(The title of the post is a reference to a line in the Hagada, that little book that looks like an eternity that Jews read and sing every Seder before they start eating.)
I probably shan't, ever, write in Hebrew again. The previous post got recommended nearly instantly, and lead a wide stream of idiots in (who ignored my blunt request for them to stay out). I tried arguing with some, but they quickly brought up very, very inane statements I just decided to leave it. (Not all of them were idiots; quite a few were rather intelligent and even learned something new from some. Oh, and Boy-Boy replied. Love ya, Bow-Boy!)
Anyway, for the benefit of my English-speaking readers, I shall now translate it to English.
I'm sick of it. For fuck's sake, I'm sick of hearing that Liebermann is a Fascist and a racist. I'm sick of hearing that Livni should be elected because she's a woman. I'm sick of many other stupid myths.
People, get it through your head: Liebermann is not a racist. He once said explicitly that an Arab who does national service is a better citizen than him [Hebrew source]. Does this look like racism or decending into Fascism to you? Or the fact that he wants a election threshold of 10% and that he supports limiting the motions of no confidence to make a more stable government (that isn't held by the balls by Shas) is decending into Fascism? Because last time I checked, that's pretty much what is done in France (a 12.5% election threshold for the second round), and it doesn't look very Fascist to me.
Truth be told, one may say that Liebermann is actually a left-winger. He supports giving many territories to the future Palestinian state, even Umm 'l-Fahm (a move I don't quite side with, but I don't realy know what the stands of the Umm 'l-Fahm residents' views are, so it's best I hush about this matter). By what I understood he also wants to return East Jerusalem, and I actually side with that. Between us, no Jew with a bit of brains will go there, and anyway the Palestinians will realise that they'd best preserve the sites there, because tourists=money. He also supports the seperation of religion and state. He's a real Jabotinskist. Had he only written in his platform that he supports LGBT rights, he would've received my indiffident support.
About Livni: Tell me, are you retarded? Time after time she sabotaged women rights. She even said on her blog, like a complete idiot, that she did it out of coalitional obligation [link to her blog in which she explained why she voted against women rights]. She sacrificed women rights (and if you will, even more―human rights!) for agreement with her party? What is she trying to say by that, that she has a chauvinist party? Besides, she said she wouldn't succumb to Shas's blackmail, and extended the authorities of the Ministry of Religions in no-time. Alright, so she changed her opinion (Liebermann was a member of Kakh, and wised up; Obama claimed that marriage is, in his opinion, the union of a man and woman by definition, and wised up; Begin decided not to relinquish a single step, and wised up...), but like that?
And now for two other myths, which are not necessarily related to politics.
First, the subject of homosexuality. Since 5.17.1990, homosexuality is not defined any longer as a mental illness. Eli Yishai's statement that homosexuality is not a mental illness and that he was not the one who stated so (and as evidence, homosexuals do not serve in the army) is completely unrealistic; the IDF has been recruiting homosexuals since Rabin. The American army does not recruit open homosexuals because the conservatives are too strong there, and they're not recruited in South Korea because it's a primitive country social-wise (resembles Israel in the seventies). Aside from this, it has already been unambiguously proben nowadays that same-sex parenting does not psychological harm a child in any way, but the negative treatment he receives from homophobes does [link to a paragraph proving it in the Hebrew Wikipedia]. Another thing: Homosexuality is something that many factors can cause: genetic effects, hormonal ones, environmental ones... You can't control your child coming out gay or not (at least not altogether; really stressed mothers may give birth to a homosexual child. It has already happened in the Netherlands: many children there were born gay). By the way, Klone'ka (on the 'Best People' list), one of the sweetest and most talented people I know, that I wish I had a son like him, is gay. And if you knew him, you would have wanted to adopt him as well.
Second, the subject of Bris (and infant circumcision in general). There is no logical justification to do such an act. It's not healthy: the American Ministry of Health decided to years ago to stop recommending it. The British Ministry of Health and its Australian equivalent clearly recommend not to do it, and if even horribly capitalist countries such as Britain and the U.S. say not to do it (and every such operation costs hundreds of dollars...), what does that tell you? (Argumetns about AIDS won't do any good here: First of all there's a condom, then there's doubt about the lower odds of catching it on the woman's side when the man is circumcised. Besides, as far as I know, the foreskin has special proteins which avoid other diseases. Furthermore, simple hygiene prevents the said diseases, same way brushing avoids dental problems taken them all out can stop altogether.) Also, it's not necessarily pretty: I think the weird, lusterless colour under the foreskin and the scar on the penis are very, very unappealing. Another thing, it also severely harms sexual pleasure: various sensitive spots, such as the frenulum, the frenar band, and the foreskin's underside are brutally chopped off, and following the extensive exposal to touch, the whole penis becomes less sensitive. Some women have testified they reach orgasm faster from an uncircumcised penis. Though there are men who are satisfied with the operation, it's the child's body, and the decision should be left for him ('When he's eight days old?' When he's eight days old you can cut off a finger od his, you're the parent, aren't you? Besides, the child will grow. 'At the age of 18? Who's gonna do it when he's 18? So what are you trying to say? That no mature, reasonable person would do it to himself out of free will? 'It hurts!' There's anæsthesia...). If after all this you're not convinced, it's probably because you want to keep a tradition (which, by the way, was founded in its current form only during the Helenic period, following the decision of one fanatic Rav [source in Hebrew]), and in such a case the child will be more disturbed about his parent being a sheep that does as its ancestors have (and what if the Arabs would have done as their ancestors have and bury their children alive for their goddesses? Or the Assyrians would go on sacrificing their children to the Ba'al? It's a tradition! Same way many African tribes do coming-of-age ceremonies like circumcision and FGM, or tearing out front teeth, or the indigenous Australians cut the urethra open as a coming-of-age ceremony...) than by the fact that he got screwed, or you're religious, and then don't you dare complain that I think your religion is sick and distorted from its very foundations and should be eraticated altogether.
We'd best remember this next time we go to vote. The religious parties should be isolated in the political ring, and for that we should vote either for Israel Our Home or for Merets. Slowly, this country will be able to move from a 'Jewish' vision to a 'Hebrew' vision. I still have a speck of hope.
But it seems like I'm 'talking to the rocks and trees'. Too many people tend to ignore facts (Arsim have laughed at me when I asked them to base something of their homophobic nonsense and called me a 'nerd'), and many people, even intelligent ones, ignore the points I raise about religion and tradition with various absurd statements. I reach the verge of tears when I see how many people, even truly intelligent ones, refuse to abandon the opinion that Liebermann is a racist and a Fascist and that circumcision is an important Jewish tradition that one should be proud of.
To be honest, I'm starting to lose my fate in democracy.
Khad yoma... [Aramaic for 'Unum diem...']
'Luck'. What a peculiar word. Sounds like a portmanteau of 'lust' and 'muck'. Think about it.
Just a thought that came across my mind today: What if Liebermann gets the most votes? The polls seem to greatly favour him. Alex told me all the Russians in Arad (and there are many, many Russians over there) are voting for him, and suppose most of the rest of the Russians in the country (they're about 20% of the Jewish poulation, if not the entire population) are as well, as well as quite a few non-Russians. 'What? I'm the Prime Minister? But... I didn't prepare... mew...'
Also, I wonder what would've happened had Israel Our Home tried appealing to the Arabs as well. Imagine a vid in which Arabs protest aloud against the Arabs who are not willing to do national service and still demand equal rights, and scorn the Arab Knesset members (who, by the way, don't represent the Arabs at all). Another something to think about.
Unum diem...
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