Today I was listening to 94.1 FM (KPFA), a tiny public radio station based out of Berkeley, and they were airing a local talk show called 'The Living Room.' The guests were talking about the Palestinian suicide bombers that have been raising hell lately in Israel. To my disgust, the show's guests and the callers (most of whom were based in Berkeley) were almost all in unison in their support of the suicide bombers! I immediately grabbed my cell phone and tried to call the show's hotline, but not surprisingly, Verizon didn't have a signal in the place I was driving.
The show is hosted by a woman named Kris Welch, and although she didn't out-and-out admit that she agreed with the callers, she didn't try to argue with them at all. One guy called in and explained that Palestinian suicide bombers are "only trying to get their message out," and he implied that he would be proud if his son blew himself up in the name of Islam. He kept referring to the "dummies in the United States" and how we just don't "get it." The guy was obviously full of shit, since the suicide bombers choose to blow themselves up in heavily populated areas of Israel (usually full of women and children), so clearly they're doing it to kill Jews rather than to just "get their message out," but the host didn't take the time to make that point. Anti-Semitism ran rampant throughout the entire show, and very few people had the guts to call in and stand up for Israel.
The program just served as a reminder to me of why the rest of the country hates Berkeley. It's a town that pretends to be the capitol of liberalism, yet the city's politics resemble fascism much more than liberalism. For instance, so-called "liberal" politicians in Berkeley are trying to pass a law that would outlaw non-organically grown coffee, and the punishment for selling regular coffee would be either jailtime or a stiff fine. Really "liberal" attitude, huh? Meanwhile, Berkeley residents are constantly protesting in the name of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a man who murdered a cop in 1981 and is currently awaiting execution on death row. So apparently, by that logic, Berkeley residents think it's okay to kill a cop... but you should serve hard time if you serve Folger's coffee in your restaurant. Does that make any sense?
Unfortunately, it seems that Berkeley isn't the only "liberal" town that has been stained by anti-Semitism lately. At Harvard University, a college known for its liberal students and teachers, the school's president made a speech last week condemning the growing anti-Semitism on campus.
"Where anti-Semitism and views that are profoundly anti-Israel have traditionally been the primary preserve of poorly educated right-wing populists," he said in his speech, "profoundly anti-Israel views are increasingly finding support in progressive intellectual communities."
In other words, the rich kids are starting to become bigoted assholes, too. Not surprisingly, Summers' speech caused an immediate controversy at Harvard, where some Islamic students were offended that he would blacklist those who oppose Israel as "anti-Semites." Of course, these are the same "liberal" students who point fingers and scream racism whenever anyone disagrees with them. Some Islamic students even hinted that Summers should resign as president due to his comments. What ever happened to the "free speech" that these so-called "liberals" are always screaming about? Apparently it doesn't count when you disagree with the person.
The scary thing about this situation is that ten years ago, if somebody made a speech at Harvard warning about the dangers of anti-Semitism, no one would argue with him. Today, however, that kind of talk is controversial. Why? What changed? The same "liberals" who were the first in line at the premier of Schindler's List, condescendingly telling each other to "never forget," are now the first in line to protest when a Jew says that there are still anti-Semites out there.
This isn't the first time Harvard has shown its true colors. In early 2002, almost 600 professors, students, staff members, and alumni from Harvard and M.I.T. signed a petition urging both schools to stop financially supporting Israel (as well as American companies who sell arms to Israel). Almost 40 other schools have done the same thing. The petition said it wanted to get the United States government to begin "respecting the human rights of the Palestinians." My question is, why don't these people sign a petition to convince the Palestinian people to begin respecting their own humanity, since they're the ones willfully blowing themselves up?
In closing, let me just say that this issue should concern you whether or not you're Jewish. I'm not. I was raised in a home with a Catholic mom and a Baptist dad, and I didn't meet my first Jewish friend until I was 18 years old. The issue of anti-Semitism is bigger than mere religion or nationality, though; it's literally a matter of everyone's security.
If you don't stand up for them now, when the world is seemingly turning against them for the second time in less than a century, who's going to stand up for you when your time comes?
[If you'd like to tell Berkeley's KPFA what you think about their attitude toward suicide bombers, give them a call at 510-848-6767 or call their studio directly at 510-848-4425. Their fax number is 510-848-3812 and their e-mail address is postmaster@kpfa.org.]
