From: hm@cs.brown.edu (Harry Mamaysky)
Subject: Re: american opinion
Organization: Somewhere East or Somewhere West
Distribution: talk
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 22:32:37 GMT

In article <1992Dec28.1777.21677@channel1>, "wayne mcguire" <wayne.mcguire@channel1.com> writes:
|> I wonder who is better able to take an accurate read of the
|> secret life of American public opinion: someone like yourself who
|> is emotionally tangled up with a foreign country like Israel, or
|> someone who isn't?

I am not, as you so eloquently propose, "emotionally tangled up with a
foreign country". Even though I am not an Israeli citizen, Israel is
no more foreign to me than my family or my religion - nor should it be
to any Jew in this world. I wonder why it is that you do not consider
your own anti-Semitism an "an emotional entangling"?

|> Who is better in touch with American opinion: those who supported
|> the $10 billion loan guarantee for Israel, or those who opposed
|> it?

|> Who is better in touch with American opinion: those who support
|> Israel's recent deportation of Palestinians, or those who oppose
|> it?

Who is better in touch with American opinion: those who drink Pepsi
or those who drink Coke? How is either of these questions at all
relevant.

|> At some point in the not too distant future I suspect that Israel
|> and the Israeli lobby will discover that they have been living in
|> a dream world when it comes to reading the mind and mood of the
|> American people. It is a serious mistake to project your
|> emotional obsessions on people who do not share them and to start
|> believing your own propaganda handouts.

I see before me the truth. What you see before your self is not
entirely clear. I wonder of which "emotional obsessions" you speak?
Please refer me to the propaganda which you mention. I have not seen
it. What I have seen from the Jewish side is mostly factual and
accurate.

|> Americans feel generally friendly towards the supposedly Western
|> democratic Israel that has traditionally been portrayed in the
|> mass media. The feeling doesn't run that deeply, however, and is
|> predicated on the image matching the reality.

When was the last time you had the privilege of visiting Israel. It is
most certainly a democratic Western country. It has all the features
of democracy that we have in the U.S. Perhaps the fact that it is an
all Jewish country bothers you? 

|> The deterioration of Israel's standing in the U.S. during recent
|> years is quite remarkable. In case you haven't noticed, it's
|> increasingly difficult to find non-Jews who will speak
|> enthusiastically about Israel with the exception of Christian
|> fundamentalists whose hidden agenda towards the Jewish state and
|> Jews is predatory indeed.

I have not noticed this paricular phenomenon. Perhaps I have not
noticed it the most a year or so ago when Israel patiently stood by
while Iraqi launched Scud missiles ravaged her cities. Perhaps I have
not noticed it too when during the summer olympics NBC (?) ran a
half hour piece (which kind of had that pro-Israeli feel to it) about
the 1972 tragedy in ? Perhaps I have not noticed it once again when I
talk to my American friends, or read my local news paper? I have
noticed anti-Semitism here and there - much too frequently have I
noticed it in fact. But overall, Mr. McGuire, perhaps it is you, and
not I, who have failed to notice what is right in front of our faces.

Harry.
Xref: sparky talk.politics.mideast:24292 talk.politics.soviet:10048 soc.culture.greek:11933 soc.culture.europe:10870 soc.culture.soviet:11648