This is an essay about an accolade I received from Thehim, a priggish liberal, self described as being Jewish by descent. I am , I suppose honored.
Thehim hates me and showed that hatred, ironically in a thread devoted to free speech. He did this by deleting comments I made about why our buses SHOULD carry ads from a group opposed to Israel. The irony is comical but I decided to use this example of liberal censorship to write about bigotry, Jewish bigotry within our own community.
Jews have always had people like Thehim. At the Passover Seder we discuss how to explain our traditions of freedom to "the son who knows too much." Some are just too smart to see the lessons of the exodus as a universal lesson we, as the Jews, an offer all mankind.
In the previous century, before Hitler and Stalin, Jews of Germany and Russia were truly patriotic. Once being of Jewish ancestry was accepted, Jews by descent were amongst the most liberals of the Russians and Germans. Some became leaders in Stalin's Russia. Trotsky died for his enthusiasms. In Germany, betrayed by the Nazis, these Germans had to flee or die along with those whose Judaism was an identity rather than a history.
Often today, Jews by descent are among our most liberal Americans. Some, like Alinsky and Gompers, led great social movements. Emmanuel and Axelrod are important figures in the Obama White House, the Passover Seder has become a new national tradition. Obama's own children attended Jewish preschools in Chicago and a cousin of Mrs. Obama is a prominent rabbi in that town. Three of the four liberals on the US Supreme Court are Jews. We, Jews by identity and Jews by descent, have good reason to be proud of our role in America.
David Goldstein, the editor of the Horsesass and its founder, is another Jew by descent. Unlike Thehim, Goldy is proud of his origins and sees Jewish liberalism as a Jewish trait ... I spend a lot of time at his blog. Goldy writes insightfully about Washington State politics with a wit and challenge that is utterly missing from the rest of our media.
Sadly, Goldy, aka David Goldstein, allows Lee to post as an associate blogger.
"Sadly" is not because Lee can not write or, for that matter, because he hates me. That hate is a personal and unpleasant affair. My concern here is for Horsesass, David Goldstein's creation. Lee is no Goldy. Thehim can write. Unfortunately, unlike Goldy, Lee has little breadth and seems to have deep knowledge of on;y two things ... Thehim's ego and the drug wars.
That mixture is toxic. Lee rarely posts on anything other than drugs . Withing the drug sphere, Lee is a devout with all the conviction of a religious fanatic. Where Billy Graham and George Bush obsess about Jesus on the cross, Lee obsesses about the five fingered leaves of cannabis. He is obsessed with marijuana.
Lee supports legalization, like anyone with a rational knowledge of marijuana, But, Lee's support is a crusader. Give the platform of Horsesass , in Lee's priggish mind, marijuana is not just a recreational drug as much as it is salvational miracle. All opposition is evil, marijuana as far beyond science as the Eucharist is beyond the Big Mac.
In Lee's world, cops and docs persecute helpless marijuana "patients" as if pot smokers were Christians in the arena. Imagine the cruelty this fanatic sees when a hospital will not let a marijuana user smoke just because weed is full of carcinogens and not very effective as a drug! Or imagine his vision of a pack of gun toting cops, arresting some innocent person one and discovering pot farm intended to only as medicine! Must be a plant! (pun intended).
There is no other side to Lee's fanaticism. Lee went ballistic when I criticized Hempfest for featuring a medical student as if he were an expert scientist. This expert, against masses of evidence that the tars in MJ smoke are carcinogenic, claimed there were counteracting good in reefers because marijuana is a natural product. At first Lee insisted I was not at Hempfest until I posted a photo essay of my rather pleasant time at the festival. Of course Thehim was offended when I criticized the organizers for allowing kids to inhale carcinogen laden MJ smoke MJ good, anything else bad in lee's world.
Like any other religious fanatic, Lee's bigotry goes on and on. He was a highly vocal proponent of Washington's assisted suicide act, aka "Death with Dignity." I opposed the bill because it imposes huge costs for the benefit of a tiny number of people who qualify for its definition of right to die. Beyond mere money, the act, now the law, threatens the current informal process of assisting terminal patients to die. "Death with Dignity" requires a legalistic, expensive review. Anyone opposed to suicide hates the terminally ill. Others, especially Joel Connelly of the PI, defended the rights of physicians who take the Hippocratic Oath to mean that they can not assist in others' deaths. There are no exceptions to Lee's orthodoxy. Joel, an Episcoplan of Irish descent, must be a Catholic fanatic. Lee insists that unbelievers, Catholics especially, are all evil. So, like me, Joel became a target.
In short, Lee lives in a world where Nero rules and Lee nobly sides with those suffering under a mad ruler. Lee, clearly did not take psych 101.
How did I become a target of Lee's ire? Most liberal Jews .by descent or history, are fervent supporters of Palestine. Extremists, generally who see their Judaism as only be descent, are fanatic on that subject, unable to see the fears of the Israelis or the unhidden legacy of the holocaust against the true sufferings of the Palestinian people.
Lees' righteousness on this issue, led him to invent SJ the bigot. After the onslaught of a Muslim terrorist on a Jewish office here in Seattle, I questioned what the man has been taught in Islamic school. Of course, this made ME a bigot.
SJ was stalking Lee, protector of the persecuted. Lee fantasized about masses of harassing emails. These visions culminated in his filing a (false) complaint against me at the UW, where (after an investigation cleared me) Lee was patiently told about the first amendment. Lee also instigated at threat against me that led to the UW and Seattle police asking if I wanted protection. I assured them that I did not think Lee was dangerous and that, other than Thehim, knew of no Muslim upset with me.
Lee's going ballistic is .. well .. pretty funny. He debates using names .. I became his favorite "douchebag" and he insisted over and over again that he wanted intercourse with me. I thrust back, suggesting that though not gay, I found his interest in sex with me flattering. Humor did not prevail.
When I made fun of Lee's obscenities, Thehim yelled at Goldy, the owner of the HA blog, complaining that I was stalking Thehim on the blog. So Goldy asked me not to post on Lee's threads.
Recently, in a lapse of judgment, I did comment in support of a criticism (by Lee) of King County. The county had ordered removal of an anti-Israel ads from the Metro buses, Lee, of course, took offense and deleted my post... what follow is Lee responding to a question someone asked about how Lee could support free speech AND censorship:
SJ’s banning is the equivalent of a restaurant owner refusing to serve someone who is not wearing pants and throwing his own poop. It has nothing to do with free speech. He’s free to say whatever the hell he wants on his own blog or in Goldy’s threads, but he lost his privilege to post here after numerous warnings. If you want more details, feel free to email me separately.
So, this is my accolade.
If Lee does read this he is more than welcome to free speech on my blog.
Margi is a member of the Shas party supports the right of Ashkenazi ultra orthodox to wear their traditional fur hats and coats many ultra-Orthodox sects traditionally wear.
