In the current global political climate, I find increasingly that I am forced to stop and re-evaluate my feelings and beliefs.
For instance, just a few countries support taking military action against Saddam Hussein?s Iraq, while the vast majority of UN members, including many Western democracies, are against any form of military intervention. What?s more, as recent anti-war protests have shown so graphically, all the countries that support a war against Iraq have a sizeable proportion of dissenters.
So who?s right, I ask myself. Surely logic would dictate that the overwhelming majority must be right in this instance. If so, then why do I instinctively feel empathy with the pro-kick-Saddam?s-butt crowd? Have I gone mad? Are my moral values out of whack? Am I suffering temporary insanity induced by some insidious form of subliminal ultra-conservative indoctrination?
No, is the simple answer to all these questions. Actually, these days all I need to do to ascertain whether my instincts are in line with my moral values is to check the Jewish Barometer.
What is the Jewish Barometer? Well, it?s a device I?ve mentally constructed that measures how much anti-Jewish feeling there is in any particular region of the world or among any group of people at any point in time. The barometer is calibrated from 0 to 10. Zero is a climate where there is no anti-Semitism at all (such a place doesn?t exist) and 10 is the level of anti-Semitism in, say, Saudi Arabia, where schools teach that Jews are descended from apes and pigs. The Barometer does not distinguish between anti-Israelism and anti-Semitism - same thing, different name.
Whenever I encounter a global issue where my moral understanding of the situation conflicts with the view of another person, group or nation, I check them against the Jewish Barometer. If the Barometer shows them to be distinctly anti-Semitic, then I don?t take them seriously and dismiss them and their jaundiced views out of hand. If the Barometer shows otherwise, then I?m willing to listen, argue and maybe even be convinced that I?m wrong.
So, what does my Jewish Barometer tell me about the world at this particular moment in history? Naturally, the Barometer reads 10 on the whole of the Arab world. No surprises there. We could probably extend that reading to the whole of the Muslim world, with the exception of Turkey, as Turkey has normal relations with Israel. In Israel, the Barometer reads about 2, with most of the anti-Jewish feeling coming from Arab Israelis bolstered by a few deluded left-wing self-hating Jews. Places like the US, Australia and New Zealand all register about 3 on the Barometer, with most of the anti-Semitism disguised as anti-Israelism purveyed by the socialist left. The Barometer?s needle moves up to 4 in Jean Chretien?s Canada and hovers round 5 in the United Kingdom, which has a sizeable Muslim population and a proud pro-Arab, anti-Israel history.
Europe deserves its own paragraph, because if there is a region of the world where the Jewish Barometer threatens to burst its springs, it is Western Europe. The Barometer somehow finds rampant anti-Semitism easier to take from unsophisticated, brainwashed Arabs than so-called enlightened Western Europeans. France, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Sweden and Norway, with no shortage of help from their governments, are all pushing the Jewish Barometer toward its end zone. The Barometer for the moment registers slightly lower activity in Holland, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Greece and Portugal. However, one suspects the needle will soon start pushing upwards in those places as well. Likewise, Eastern Europe is still relatively quiet according to the Barometer. Time will tell whether this region of the world, with its new found freedom, will succumb to the same post-World War II amnesia that has taken hold of its Western European cousins.
If we take the Barometer into the hallowed halls of the United Nations General Assembly, wherever we turn it starts to tremble and the needle fluctuates wildly between 8 and 10. After all, this is the place that spends most of its time passing anti-Israel resolutions and constructing special laws that bar Israel from sitting on the Security Council. In fact, wherever we go in the UN, whether the Security Council, with Syria as a sitting member, the Human Rights Commission, chaired by Libya, or the Conference on Disarmament, chaired by Iraq, we see the Barometer?s needle pushing towards 10.
So where does the Barometer leave us with respect to the matter of Iraq? In one corner, we have the US trying to disarm a mad Arab dictator, supported by Israel and a few other countries that have friendly, or at least not hostile, relations with Israel. In the other corner, we the have the anti-Semitic UN, led by anti-Semitic France and Germany, holding the same position as the anti-Semitic Arab and Muslim world.
Which corner am I in? It?s a no-brainer.
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Stan Beer, a business and technology journalist, lives in Melbourne, Australia.
For instance, just a few countries support taking military action against Saddam Hussein?s Iraq, while the vast majority of UN members, including many Western democracies, are against any form of military intervention. What?s more, as recent anti-war protests have shown so graphically, all the countries that support a war against Iraq have a sizeable proportion of dissenters.
So who?s right, I ask myself. Surely logic would dictate that the overwhelming majority must be right in this instance. If so, then why do I instinctively feel empathy with the pro-kick-Saddam?s-butt crowd? Have I gone mad? Are my moral values out of whack? Am I suffering temporary insanity induced by some insidious form of subliminal ultra-conservative indoctrination?
No, is the simple answer to all these questions. Actually, these days all I need to do to ascertain whether my instincts are in line with my moral values is to check the Jewish Barometer.
What is the Jewish Barometer? Well, it?s a device I?ve mentally constructed that measures how much anti-Jewish feeling there is in any particular region of the world or among any group of people at any point in time. The barometer is calibrated from 0 to 10. Zero is a climate where there is no anti-Semitism at all (such a place doesn?t exist) and 10 is the level of anti-Semitism in, say, Saudi Arabia, where schools teach that Jews are descended from apes and pigs. The Barometer does not distinguish between anti-Israelism and anti-Semitism - same thing, different name.
Whenever I encounter a global issue where my moral understanding of the situation conflicts with the view of another person, group or nation, I check them against the Jewish Barometer. If the Barometer shows them to be distinctly anti-Semitic, then I don?t take them seriously and dismiss them and their jaundiced views out of hand. If the Barometer shows otherwise, then I?m willing to listen, argue and maybe even be convinced that I?m wrong.
So, what does my Jewish Barometer tell me about the world at this particular moment in history? Naturally, the Barometer reads 10 on the whole of the Arab world. No surprises there. We could probably extend that reading to the whole of the Muslim world, with the exception of Turkey, as Turkey has normal relations with Israel. In Israel, the Barometer reads about 2, with most of the anti-Jewish feeling coming from Arab Israelis bolstered by a few deluded left-wing self-hating Jews. Places like the US, Australia and New Zealand all register about 3 on the Barometer, with most of the anti-Semitism disguised as anti-Israelism purveyed by the socialist left. The Barometer?s needle moves up to 4 in Jean Chretien?s Canada and hovers round 5 in the United Kingdom, which has a sizeable Muslim population and a proud pro-Arab, anti-Israel history.
Europe deserves its own paragraph, because if there is a region of the world where the Jewish Barometer threatens to burst its springs, it is Western Europe. The Barometer somehow finds rampant anti-Semitism easier to take from unsophisticated, brainwashed Arabs than so-called enlightened Western Europeans. France, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Sweden and Norway, with no shortage of help from their governments, are all pushing the Jewish Barometer toward its end zone. The Barometer for the moment registers slightly lower activity in Holland, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Greece and Portugal. However, one suspects the needle will soon start pushing upwards in those places as well. Likewise, Eastern Europe is still relatively quiet according to the Barometer. Time will tell whether this region of the world, with its new found freedom, will succumb to the same post-World War II amnesia that has taken hold of its Western European cousins.
If we take the Barometer into the hallowed halls of the United Nations General Assembly, wherever we turn it starts to tremble and the needle fluctuates wildly between 8 and 10. After all, this is the place that spends most of its time passing anti-Israel resolutions and constructing special laws that bar Israel from sitting on the Security Council. In fact, wherever we go in the UN, whether the Security Council, with Syria as a sitting member, the Human Rights Commission, chaired by Libya, or the Conference on Disarmament, chaired by Iraq, we see the Barometer?s needle pushing towards 10.
So where does the Barometer leave us with respect to the matter of Iraq? In one corner, we have the US trying to disarm a mad Arab dictator, supported by Israel and a few other countries that have friendly, or at least not hostile, relations with Israel. In the other corner, we the have the anti-Semitic UN, led by anti-Semitic France and Germany, holding the same position as the anti-Semitic Arab and Muslim world.
Which corner am I in? It?s a no-brainer.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Stan Beer, a business and technology journalist, lives in Melbourne, Australia.