg has moved beyond the PS3, Wii, Xbox360 and is now ready to grapple some real issues.
Oh and the less American TV you watch the smarter you are. - friend18, on 10/12/2007, -3/+22There is one more thing I forgot to mention in my first post. Anyone who says anything negative about Israel is labeled an anti semite. As you can see some of the comments here have already done this.
- spectrm, on 10/12/2007, -7/+26@BluKnight
The problem is that, at least here in the US, religion *IS* being forced down the throats of the people. It wasn't until the 1900s that "under god" was added to the Pledge of Allegiance. "In God We Trust" was stamped on Federal Reserve money only after the Federal Reserve was entrusted with the task of printing money (1913).
Abortion is always on the brink of abolishment, gays still can't marry because "it mocks the sanctity of the institution of marriage and smears family values" - mind you, those are values that someone else decides they can dictate to me. Hell...religion was used to justify slavery.
The problem is that religion ALWAYS infringes on someone elses rights. It's just that no one pays attention because religion (the "opiate of the masses" as Karl Marx so brilliantly observed) appeases those who follow it to the point where they ignore their non-faith neighbor or seek to find what's wrong with them instead of accepting their ideology. - millixaw, on 10/12/2007, -10/+28Not me. I don't give full, blind, unconditional support to Isreal. I frankly don't agree with what they've done to the Palestinians.
- friend18, on 10/12/2007, -5/+23phenominaly stupid? The U.S. DOES give Israel a free pass for destruction. They can bomb whoever they want, kill whoever they want. Put the currect issue aside.
- Daiken, on 10/12/2007, -6/+24Israel is fighting to survive because all they've been doing for the past 50 years or so is fueling the fire that will eventually burn them. Killing primarily civilians in its so called war is not going to earn them any sort of sympathy.
- gaspy, on 10/12/2007, -4/+22Have you ever stopped to ask HOW it came to existence and WHY it is continuously under attack? Please read some history books rather than watching Fox/CNN and you'll understand.
- inigoalonso, on 10/12/2007, -7/+23"countries like Spain and other EU countries have a large population of Arabs working in their counties"
Even if we consider that every African and Asian immigrant living in Spain is a muslin (there are no Arabs in Africa and most of the population in the middle east is Persian) only 1 out of 44 millions of people are Muslims living in Spain. People here do not symphatise with rich countries invading poor ones and with people that murder civilians and that's just what Israel is doing. - bloqmon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18Not only watch more foreign news, but if you get the chance visit other countries. And not only countries that hold your political/religious beliefs, to better understand the otherside get to know it. It will really open your eyes.
- Chompy, on 10/12/2007, -7/+23You see a disproportionate number of Jews in power because Jewish folks, as a culture, value education more than most other folks.
- friend18, on 10/12/2007, -6/+21WHAT BIGOTRY? As I've proven before Israel is a country not a religion. You arent a bigot if you don't support a country. You have failed repeatedly at proving any kind of point. The only thing you've done here is call people stupid and anti semites without any kind of evidence. Israel has fought for it's survival? Wtf are you even talking about and what does that prove. Being 100% behind anything is 1:Idiotic, anyone who is 100% behind anything must not be aware of skeptisism and scientific method. You have to constantly question. You can blindly follow something 100%. Israel does have a free pass to do whatever they want, they bombed an Iraqi Nuclear Reactor, WHICH ISN'T ALLOWED, and didn't suffer any punishment or slap on the wrist. They can do whatever they want because Israel has military might, money, and U.S. backing.
- Daiken, on 10/12/2007, -8/+23Good article. Might open up a few US citizens' eyes, although it's doubtful. No country in the world deserves such unconditional support and protection to commit mass murder as the US allows Israel.
- Bioshocker, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16"WTF, only an idiot would not blame Hizballah for this war. Flagged as inaccurate for bias."
That's right, a neutral article discussing both sides of the story is biased because you happened to find one statement you disagreed with.
Sometimes I want to reach through my screen and bash a poster's head open just to see if they have even a peanut of a brain in there. - blackjack75, on 10/12/2007, -3/+18"The fact that they are the only country with Western values in the immediate region. "
Lebanon has more western values. It's a democracy, open to foreign culture and economy exchanges with anyone. It is (or was... ) and example for all other arab countries. In Lebanon about half the people are muslim and the other are christian (or atheists). And everytime they fought each other in this last century Israel was involved. Read about the past of Ariel Sharon in Lebanon:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabra_and_Shatila_massacre
Lebanon has always had a policy of accepting all cultures and religions. On the other side Israel is a state with the goal of being jewish. This means that while they accept a minority of arabs (about 1/6) they would not accept either a majority or even a equal proportion. As you know since 2005 palestine (a.k.a 'the territories') holds as many arabs as israel has jews (about 6 millions on each side). This is the only reason why they don't want (anymore) to annex those territories. They don't want the arabs who live there.
Now, ask yourself a question. What do you think of a country who wants to limit the population of a certain race, religion? Are those 'western values' ? Would you support a state policy to limit the amount of Jews, Sikh or Catholics in the U.S?
The whole idea behind the creation of Israel was to give jews a place where they could live in peace and not be massacred by ... ironically, us. What have we given them? The opportunity to massacre other guys. Are they safer now ?
There was already a place where jews could go to escape oppression. It is called the United States of America. The smartest fled from eastern Europe to America, and those with blind and hardened religious/politicial views moved to Israel.
The result is that in the end you americans get Jon 'Stewart' and Israel gets yet-another stupid-colon dreaming to recreate the great Israel of king David, no matter what this costs to his own people or others. - friend18, on 10/12/2007, -7/+21Anyone who says anything about Israel is an Anti-semite? That's a cheap shot. Israel is a country not a religion. I hate it when people say that. Seperation of Church and State.
- Osjpr, on 10/12/2007, -8/+22@dugg2death
You're the ignorant one. Israel is a terrorist nation. The only reason it can act like it does is because the United States has stopped the United Nations from acting against it, by abusing it's veto power. - bloqmon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Skin color? Have you even been to Israel? I just moved back to the US after living there for 4 years and let me tell you, skin color between Israelis and Arabs is not so different. The main reason for this is that many Israelis are actually Arab in background (came from Iraq and countries in northern Africa), kinda known as sephardim. I also lived in Saudi Arabia for 4 years so I've seen both sides of the spectrum.
- gothsquirrel, on 10/12/2007, -21/+34One of the big problems with their statistics is that countries like Spain and other EU countries have a large population of Arabs working in their counties. Needless to say most Arabs don't support Israel in anything just like most Americans seem to blindly support the Israelis against anything they do against their Arab nations. I wish that the bias against the people of the middle east was a little more balanced around the world so that more people would see that terrible things are happening on both sides.
- sanman, on 10/12/2007, -13/+26I typed in "Lebanon" into the search field and got a bazillion hits (Note to Digg: why not show the number of search results?)
I typed in Darfur, and guess what -- I got all of 4 hits.
Our Neo-Libs, Islamists and similarly selective humanitarians will holler over Beirut, but I don't see them saying much of anything on Darfur, despite a death toll in the hundreds of thousands. It's the Red-Green Show! - BillDoor, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15@Dugg2Death
Who blow up the King David Hotel?
Who kidnapped two British soldiers, hung them and then booby trapped the bodies?
Who broke into to a British army barracks and machine gunned all the soldiers in their sleep?
I'll give you a hint it wasn't to a Muslim. - reddevil3, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14Your comment reminds me of the clip where the Fox News guy was shot at in Lebanon. The dumbass anchor goes "But it's Israel..."
- Stevethegreat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12@ Dugg2Death: Wow is this a personal attack or what? Except of not seeing the relevance of your comment to the main topic, I have to inform you that I have really read a lot more history than you may believe. The fact that at times I was dugg down doesn't indicate my ignorance, it indicates that people who disagree with my skepticism digg me down by characterizing my comments as inaccurate. I take no offense as this board is faceless (unlike a real conversation), I just have to present my skepticism according to the many historic books I have read. I'm saying again, I'm not anti-Semite, I'm European and as a European I can't applaud Israelis' tactics, I want to be as open-minded as possible.
But enough with this, the comment of mine you replied to was spot on and on topic, I can't see why you attacked me. - olala, on 10/12/2007, -21/+32If only the US did not create israel, after the world war 2, it would have been a long time peace. None of this would happen.
- furiouszebra, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Israel? Underdogs? Haha.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15People like Dugg2Death equate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism because they have no counter arguments. They think that if they can accuse their opponents of bigotry loud and long enough, people will somehow forget what the discussion was originally about. Read over this discussion: has mattjumbo or Dugg2Death offered a single cogent comment?
- Schpariel, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12"Israel" IS opressing the region, their "size" and the portion they occupy don't really matter, they are supported & protected by the USA and they have the green light from the UN & the US to do whatever they want...
Thanks for feeding us some Zionist propaganda.. "Israel" isn't a tiny poor nation that's surrounded by evil Arabs.. NO!
They're the strongest country in the region, they some of the most modern military equipment in the world, and they have nukes.
Everyone knows that the USA will rush to their aid if things go worse.. They wouldn't even exist without US aid to begin with!
Dugg2Death: STFU, an "educated" person doesn't have to support Israel as you claim. An educated person won't read your BS propaganda. - jerbaker, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12@chompy
Isn't it bigotry to single out a particular race or religion and assign some sort of trait to them? Or, does that only apply to negative traits?
Jews value education more than most = OK?
Jews value money more than most = BAD? - friend18, on 10/12/2007, -4/+14If the United States was poor/***** and Puerto Rico had a huge military and funding from a distant foreign power than it wouldn't be irrational to say Puerto Rico was a threat. It doesn't matter how small Israel is on the map. They have huge military force and economic funding that the neighboring countries can not even come close to.
- Daiken, on 10/12/2007, -4/+14WTF? Islam is just a bit larger than Judaism? What are you smoking? There are like over a billion Muslims, and maybe 10 or 15 million Jews.
- Chompy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13Oh yeah, the media's been super supportive of Israel the last few weeks.
- pnezzy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Religion is a dangerous tool. It's something that shouldn't be used at all. Looking back at history, there are countless examples religion and politics together being a bad thing: Terrorist groups, Nazis(Deuteronomy 20), Crusades(Many Christians slayed as well as Muslims), KKK (Claimed the King James version of the Bible was deliberately mistranslated)... I'm sure you guys can probably name a lot more. Israel's had it's fair share.
Technically, in Islam, aggressive holy war is forbidden. But the Terrorist find loopholes or take things way out of context, a lot like the literalist...
It's awfully tempting to say if there was no religion, we wouldn't have these problems. But we'd still fight. We'd just have to find another excuse.
I dunno, I'm tired. People need to leave each other alone.
Keep thy religion to thyself - George Carlin - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13@spectrm
Ramen brother, his noodly appendage has definately touched you too! - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12@Dugg2Death:
The only irrational, uneducated bigot here is you. Stop projecting your failures on your betters. - BrainInAJar, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12"that pesky Christian right and their founding of western civilization"
For that, I give credit to the pagan Greeks, not the christians... - borninda818, on 10/12/2007, -7/+16it's a democracy...there should be something we could do about it.
- blackjack75, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10@Dugg2Death
Well, since you're sayig we should be so smart (hence blindly supporting all israeli actions) with all our good education, I wonder what your education is to make you so supportive of the current governement in israel.
Let me guess... you got a degree in FoxNews watching? - Lanser84, on 10/12/2007, -14/+23yah...um...its the lobbyists and not:
The fact that they are the only country with Western values in the immediate region. And, from that shared interest:
35 years of backing us up against the Soviet Union (vs various other powers in the Mid-East backing the USSR).
The fact that they are one of the only countries that consisently backs us in the UN. - Rep1984nz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8To this understand this "War" , you have to look at it from a big picture POV.
US policy is to overthrow the Iranian Govt. (since 79 because the 7 Sisters didn't like them taking back their own oil) , and Syrian Govt (recent policy because it's Baathist etc).
Knowing that A. war is coming to both of their Govt's and B. they need wider support from Middle Eastern people and their Govt's via the creation of a wider conflict.
At the same time in Iraq , with a death toll running @ 100 people a day (Civil War by any measure) the country is about to be divided along Shiite and Sunni and Kurdish lines , and the confidence that US Forces can't hold even Iraq in a peaceful economic state.
And at the same time the Palestinian issue is the trigger and dove form the whole wider conflict.
- Stevethegreat, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10No, they were Nazi, the 0.000001% of Europe's population at that time.. Your ignorance on historical events is -to the least- annoying
-
Show 51 - 100 of 236 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is