The most interesting thing I read today
I have been very unsettled by the reports today of people shouting scary, ugly things at Republican campaign rallies. "Kill him." "Treason." I'm not the only one.
From Andrew Sullivan at The Daily Dish:
07 Oct 2008 07:07 pm
The "Danger" Of Obama
An Israeli reader writes:
Your post on "The Danger of Obama" immediately brought to mind what happened here in Israel in the period leading up to Yitzhak Rabin's assassination. Even allowing for the differences in political culture between the two countries, some of the sounds we're hearing in the public debate around the election have a haunting echo. Here no one would have thought it possible that an Israeli Jew would take the life of a high official. There's little doubt that the crescendo of demonization toward Rabin – including accusations of treason, flyers picturing Rabin as an SS officer – and the difficulty, in a society guaranteeing free speech, of 'civilizing' the public debate before it creates a fertile bed for actual violence, all helped create the context in which Rabin's murderer decided to take matters into his own hands.
I'd like to see which Republicans will denounce this turn towards demonization. And if there are no takers – maybe Joe Lieberman?
Oh, yeah. I remember Yitzhak Rabin. I lit a candle for him after he died. And I remember what he said: "You don't make peace with friends. You make it with very unsavory enemies." These words of Rabin's have stayed with me for years.
May we not repeat history.
From Andrew Sullivan at The Daily Dish:
07 Oct 2008 07:07 pm
The "Danger" Of Obama
An Israeli reader writes:
Your post on "The Danger of Obama" immediately brought to mind what happened here in Israel in the period leading up to Yitzhak Rabin's assassination. Even allowing for the differences in political culture between the two countries, some of the sounds we're hearing in the public debate around the election have a haunting echo. Here no one would have thought it possible that an Israeli Jew would take the life of a high official. There's little doubt that the crescendo of demonization toward Rabin – including accusations of treason, flyers picturing Rabin as an SS officer – and the difficulty, in a society guaranteeing free speech, of 'civilizing' the public debate before it creates a fertile bed for actual violence, all helped create the context in which Rabin's murderer decided to take matters into his own hands.
I'd like to see which Republicans will denounce this turn towards demonization. And if there are no takers – maybe Joe Lieberman?
Oh, yeah. I remember Yitzhak Rabin. I lit a candle for him after he died. And I remember what he said: "You don't make peace with friends. You make it with very unsavory enemies." These words of Rabin's have stayed with me for years.
May we not repeat history.
i've felt this fear, too, being a child of the 60's like you....
ReplyDelete~sueokieffe