Friday, October 06, 2006

And I'm the one who jaded you

I'm a bit apathetic about a number of things. Primary among them is my personal safety. I grew up outside the US during some pretty dicey times, so most things don't faze me. For example, yesterday in midtown there was a bomb threat and so there was a bit of a to-do. My feeling is, if I am going to be killed by a bomb, I'll be killed by a bomb, and I probably wouldn't even feel it/know.

Politically there are some things that should probably incense me, but don't. This latest uproar about the Muslim Policeman in London who refused to guard the Israeli embassy is one of them. A lot of J-bloggers find this very threatening, and as Elder of Ziyon puts it "something is very wrong in England." Robert Avrech of Seraphic Secret agrees that England has "gone mad."

OrthoMom points out that the whole situation is a little bit ludicrous, at least for those of us in the US used to the Klan getting first ammendment protection. Daled Amos provides what seems like a full account, in addition to some context as to how similar situations were treated in the US.

Over at Mr. Jewish Talks to Mr. Islam it is seen as a sign of the double-standard that exists in the rest of the world. If a Jew refused to guard the Iranian embassy, for example, what an uproar there would be in mainstream media. I kind of agree, and think that if the EU could find a way to blame Darfur on Israel they might actually do more about it.

Yeah, it's awful, it sets a terrible precedent, and if I had an emotional reaction about the situation it would probably be worry. What I do feel is pessimism. The world has come to such a state that anti-Semitic and anti-Israel sentiments are commonplace. Something is terribly broken, and I'm not sure how to fix it.

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