Bari, I’ve been a subscriber of Common Sense since its inception and think you’re paying excellent attention to the world around you. In fact, I’ve seen so much overlap between you and the 20th century philosopher Hannah Arendt- especially in your willingness to do and say the unpopular thing. I’m not sure how familiar you are with her, but may I commend her writings to you? I sense a kinship.
you are being so dis-ingenuous about masks . Just apologize and admit you were crazy and wrong. Thousands of us including me knew masks were useless back In March 2020 and we watched as the country turned into a loony bin insane asylum. THere is no NEW information. we ALWAYS knew masks were useless. just apologize and say " im sorry for demonizing people back then for saying what I amd saying NOW"
I must admit, despite a very hands on Jewish upbringing, I do not believe, and have not since my teens. That is not likely to change. In the beginning of this transition in my life I imagined that empiricism could, and would, serve as a superior lodestar. But the grave realization I am coming to, finding the response to this incident as predictable as I am, is that the scientific method has not supplanted religious authority in America whatsoever. We simply replaced Judeo-Christian ethics with a dramatically worse religion.
Science and reason function in an advanced civilization as a necessarily counterbalancing epistemology to the edicts of gods and kings; pluralism especially demands we divorce our philosophical frameworks for establishing what is true and reproducible from what is just and decent. But we have not only killed God, we have turned secularism into an abominable homunculus of a godhead in its stead. It is in moments like these that one comes to realize how essential it is to have a church to fill a distinct role from the state, and how much damage can be done when the state becomes its own church.
Thank you, Bari Weiss, for providing a healthy forum that allows dissent. I read many of the comments to your post and it is admirable that you allow all these voices expression. Even when they call one another names and argue, it is refreshing to hear voices which are silenced elsewhere. I have no solutions to offer, but listening is a good beginning for restoring health and civility to our country, to our planet.
I have felt the need for a bit of escapism lately so I have been rewatching The Sopranos. Watch Season 4, episode 3 “Christopher”. One of the main story lines is an American Indian protest at a statue of Christopher Columbus on Columbus Day. The entire episode brilliantly explores and pans the burgeoning culture of victimhood and tribalism in America. This was 18 years ago. Watch it and laugh, or cry.
I ask you Ms. Weiss (and all who are inclined) to read "Negroes are Anti-Semitic because they're Anti-White" by James Baldwin. Not as an excuse or a deflection, but to add more information to the conversation.
We will rue the day when moral behavior became dependent on one’s group identity and with no willing media to hold immoral behavior accountable & incompetent politicians who fear speaking truth, it’s time we recognize that our system of government & democracy itself no longer work.
I received an anonymous text today harassing me for having an Israeli flag on the front of my house. I live in Queens, NYC. Is there a way that I can send you the screenshots?
It looks like power is being able to say whatever you want and keep your job, so long as the identity support is a message brought to you by (powerful) people who hate America itself.
I believe America will reject that.
I’m not sure what will trigger the downfall of self-loathing, but it will happen.
In 2021, a new sort of anti-semitism - or at least, anti-israelism is taking hold on the left- and even some parts of the mid-right. This isn't German nazism - but it does sort of assign group blame and characteristics onto jews that are unfair and plain wrong. It specifically assigns blame to Israel for crimes that are much worse in other countries. That being said, it's easy to forget that as recently as 1990 - things were almost the opposite. Even a subtle complaint of Israel could lead people being cancelled (actors/celebrities). How pro-Israel votes in Congress were essentially 434-1 (usually Ron Paul would vote no, being the contrarian he is). When democrats or republicans would occasionally speak against Israel - they would usually get primaried with outside district money. It's been a teutonic shift over the last 30 years - at least in the Democratic party - where now Israel and jews are increasingly being blamed, and losing influence in popular culture. How things swing from one end to the other so fast is truly remarkable and scary.
While I do agree with you Bari on most issues - I do at times think that you, like most of us, express special bias when the 'victims' or 'oppressors' in any case involve our own 'tribe'. In this case, the bad guy was killed, and the good guys survived. Your story, of course, glides over the fact that the suspect had long standing mental health issues, and was kicked out a mosque a few days earlier for his agitated behaviour. The anti-semitism he apparently had was a belief that jews are all powerful - and that he could use their influence via a hostage situation to get a person he was obsessed with released - a ridiculous delusion. And Bari, while Siddiqi is a horrible person who is anti-semitic and deserves prison somewhere - you should have noted that her actions were committed in Afghanistan when being questioned by armed US occupying troops - she didn't commit her violent acts in the USA, nor against civilians. For some activists, her imprisonment in the USA (instead of Pakistan or Afghanistan) is a cause celebre because the USA was seen as an occupying force. In the last 20 years, 3 jewish americans have been killed by islamists (2002 and 2006) and none in the last 15 years. Out of 100s of thousands of murders during that time. It's important to neutralize radical islamists - but at the same time - it's important to actually look at the numbers. In the USA and Canada - genuine muslim jew violence is remarkably rare - and if anything, the two groups are getting along better (as a younger more socially liberal and integrated muslim population arises).
Congratulations to the NYT for managing to avoid in today's long article about this event any mentioning of the motivation of the gunman. Needless to say his ethnicity and religion are also unmentioned. Just a regular British guy. This is astute reporting. You don't want to mention the ocean of Jew hatred that Muslims are pouring into the heads of their children.
At one level, the hostage taking was frightening. But at a different level, it was nauseating. The gaslighting going on was insane.
Groups which failed to condemn all sorts of bigotry against Jews (often manifested via hate for Israel) suddenly acted like they were Jews best friends. Including many who want to free the same women the terrorist wanted freed. A few even managed to twist this into making Muslims (via the Islamophobia angle) into the victims here.
The BBC managed to put out a headline describing the people inside the synagogue as "detained". The FBI spokesperson couldn't figure out there was a Jewish angle. It goes on and on. And soon, it'll be twisted into an unrecognizable pile of nonsense. It'll become about mental illness or the US justice system unreasonably prosecuting the woman (who seems to be on a first name basis with CAIR among others) or Islamophobia or why its acceptable to hate on Israel or some other ugly wrong turn.
The one guarantee, few lessons will be learned and a good portion of those will be completely wrong, others will be insidious (I can imagine lots of people figuring out there is a better way to virtue signal, a bit like learning how to fake sincerity).
Bari, I appreciate in your opening doing something too few Jews did. Many thanked God for the successful ending, but you thanked the people who made it possible. So yes, thanks to the law enforcement experts who participated in this rescue. Thanks to those who trained the rabbi and congregants on how to respond to this, it seems they ultimately self-rescued. Thank God? Sure. But never forget to thank the people who actually did the work.
I joined the NRA and made a contribution in addition to dues. Do likewise if you value liberty.
Bari, I’ve been a subscriber of Common Sense since its inception and think you’re paying excellent attention to the world around you. In fact, I’ve seen so much overlap between you and the 20th century philosopher Hannah Arendt- especially in your willingness to do and say the unpopular thing. I’m not sure how familiar you are with her, but may I commend her writings to you? I sense a kinship.
Gratefully,
Meredith McGraw Bishop, Nashville
Clear, and sound. "The ghost walks."
you are being so dis-ingenuous about masks . Just apologize and admit you were crazy and wrong. Thousands of us including me knew masks were useless back In March 2020 and we watched as the country turned into a loony bin insane asylum. THere is no NEW information. we ALWAYS knew masks were useless. just apologize and say " im sorry for demonizing people back then for saying what I amd saying NOW"
I must admit, despite a very hands on Jewish upbringing, I do not believe, and have not since my teens. That is not likely to change. In the beginning of this transition in my life I imagined that empiricism could, and would, serve as a superior lodestar. But the grave realization I am coming to, finding the response to this incident as predictable as I am, is that the scientific method has not supplanted religious authority in America whatsoever. We simply replaced Judeo-Christian ethics with a dramatically worse religion.
Science and reason function in an advanced civilization as a necessarily counterbalancing epistemology to the edicts of gods and kings; pluralism especially demands we divorce our philosophical frameworks for establishing what is true and reproducible from what is just and decent. But we have not only killed God, we have turned secularism into an abominable homunculus of a godhead in its stead. It is in moments like these that one comes to realize how essential it is to have a church to fill a distinct role from the state, and how much damage can be done when the state becomes its own church.
Thank you, Bari Weiss, for providing a healthy forum that allows dissent. I read many of the comments to your post and it is admirable that you allow all these voices expression. Even when they call one another names and argue, it is refreshing to hear voices which are silenced elsewhere. I have no solutions to offer, but listening is a good beginning for restoring health and civility to our country, to our planet.
I have felt the need for a bit of escapism lately so I have been rewatching The Sopranos. Watch Season 4, episode 3 “Christopher”. One of the main story lines is an American Indian protest at a statue of Christopher Columbus on Columbus Day. The entire episode brilliantly explores and pans the burgeoning culture of victimhood and tribalism in America. This was 18 years ago. Watch it and laugh, or cry.
I ask you Ms. Weiss (and all who are inclined) to read "Negroes are Anti-Semitic because they're Anti-White" by James Baldwin. Not as an excuse or a deflection, but to add more information to the conversation.
We will rue the day when moral behavior became dependent on one’s group identity and with no willing media to hold immoral behavior accountable & incompetent politicians who fear speaking truth, it’s time we recognize that our system of government & democracy itself no longer work.
I received an anonymous text today harassing me for having an Israeli flag on the front of my house. I live in Queens, NYC. Is there a way that I can send you the screenshots?
It looks like power is being able to say whatever you want and keep your job, so long as the identity support is a message brought to you by (powerful) people who hate America itself.
I believe America will reject that.
I’m not sure what will trigger the downfall of self-loathing, but it will happen.
In 2021, a new sort of anti-semitism - or at least, anti-israelism is taking hold on the left- and even some parts of the mid-right. This isn't German nazism - but it does sort of assign group blame and characteristics onto jews that are unfair and plain wrong. It specifically assigns blame to Israel for crimes that are much worse in other countries. That being said, it's easy to forget that as recently as 1990 - things were almost the opposite. Even a subtle complaint of Israel could lead people being cancelled (actors/celebrities). How pro-Israel votes in Congress were essentially 434-1 (usually Ron Paul would vote no, being the contrarian he is). When democrats or republicans would occasionally speak against Israel - they would usually get primaried with outside district money. It's been a teutonic shift over the last 30 years - at least in the Democratic party - where now Israel and jews are increasingly being blamed, and losing influence in popular culture. How things swing from one end to the other so fast is truly remarkable and scary.
Point taken.
While I do agree with you Bari on most issues - I do at times think that you, like most of us, express special bias when the 'victims' or 'oppressors' in any case involve our own 'tribe'. In this case, the bad guy was killed, and the good guys survived. Your story, of course, glides over the fact that the suspect had long standing mental health issues, and was kicked out a mosque a few days earlier for his agitated behaviour. The anti-semitism he apparently had was a belief that jews are all powerful - and that he could use their influence via a hostage situation to get a person he was obsessed with released - a ridiculous delusion. And Bari, while Siddiqi is a horrible person who is anti-semitic and deserves prison somewhere - you should have noted that her actions were committed in Afghanistan when being questioned by armed US occupying troops - she didn't commit her violent acts in the USA, nor against civilians. For some activists, her imprisonment in the USA (instead of Pakistan or Afghanistan) is a cause celebre because the USA was seen as an occupying force. In the last 20 years, 3 jewish americans have been killed by islamists (2002 and 2006) and none in the last 15 years. Out of 100s of thousands of murders during that time. It's important to neutralize radical islamists - but at the same time - it's important to actually look at the numbers. In the USA and Canada - genuine muslim jew violence is remarkably rare - and if anything, the two groups are getting along better (as a younger more socially liberal and integrated muslim population arises).
Congratulations to the NYT for managing to avoid in today's long article about this event any mentioning of the motivation of the gunman. Needless to say his ethnicity and religion are also unmentioned. Just a regular British guy. This is astute reporting. You don't want to mention the ocean of Jew hatred that Muslims are pouring into the heads of their children.
At one level, the hostage taking was frightening. But at a different level, it was nauseating. The gaslighting going on was insane.
Groups which failed to condemn all sorts of bigotry against Jews (often manifested via hate for Israel) suddenly acted like they were Jews best friends. Including many who want to free the same women the terrorist wanted freed. A few even managed to twist this into making Muslims (via the Islamophobia angle) into the victims here.
The BBC managed to put out a headline describing the people inside the synagogue as "detained". The FBI spokesperson couldn't figure out there was a Jewish angle. It goes on and on. And soon, it'll be twisted into an unrecognizable pile of nonsense. It'll become about mental illness or the US justice system unreasonably prosecuting the woman (who seems to be on a first name basis with CAIR among others) or Islamophobia or why its acceptable to hate on Israel or some other ugly wrong turn.
The one guarantee, few lessons will be learned and a good portion of those will be completely wrong, others will be insidious (I can imagine lots of people figuring out there is a better way to virtue signal, a bit like learning how to fake sincerity).
Bari, I appreciate in your opening doing something too few Jews did. Many thanked God for the successful ending, but you thanked the people who made it possible. So yes, thanks to the law enforcement experts who participated in this rescue. Thanks to those who trained the rabbi and congregants on how to respond to this, it seems they ultimately self-rescued. Thank God? Sure. But never forget to thank the people who actually did the work.