Thehim

"The him" is the nom de web of Lee Rosenberg, a self announced liberal, employed in the software industry, and generally rationally liberal. Thehe is married to theher and edits a Blog.


I recommend Lee's blog for an occasional well done essay on plotics. he can be thoughtful and often is knowledgeable. Except when it comes to one thing. Somehow, Lee has a serious aversion to ethnicity.

This all started out with a diatribe he wrote about my comments about the Quran and Muslim teachings. Like some 60's kid yelling on the street, he accused me of all sorts of evil thoughts. No effort to reassure him that I was smart enough to distinguish the bad from the good, would help. To make matters worse, when he writes about me Lee seems to acquire coprolalia (another word for Tourette's syndrome, an illness where people spout obscenities for no apprarent reason).

Why me? Lee apparently resents my being openly Jewish. As matters progressed, it turns out that Lee has some sort of a problem with Jews, at least Jews who think being Jewish is different form not being Jewish. He identifies himself as being of "Jewish roots" but then spouts forth, for no apparent reason, and becomes defensive about his being intermarried and never having had a bar mitzvah. I would feel badly if I had ever said anything critical about these issues but it sseems to have arisen with thehim himself. I care no more about thehim's roots than Id about Madeline Albright's.

My guess is that Lee is a self conscious Jew who has, unfortunately, assimilated a lot of the subtle antisemitism that refuses to distinguish Jewish identity and pride from arrogance, ethnic superiority, and ...yes .. racism. All this from someone who claims (I find this hard to believe) to know nothing whatsoever about Judaism. I told him how proud I am of all the Nobel's we have won and he, of course, got angry and disparaged me for believing the Jewish heritage had anything to do with all this.

To compound all the criticizes ethnicity of the Jews as "tribalism," that classical Eurocentric distinction between "our" nations and the primitive folk's "tribes"." As in .. "It is unfortunate that the Nigerians can not rise above tribalism." Tell that to my Ibo classmate! Now, now ,, the quote is not from Lee, but it is the kind of racist clap Eurocentric folks say all the time.

The latest contre-temps came when he started swearing at me for expressing my respect for our County Executive, Ron Sims. Ron is a Black politician in the best sense. He is a role;e model for Black kids and has worked hard, when he was a local rep, to help the black community. He speaks movingly of the role his origins, church and culture, have had in shaping his career. He is a proud, successful Black man. But, not to The he. The he wants to rob Ron and the Black community of any pride but that of coming from a good home.

Of course, like all Eurocentrics, he is blind to the fact that his culture is a dominating culture. By denying Ron's ethnic origins, Lee is, in effect saying that the only good society is the he's own. Lee's predecessors are the very people who did so much damage to the cultures of the people's of Puget Sound.

Take a look at his Blog for more. The good part is that he has a lot of good things to say on other issues. But don;t call him a Jew, he might consider that an insult.