This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/4914
April 18, 2011
The type of self-serving, callous ignorance displayed by the Israeli left in this matter is demonstrative of the mental construct of leftists worldwide. They have elevated a totalitarian political ideology to that of a religion and as true believers, are quite impervious to any point of view which might upset their delicate psychic balancing act. For some reason, perhaps a deep seated pathological self hate, this mindset holds sway over a not-inconsiderable number of Westerners who find themselves at war not only with their inner selves but with their culture and traditions as well. Psychologists and psychiatrists who have examined this phenomenon have offered the explanation that self hate within a minority group might well result from members of the group having accepted the negative attributes which their oppressors have created to denigrate and marginalize them. As psychoanalyst Sander L. Gilman explains:
The broadsides of people such as Uri Avnery, a columnist for Gush Shalom, one of the groups mentioned in the above referenced news item, betray this trait. His self-destructive rage is evident in the way he employs the word "kippah" [the ceremonial Jewish head covering; a yarmulke] as if it were an invective - a signifier in and of itself of inferiority - which virtually drips with Jewish self-loathing.
The underlying issue that professor Gilman was addressing in his monologue was insanity, in this case a group of people who have allowed their historical oppressors to define them as not only inferior, but deserving of the maltreatment which often goes hand in hand with such vilification. This is the mechanism whereby the very act of a Jew wearing a kippah becomes a repugnant and loathsome act to people like Mr. Avnery, while at the same time his ilk identifies with keffiyeh wearing Hamas thugs. In larger focus, this pathology seems to be elemental in the psychological makeup of the Western leftist, to turn against society as they have already internally turned against themselves. Such twisted reasoning is at its core suicidal and allowing people who display this aberrant behavior - mental illness - to determine national political policies or attain positions of responsibility is irresponsible in the extreme. ©2011 PipeLineNews.org LLC. All rights reserved. http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=fogel4182011101%2Ehtm |
This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/4914