THE POISONOUS BRITISH CHATTERING CLASSES

Below are some excerpts from a recent article by Melanie Phillips. It may be noted that the prewar equivalents of today's British chattering classes overwhelmingly supported Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler. Their desperation to appear wiser than the common people cuts them off from all political reality

There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that the cumulative effect of the BBC's poisonous distortions is to incite hatred of Israel in anyone who knows little about the region and is exposed for long enough to its TV and radio bulletins. The impact this is having on the general population is bad enough. The likely effect on those Muslims who are already prone to a hysterical sense of grievance against Israel and the Jews as a result of the propaganda pouring out of the Arab and Muslim world - and who believe that the BBC is to be trusted, heaven help us, as the voice of truth and objectivity - cannot be exaggerated in its potential for fomenting yet further evil. The BBC has now become one of the most potent weapons of the enemies of civilisation. It is the most prominent cultural symbol of a society that has turned upon itself and is hell-bent on committing collective suicide.......

In Britain, rampant anti-Americanism and hatred of Israel prevent many from understanding just what is at stake in the Lebanon crisis. But something is nevertheless shifting in Britain. There are now two reactions running simultaneously alongside each other. On the one hand, hatred of Israel - particularly among the educated classes -has reached an unprecedented pitch of hysterical distortion, even by the degraded standards of the past six dismaying years. But on the other hand, a heartening number of citizens who are neither Jews nor evangelical Christians - until now, the only constituencies which have defended Israel against the collective libels and scapegoating- are now saying that they support Israel in this great battle, that they understand very well that it is the front line against an Islamic threat that menaces all of us, and that they are astounded by the savage distortions of the BBC and other media.

A small anecdote from today illustrates a trend which I had been noticing since the current crisis developed. On a bus in London, I was accosted by a middle-aged, West Indian gentleman on the adjacent seat. Recognising me, he congratulated me warmly on what I had been writing about Israel. He had wanted to attend last weekend's Israel solidarity demonstration organised by the Board of Deputies but had been unable to find where it was being held. But friends of his had attended and shown him photographs they had taken of the event.

`What no-one has reported', he said, `was that there were many black people, Sikhs and Hindus at that demonstration because we all understand what is at stake here. We all realise that what Israel is fighting is Islamic terrorism, and that this threatens Jews, Christians and all of us. We local people all get it. What I can't understand is all this stuff about Israel being `disproportionate'. Why don't those people understand what is going on here?'

**************************

ELSEWHERE



Leftism as cowardice: "Earlier this month, the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet published a cartoon which depicted Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as a Nazi. Political cartoonist Finn Graff apparently saw fit to compare Olmert to SS Major Amon Goeth. Goeth, who ran the Plaszow death camp in Poland and was hanged in 1946, shoots at random Jews from the balcony of his villa in a scene in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List. In Graff's cartoon, a shirtless Olmert smiles on a balcony while gripping a rifle. The message that the Jewish state is the new Nazi state couldn't be clearer. But the truth is that radical Islam, not the democratic Israel, is what really scares Graff. He explained in an interview that he does not draw pictures mocking Muhammad because of his fear for Muslims and "out of respect." Apparently it's because he doesn't fear Jews that Graff finds it acceptable to treat them with such venom."

Anti-defence Democrats: ""Some Democrats are still trying to strangle the [missile-defense] program. In the House, John Tierney of Massachusetts this year proposed cutting the Pentagon's missile-defense budget by more than half. His amendment was defeated on the House floor, but it won the support of more than half of his Democratic colleagues, including would-be Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Meanwhile in the Senate, Carl Levin offered in June to cut off funds for the ground-based interceptor program that Mr. Bush recently activated in Alaska in anticipation of the North Korean launch. Mr. Levin wants to stop new interceptors from being built, but Senate Republicans wouldn't bring his proposal up for a vote. Mr. Levin has been waging his own private war against missile defenses for a generation, to the point of outflanking Russian objections on the political left. No missile defense is perfect, but even our current rudimentary shield has proven to be strategically useful these past few weeks. The Navy had at least one ship-based Aegis missile-defense system deployed off the Korean coast, with a potential to shoot down a North Korean missile. The Aegis cruisers have successfully shot down missiles in seven of eight tests in recent years... The U.S. is also dispatching PAC-3s, a more sophisticated version of the Patriot anti-missile system, to Japan. This kind of capability adds to the credibility of the U.S. deterrent, reassures allies and enhances American influence. Virtually none of this would exist had Democrats succeeded over the years in their many attempts to kill missile defenses."

Appalling attack on liberty postponed: "A judge ruled Tuesday that a 16-year-old cancer patient who has refused conventional medical treatment does not have to report to a hospital as previously ordered and scheduled a trial to settle the dispute. Starchild Abraham Cherrix, who is battling Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymphatic system, refused a second round of chemotherapy when he learned early this year that the cancer had returned. Abraham chose to instead go on a sugar-free, organic diet and take herbal supplements under the supervision of a clinic in Mexico. A social worker asked a juvenile court judge to require the teen to continue conventional treatment, and the judge on Friday ordered Abraham to report to a hospital Tuesday. But Accomack County Circuit Court Judge Glen A. Tyler suspended the judge's order. 'I feel free today. I was let off the leash,' Abraham said after Tyler agreed to a stay and set a trial date of Aug. 16."

Blair spurns Froggy wine: "Tony Blair has snubbed Gallic pride and risked further straining his relationship with President Chirac by turning his nose up at a series of personal gifts of finest French wine. Four times in the past year M Chirac, who has clashed with Mr Blair over issues ranging from the Iraq war to the proposed European constitution, sent wine to Downing Street. On each occasion Mr Blair, a keen connoisseur of good wine, turned down the chance to acquire the bottles. According to the Cabinet Office, the four consignments of wine are still "held by the Prime Minister's office". Downing Street refused yesterday to discuss the type or vintage of the wine or to say what would happen to it."

What a delightfully bitchy headline: "The National Organization for Women celebrates its 40th birthday. Its wrinkles are starting to show".

For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and AUSTRALIAN POLITICS. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

**************************

"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)

Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.

****************************