Ideology Must NOT Trump Reason and Fact
A Counterpoint Editorial
Somehow Sid Shniad’s pro-socialism, anti-capitalism, anti-Israel “68 Years of Struggle and Resistance for Peace, Justice and Freedom” editorial failed to mention that prior to those 68 years, the Palestinians were pro-Hitler and pro-Nazis. Now, how could that fact have been omitted? Shniad seems adept at painting a black and white simplistic picture of Palestine as perfect, while Israel as perfectly evil. Simplistic black and white depictions, as in capitalism is evil and socialism is good, should always be questioned and challenged. To date, capitalist America, thanks to its First Amendment trumps perhaps every country regarding the basic human right of freedom of speech. When I see dubious statements like so many of Shniad’s, I am compelled to respond. Questions need to be posed. For example, what preceded capitalism in the world? Was the world much better off pre-capitalism? Did people live longer? Was there an equality of wealth? Of course, the answers to those questions are NO. Perhaps what preceded capitalism was a kind of pre-capitalism of trade and barter.
As for socialism, some frightening examples exist, including Cuba, Venezuela, China, and the former USSR and Nazi Germany. Because of those examples, I prefer to live under American capitalism, where I can freely express my opinions, more or less… but certainly more than in the country’s cited above… and more than in the socialist-leaning countries of the EU, where freedom of speech has become increasingly restricted. “Rampaging capitalism” did not rampage across China and the USSR. The former is still a communist country, ruled by a dictatorial elite, and tending more and more toward capitalism. And why omit mention of the millions of human beings slaughtered under socialist regimes, both left and right-wing? Capitalism, which Shniad fails egregiously to mention, did bring longer life spans and job opportunities for a greater number of people. It brought some amazing inventions—it put men on the moon and amazing telescopes into space. It brought cars, trains, televisions, radios, and computers. Socialism did not do those things. One problem socialism shares with capitalism is the inevitable wealthy elites. The “impoverishment and degradation of many” is not the result of capitalism. Look at Cuba, Venezuela, and China for that. Capitalism created jobs… and with jobs many people were able to lift themselves out of such impoverishment. “Degradation” is a subjective term. Capitalism, contrary to Shniad’s assertion, actually brought stability, though the communist/socialist dictatorships certainly did that too.
Now, how did the anti-capitalism rant (and I use that term because of the egregious omission of anything positive about capitalism) suddenly turn into an anti-Israel one? If I were to agree with Shniad on one thing, it would be the creation of Israel in the Middle East. Israel should have been created out of part of Germany, though again let’s not forget that the “Palestinians” and other Muslim groups were pro-Hitler and pro-Nazi and pro-incinerate the Jews. Why does Shniad oddly omit such an important fact? Apparently, the Palestinians today haven’t changed that much regarding kill the Jews. I am by no means learned in Zionism, so will not comment much on it. In fact, the term should have been clearly defined in the editorial.
Contrary to Shniad’s assertion, the Islamic jihadis have in fact declared war on the West and Western capitalist values, including and especially freedom of speech, free inquiry, equality of women, gays, blacks, Jews, and the other groups mentioned. Well, Jews were not mentioned, nor were apostates and kuffars like me. How absurdly contradictory and egregiously taqiyya that statement on solidarity with the groups mentioned in the editorial! Taquiyya, by the way, is Islamic approved prevarication used to sucker in or fool Westerners. So, Sharia law is for such equality now? Give me a break!
It is true the West is and has been battling away in the Middle East. But contrary to journalist Chris Hedges, cited in the editorial, the Charlie Hebdo massacre WAS an attack on free speech and free inquiry and WAS rationalized by radical Islam. How Hedges can state the contrary can only be explained by severe indoctrination. How Shniad can agree with him can also only be explained by that. The attackers were radicalized Islamists, like theBoston massacre jihadis, all fed nicely by the “Industrial West.” They were not wretched and starving to death, as Shniad aberrantly implies. Their attack was not one of “nihilistic fury,” but rather one of radical Islam paid for by Al-Qaeda. Why was that fact omitted? Hedges and Shniad are not interested in the truth or facts, but rather only in pushing some odd religion-of-peace narrative, much like Obama.
Charb, editor of Charlie Hebdo was on Al-Qaeda’s Most Wanted List! How did Shniad rationalize omitting such an important fact? Why was he on that list? Well, I’ll tell you why. Charb was on that list because of the cartoons that mocked Muhammad. How can Hedges and Shniad both deny such an egregious fact? Was Charb some ultra-wealthy representative of the capitalist state? Of course not! He was a self-avowed socialist, though with anarchistic inclinations and a particular appreciation of freedom of speech!!! In fact, most if not all the slaughtered cartoonists were socialists! How can one take someone like Shniad seriously, when such facts are purposefully omitted. Finally, Shniad leaves out certain facts about Israel, including that it is the only Democracy in the Middle East and that its parliament contains Muslim members. Where else in the Middle East might such a situation of co-existence between Jews and Muslims occur? No where! Why does Shniad omit mention of the butchery committed in the Middle East against Catholics?
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