Our Readers Pitch in and Some Remarks About 'Framing'

Framing is a term used in Clinical Psychology or Counseling to describe the process of making the issue more clear, or of delimiting its boundaries.  In Amerikan political discourse, the  terms "Left-Wing" and "Right Wing" are used, but are limited to the space between Mitch McConnell and Russ Feingold, for example.  Actually, the real range is much wider, but by limiting it to that, we don't have to challenge our basic assumptions.  Imagine if Fidel Castro were considered "somewhat leftist," for example.  That would put Russ in the center of the politcal spectrum.

The same hold true when discussing Gaza, among other Mideast topics.  Some may think that we have been a bit extreme on the "Pro-Palestinian" side, but this is hardly true.  We are merely trying to convey a sense of reality (I know, "Reality is a crutch"), and some therefore think it is anti-semetic.   Actually, someone like Noam Chomsky or Norm Finklestein represent the same reality, but since they are Jewish, they can't be anti-Semetic.  (Forget the reality that the Arabs are semetic.)  They thus become "self-hating Jews," although I have seen nothing of self-hatred on their parts.  What I see is projection.

If you care to see a more vigorous anti-Israeli site, try this: http://israelghost.wordpress.com/

Obviously, we are middle-of-the-road.

At any rate, awhile ago, one of our contributers sent an Israeli flag and the following commentary came back.  However, at the same time, the artist had revised his version of the flag (after telling me several times that is what done, but he is an artist, after all).  So, here is the revised flag followed by the reaction:



Charlie,

In my personal opinion, this is a bit over the top.

You seem to be looking at the world in very stark, black and white, terms, missing the nuance, the shades of gray.

Certainly, the actions of Israel's government should be condemned. The occupation is illegal and awful. The ongoing attacks, the settlements, the land and water grabs, the wall, the check points are all intolerable. We need to call criminality what it is, when we see it.

However, the crimes of the Israelis do not begin to touch the atrocities of the Nazis, who rounded up and murdered many millions of people. There's a huge difference between mass murder and an aggressive, expansionist settlement agenda. Both are terribly wrong. But it's a huge mistake to equate them. 

It also is discrediting, in the eyes of most people, to make such an obviously erroneous equation, and thus, in my opinion, does a disservice to the cause of justice for the Palestinians. 

I should also mention that, in my opinion, the crimes of the Israelis, as bad as they are, don't even begin to approach the U.S. and British war crimes of WWII. As I'm sure you know, our government ordered the fire-bombing of cities in Germany and Japan, killing a hundred thousand people or more (non-combatant civilians) in a single night. And then they launched the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing hundreds of thousands more. Our government was also responsible for the free-fire zones and chemical warfare in Indochina that resulted in the deaths of upwards of three million. If you were going to superimpose a swastika over any national symbol, it would seem to me that the stars and stripes would be a closer fit, but I would not advocate this either.

I do think that as citizens of an ostensible democracy we should be raising more of a ruckus over the illegal wars our own government has launched, as well as continuing to challenge the illegal actions of Israel. We should do the latter, I believe, in the context of working for a just settlement of the conflict, but that would need to be the subject of a whole 'nother letter.

In solidarity, for peace and justice,

Mark Haim

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Mark is a very active and sincere advocate of justice and peace, I might add.

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A short time later, another reader sent a copy of this protest to a television personality at KQED in San Francisco.

Dear Michael,

I was listening to your Forum interview of Victor Davis Hanson this evening, sadly too late to phone in
and comment.  A Hoover senior fellow is he?  And a strong supporter of George W. Bush's mideast policies?
Why on earth would you have such a person on your show Michael?

He described Israel as a 'democratic humane nation'.   Is he joking? What, with an open air concentration camp
called Gaza holding 1.6 million trapped humans unable to even receive outside aid for the most part?   I can imagine being
a tourist in Tel Aviv, but being told to stay away from Israel's occupied territories, that is, places where land and ownership has
been taken away from those conquered by war.

How long has this suffering been going on, remember the Refuseniks of the 1970's?  Refuseniks are still being generated by Israeli conscription.
I invite you to peruse this website  http://www.menassat.com/?q=en/news-articles/5501-shministim.  "Shministim" is what conscientious
objectors refusing to hold guns on Palestinians in the occupied territories are called.

Michael, are you suffering from occluded objectivity? Or is the corporate and private sponsorship of KQED forcing you
to choose right wing guests who support the coming war with Iran and Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories?

I am a 67 year old retired professor who is sickened by our unconditional support of Israel and its atrocities, as is obvious, you will say. 
We are forced by pressures I cannot fully imagine to never criticize Israel no matter how heinous its crimes, from a Gaza massacre to a
flotilla ambush.

I have always held you in high esteem Michael, you seem to be a good, fair, open and very intelligent man. How can you go on serving such
masters as those who control KQED?  Prove me wrong please by having someone like John Pilger on your show.

Thank you,

Sincerely yours,

Barry Wright
Gilroy CA

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Frankly, nothing here is tinged by ideology -- most of us are all too educated for that.  Serious questioning of the issues has been educated out of us.  So, we simply stick to the truth.

Thanks to all our readers for contributing.