Pink Floyd and Anti-semitism

[Starsoul]

What is anti-semitism?

" people can criticize anything in the world but you can't criticize israel, people get fired/lose jobs and etc ", says the Corespondent.

what really is anti- semitism? what defines it? Does criticizing jews/israel come under anti-semtism?

Recently heard this interview of Roger waters , from Pink floyd ( the music band) who said this, and is getting a lot of flak for being anti -semitic.


Roger Waters: Join Israel boycott
(Video) In al-Jazeera interview, Pink Floyd frontman slams Jewish state for 'paying lip service to the idea that they want to make peace while throwing people out of their homes and quietly annexing the land'


Roger Waters: Join Israel boycott - Israel Culture, Ynetnews


Here's a link to the interview,

Walls of division - Riz Khan - Al Jazeera English

 

[Caladan]

What is anti-semitism?

" people can criticize anything in the world but you can't criticize israel, people get fired/lose jobs and etc ", says the Corespondent.

Good Lord. this is music to my ears.
had I believed in a deity I'd wash his dusty feet.

 

[TJ73]

A word that has come into existence and changed over time. We had a discussion on here recently where someone pointed out that there are a lot of Semitic but not Jewish people but we all know the term only applies, in it's current context, to Jewish people.
It can be improperly used at times, but we also have to understand the sensitivity people feel when they come from a historically persecuted group. Just like in the US we always hear that blacks, "play the race card" all the time, what people that say that often fail to realize is that, although it is improperly addressed sometimes, a lot of it is sensitivity from having been hurt.

 

[Yerda]

Prejudice or bigotry against people because they are Jewish. How's that?

 

[Sunstone]

Humans are always fools. Only the flavor of the day changes. There was a time in America -- before 1982 or so -- when you could criticize Israel and not be labeled an anti-Semite. Today, criticizing Israel runs that risk. See the irrational, unsupported, rabid-dog responses to Glenn Greenwald's thoroughly researched and well documented claims against specific policies of the Israeli government. Without bothering to provide facts, but providing only condemnation and invective, people of all nationalities and ethnicities attack him as an Anti-Semite every time he runs an article.

 

[FlyingTeaPot]

what really is anti- semitism? what defines it? Does criticizing jews/israel come under anti-semtism?

No, I don't think criticizing Israel is tantamount to anti-semitism. It is illogical hatred of a particular group of people based solely on who they are. But criticizing Israel on merits of their actions is fair game IMO.
This can be applied to other groups and cultures too, such as Apartheid, the caste system in India and fear of all Muslims so prevalent in western countries.

 

[no-body]

Roger Waters is a man with very strong opinions, I wouldn't put much stock into anything he says. I like his music both pre and post Floyd but the guy has the politics of a high school kid and a huge ego to boot.

 

[Sunstone]

Roger Waters is a man with very strong opinions, I wouldn't put much stock into anything he says. I like his music both pre and post Floyd but the guy has the politics of a high school kid and a huge ego to boot.

From the article linked to in the OP: "[Waters] said the Israelis "pay lip service to the idea that they want to make peace with the Palestinians, and they sort of talk around the possibility of a two-state solution, but in the meantime they're throwing people out of their homes in the Negev, in east Jerusalem. They're annexing huge parts of the West Bank. So all this talk is they're quietly getting on with taking over the whole of the land, and what happens then to the Palestinians?"

So, just out of curiosity, no-body, please identify the factual inaccuracies in Waters' statement. You know, the inaccuracies that would place your comments about Waters' opinions somewhere in the reality ballpark?

 

[Levite]

What is anti-semitism?

" people can criticize anything in the world but you can't criticize israel, people get fired/lose jobs and etc ", says the Corespondent.

what really is anti- semitism? what defines it? Does criticizing jews/israel come under anti-semtism?

Recently heard this interview of Roger waters , from Pink floyd ( the music band) who said this, and is getting a lot of flak for being anti -semitic.


Roger Waters: Join Israel boycott
(Video) In al-Jazeera interview, Pink Floyd frontman slams Jewish state for 'paying lip service to the idea that they want to make peace while throwing people out of their homes and quietly annexing the land'


Roger Waters: Join Israel boycott - Israel Culture, Ynetnews


Here's a link to the interview,

Walls of division - Riz Khan - Al Jazeera English

There is relatively little universalism in political or social rhetoric. Some criticism of Israel is just that: nothing but political and social differences making themselves know. Some criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic, or is a token cover for anti-Semitism.

But whatever the reality of the historical and current events, I am certainly not going to seek or heed political and social wisdom from a rock star, no matter how talented he may be; and certainly not from one best known for neurotic, borderline-schizo lyrics and concepts, no matter how artistically exquisite they may be.

 

[Ungrateful]

There is relatively little universalism in political or social rhetoric. Some criticism of Israel is just that: nothing but political and social differences making themselves know. Some criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic, or is a token cover for anti-Semitism.

But whatever the reality of the historical and current events, I am certainly not going to seek or heed political and social wisdom from a rock star, no matter how talented he may be; and certainly not from one best known for neurotic, borderline-schizo lyrics and concepts, no matter how artistically exquisite they may be.

Wisdom is where you find it, pretty much everybody has some at some time. It's not for taking, or heeding, it's for thinking about. To discount wisdom "whatever the reality of the historical and current events" because you don't like where it's coming from is... well... I can barely find the words. Still, this approach is woefully common.

Aaaanyway, those "neurotic, borderline-schizo lyrics and concepts" actually got a whole lot of people thinking about morality when there was little credible alternative if you couldn't believe in fairy tales. Thinking about what someone says doesn't mean you just absorb it as truth.

There is not a single person alive or dead who I would "take" wisdom from without contemplation. I've always seen doing otherwise as abdicating your morality to someone else, which many people seem only too happy to do, sometimes with disasterous consequences.


-----------------------------------
Love and worship Him or else

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

It is very difficult to criticise Jews, Jewishness, Israel or Israeli politics with out disturbing a hornets nest in reply.
We should be able to discuss all nations and their politics and be totally honest in what we say.

There is perhaps no other Land, state, people and religion so inextricably linked as Israel.
To criticise one part is seen as an attack on the whole. It is seen as antisemitism.

This is, almost certainly, neither healthy for those who criticise nor for Israel.

However memories are long and racial memories are even longer, so I do not see a marked change any time soon.

The danger is, that in these circumstances, History tends to repeat it self.

 

[no-body]

From the article linked to in the OP: "[Waters] said the Israelis "pay lip service to the idea that they want to make peace with the Palestinians, and they sort of talk around the possibility of a two-state solution, but in the meantime they're throwing people out of their homes in the Negev, in east Jerusalem. They're annexing huge parts of the West Bank. So all this talk is they're quietly getting on with taking over the whole of the land, and what happens then to the Palestinians?"

So, just out of curiosity, no-body, please identify the factual inaccuracies in Waters' statement. You know, the inaccuracies that would place your comments about Waters' opinions somewhere in the reality ballpark?

Sounds more like an opinion than fact to me. But I don't know enough about the situation one way or another to comment and honestly care very little on the subject. My point was, I'm not going to get my info on things like this from a damn rock star.