MoveOn gets Swift Boated
I heard a report on NPR today that MoveOn.org is being smeared as anti-Semitic. I cannot believe the craven politics at work here. (And this is after the smear campaign against Human Rights Watch.) I’m so disgusted that I feel i’m slipping into an election-season-based depression. I call it ESAD: Election Season Affective Disorder. Egads.
From Rabbi Arthur Waskow of the Shalom Center:
Dear friends,
As you know, The Shalom Center as a 501c3 tax-exempt organization is not permitted to and does not endorse or oppose candidates for office. MoveOn.org is one organization that does. Opponents of MoveOn.org have launched a concerted campaign to smear the grass-roots online movement with false charges of anti-Semitism.
The scurrilous attacks on MoveOn have been based on the brief appearance of anti-Semitic comments written by non-staff people on its open forum. When the staff at MoveOn.org learned about the comments, they acted swiftly to remove the offensive remarks. The Anti-Defamation League praised their response, declaring themselves “satisfied with [MoveOn's] responsiveness” and characterizing the matter as having been “resolved satisfactorily.”
Moreover, many of MoveOn’s staff are not only Jewish, but Jewishly motivated to repair the world (tikkun olam) through righteous action (tzedekah) and acts of loving-kindness ( gemilut hasadim ). Yet this politicization of anti-Semitism has continued unabated, with charges migrating from The Washington Times to the Wall Street Journal to the Jewish press, repeated ad nauseam on the internet.
No matter what anyone thinks of MoveOn’s political views and those of its opponents, it is absolutely unacceptable to charge it with anti-Semitism. False charges of anti-Semitism are not only rechilus – slander – in Jewish law, and reprehensible in any society –– they also risk weakening into meaninglessness any attempt to deal with real anti-Semitism where it does exist. The story of “Crying wolf” is not a Hassidic or Talmudic tale, but it is truth nevertheless.
The Jewish FundS for Justice, a vigorous grass-roots foundation bringing Jewish values and money together to empower the poor and seek justice, has put this petition on-line. We urge you to sign it:
“As American Jews, we condemn the manipulation of fear of anti-Semitism for political gain, including the recent campaign against the online movement MoveOn.org. We stand for the Jewish value of placing hope over fear by expanding opportunity and creating justice for all Americans.”
Click here to sign the petition.
liz | 11:13 AM | Uncategorized
Dear Liz,
I know why I like your website, your attitude and your elegant ability to communicate and especially you.
You’re not afraid to take a position and state it.
It’s time the citizens in this country wake up to what’s been going on in this country for the past 6 some odd years before the current machinery usurps all our rights and reverses 200 years of achievements in human rights and the like and the elite 2% or so become our “masseurs” once again. Someone has to offset the likes of the Limbaugh’s and his Michael J. Fox faking it remarks and the rest of the propaganda machine.
You go get’em girl; shake’em up, bring’em to their senses and tell’em what’s really going on in this country.
Warmly,
Herb
VNSdepression.com
Liz, it’s not a smear. I am among the people leading the effort to expose MoveOn.org for knowingly and willfully welcoming racist, anti-Catholic, and anti-Semitic hate speech at its Action Forum.
There is already overwhelming proof that MoveOn’s moderators saw the hate speech and chose to let it stand (contrary to MoveOn’s press release of September 2, which denied knowledge of it). Last night, I found the Action Forum FAQ still online and it says that MoveOn had read every single posting, including the hate speech, TWICE.
MoveOn’s press release of September 2 was an outright lie.
The you-know-what is already hitting the fan and now the only question is how many Democratic candidates MoveOn.org will drag under with it on November 7. The Democrats need to cut this rogue organization loose NOW.
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