Internet Debate and Thought Control

I recently have had an interesting series of debates online with an Orthodox Jew who has been known to scream anti-Semite when he is losing debates and knows that he is defending the indefensible.

He applies an interesting series of tactics in his debates. Here they are:

Attack the source. If it is a non-Jewish source it is either ‘anti-Semitic’ or ‘biased’ or doesn’t give the Jewish side properly. If it is a Jewish source that proves that he is wrong they will be attacked for being ‘too liberal’ or in the case of Reformed Jews commenting on the Talmud they ‘don’t really understand it’. (Haaretz and the Forward are evidently anti-Semitic to this gentleman). When I posted an article by The Chicago Tribune about the USS Liberty attack he stated that it is a 'biased source just looking to sell papers' but the Jewish Encyclopedias article on it is an unbiased source that gives a fair shake to all.

Up is down down is up.

If that does not work, he will change the subject. If you point out that a Jewish Rabbi wrote a book about the supremacy of Jews to Gentiles he will attack the Catholic Church (no kidding….really). Next thing you know you will be wondering how you got from discussing the topic you posted about and ended up hearing about the suffering of Jews under the Spanish Inquisition. He will then inform you that the Gospels are anti-Semitic and all of the Church Fathers were anti-Semites. But you had better not comment on anything found in the Talmud or comment that there are people who hold supremest views in the Jewish community because that would make you an anti-Semite. George Orwell could not have created a character as delightfully dishonest and hypocritical.

If you refuse to allow him to change the subject he will attack you personally. If you respond to his attacks on your faith in kind he will type ‘anti-Semite’ until his fingers ache. He is allowed to attack Christianity at will but you must not post articles by Rabbis discussing if you should wash after touching a ‘goy’. That’s anti-Semitic.

He will then lie about your beliefs to make you feel the need to defend them. He even made the pathetic claim that Christians believe that God manifested himself physically to produce a child (Jesus) and that Christians believe that ‘God made a mistake’ and thus Christ was needed. That is so absurd and so heretical that I actually asked where on Earth he got his information from. I asked for a single theologian who stated this. He of course had none but fell back to saying that is how Jews see it. So lying about Christian teachings is okay but pointing out that some rabbis teach that Gentiles have animalistic souls is anti-Semitic…..okay.

If that does not work he turns everything you say about him into an attack on Jews. So if you joke that he enjoys sex with farm animals, he says that you are attacking Jews as being deviants. He then screams ‘anti-Semite’. It's interesting, I had never heard that about Jews. You learn something new by interacting with extremists of all shades.

Recently, he spun and spun acting as if Jews did not play a significant role in the Bolshevik slaughter of Russians during the Stalinist nightmare. He even went so far as to claim that Synagogues were not blown up as the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was in Moscow because they were too hard to get to.

He said:

As for why Jewish clergy did not suffer to the same extent- simple geographics. The Jews had been forced into ghettoes for centuries, seperated from the general population.

And:

Yep- you got it. The Paleof settlement was isolated, Jewish communities were poor and not associated with the ruling classes and they simply did not attract the ire of the bolsheviks. You want to try and create something more sinister- hey, thats your issue and one that is not supported by any historical facts.

This is something so asinine that it is hard to imagine how one can actually state it. Notice that there is a personal attack because he knows that what he is stating is idiotic. If he can make things personal he can then get his opponent censored or banned, which he does regularly on this particular forum due to the fact that he has intimidated the moderators there. The sad fact is that the fury unleashed upon the Orthodox Church is pretty shocking. Nothing like it happened to Jews by the Bolsheviks. Gladly I was able to point out later in the discussion Moscows Choral Synagogue operated throughout the Soviet period, however, at least twice (1923, 1960) authorities annexed parts of original building for secular purposes.. That kind of ended his non-sense that all religion was persecuted equally in the USSR. He then admitted that Jews did not pose a threat to the Soviet regime.

When I pointed out that YNet (an Israeli publication) stated that In 1934, according to published statistics, 38.5 percent of those holding the most senior posts in the Soviet security apparatuses were of Jewish origin.

He again relies on personal attacks by stating:

As I said, you will create whatever fantasies you wish. Go ahead, nobody can stop you fantasising and creating facts with no historical basis.

And there it is. Ignore facts you don’t like and attack people who present them.

I then asked if when it became clear that the Soviet Regime was slaughtering people by the millions was there a move by the synagogues to help the people being targeted. He then responded

What would you expect them to do? They had no power, religious Jews were barely tolerated (and in fact were heavily oppressed and discriminated aginst after WWII) and they were doing their best not to go the way of everyone else. Stalin's Rssia was a place of fear where people did their best to survive and not end up on the wrong end of an accusation which led to death or exile to one of the gulags. Keeping their heads down didn't help the Jews much though- millions ended up in the gulags anyway!

So the Jews were actually victims of the Bolsheviks after all and they were powerless to help the people who were being slaughtered by the regime. Fair enough. However, that’s an interesting position to take especially for a guy who has attacked the Catholic Church for not speaking out enough against the Nazis during their regime. As usual, one standard for he and his group and another for the rest of humanity. The sad thing is that he is so filled with bigotry and anger that he does not see it. Daniel Goldhagen would be proud.

One of the sad things about our modern world is that there is extreme thought control and suppression of ideas. When cowards are intellectually bankrupt and unable to defend their positions they have key words that they can scream in order to shut down discussion. In this persons case it is 'anti-Semite' but it could also be 'homophobe' or 'racist'. If you can convince people that the person stating things that you don't like is a bigot then their ideas do not have to be taken seriously. 'Victim' groups no longer have to engage in rational discussions. They can just scream [insert PC whine title here] and they no longer have to discuss the issue. Don't like the fact that the US Government is heavily influenced by AIPAC, a group that represents another countries national interests? You're an anti-Semite. Don't think we should allow millions of illegal aliens into the country? You're a racist. Don't think we should re-define marriage against the will of the people? You're a homophobe. And so it goes.

It is time to end this non-sense.