Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Cindy Sheehan

So I had been feeling pretty sympathetic towards Cindy Sheehan, the mother who lost her son in Iraq and is now camped out near President Bush's ranch, especially given the abuse heaped on her by right-wingers (most egregious was Michelle Malkin, who presumed to know better than Sheehan how her dead son would feel about the protest).

However, it turns out that Ms. Sheehan has a subscription to Blame the Jews Quarterly. Her objection to the war is that it was planned by neo-cons (Jews!) for the benefit of Israel (Jews, Jews, Jews!). It's entirely possible that Ms. Sheehan is not anti-Semitic, nor is she opposed to the state of Israel, nor does she even realize that her statements could be interpreted as anti-Semitic. But her theory is complete garbage. It's just a retread of the classic "enemy-within" view of the Jews - you can't trust them because their loyalty isn't to the country, but only to other Jews.

As long as she stands by the theory, my sympathy for her will extend only to her personal lost, not to her political agenda.

UPDATE: There is significant debate (scroll down to read the comments) as to whether or not Sheehan actually wrote the letter about neo-cons and Israel that Christopher Hitchens has attributed to her. If she did not write it, I retract my judgment about her theory of the war.

3 comments:

Adam said...

Wow, I didn't like her before, because I found her whole protest thing pointless and annoying (despite generally agreeing with her aims), but now I have a good reason to flat out hate her. Thanks!

Honestly, though, you know she's right. Us Jews always look out for each other. We always have great jobs and get tons of money from our Jew bosses. I know that my Jewish boss would never ever treat me like shit or be a huge asshole or underpay me. Never! Jew Power Forever!

MP said...

Scary. I do still feel for her loss, as you said. Where did you find this out? It's so frustrating to have a national focus on a Bush hater that is right, only to have her possibly be an even worse nut-job than Bush.

I believe I speak for many when I say, poop.

Anonymous said...

Well, with Jake's update, I'll reserve judgement on whether she is or isn't anti-semitic.

And while I feel that with better leadership, the war in Iraq would be progressing towards positive results at a faster pace with fewer american deaths, and while I feel so sorry that she lost her son (and I too worry about my cousins and my crush who are in the service waiting to get called into action)...

I can't help but think she's really going about it the wrong way to demand an explanation from George Bush himself. The president should be held accountable to all citizens alike. Why is she more important than any other grieving family out there? Basically, because she made herself so.