Viewpoint Hate turns shameless in war on terrorism
By NEVE GORDON
To a Nazi Professor: The more
liberals like you Israel would have, the faster it would fail! J. P.
exclaimed in his letter. Thanks, he added, for a great
pro-Arab article in the Baltimore Sun! What else they taught you at
Notre-Damn? How to serve your master --Allah? I hate Jews like you.
This is a typical example of the kind of hate mail I receive when
writing about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a topic that frequently sparks
a vicious visceral reaction.
But people get upset about other issues as well. In response to an
op-ed criticizing the University of Notre Dame (my alma mater) for inviting
President Bush to be the commencement speaker, D. K. wrote: You are a
fool, Mr. Gordon. An arrogant, miserable, hateful little fool. Stay in Israel,
you nasty little man. Stay away. Fester elsewhere. Begone, Satan.
Both letters reveal evidence of anti-Semitism. Internet and
e-mail, as many studies have shown, have provided a space for racists and other
types of bigots to express their views openly, and they use both well.
Sometimes a 500-word column will engender more than 100 letters. While I have
gotten used to receiving hate mail, it is the violent letters that continue to
unnerve me.
Please remind your family to let me know when youre
blown up by an Arab bomb so that I can resume sending donations to Ben-Gurion
University, wrote P.B. in response to an article that appeared in the
Jerusalem Post. His was a death wish alongside a concrete threat.
Another reader stated that my op-ed criticizing Israeli occupation
of the West Bank and Gaza Strip proves Hitler was right. If he had killed
more Jews like you, the rest of the world would not have to suffer so
much.
Death wishes tend to come in a recognizable format. The letters
are very short, employing violent language that precludes all possibility for
debate. In the past, these letter-writers remained anonymous. Either they
neglected to sign their names or failed to provide a return address,
professional affiliation, or other identifying information. The writers were
afraid, sensing that their detestable views were socially unacceptable.
The war on terrorism has changed all that. Indeed, one
of the less discussed effects of this war is that it has legitimized claims and
actions that in the recent past were considered intolerable.
Just a few weeks ago, H.S., a University of Notre Dame professor,
wrote me: Please do us all a favor and visit all the discos, pizza
places, dining halls, malls and supermarkets you can. Perhaps one of these days
you will be in the path of one of those liberators of Palestinian
suffering, and get blown out of this world.
Unlike many of his predecessors, H. S. had no qualms about
identifying himself; he was not ashamed. He wished me death because I had outed
the Israeli paratrooper commander, Aviv Kohavi, with whom I had served in the
army and gone to college. I had written an open letter to Kohavi pointing out
that his brigades actions constituted, according to newly developed
international law, war crimes, and that he, Kohavi, has become a war criminal
(NCR, April 5).
What frightens me is not H.S.s letter per se, but that he
felt comfortable signing it. H.S.s self-confidence is related to the new
discourse that has emerged following Sept. 11, a discourse that denigrates
basic human rights and important moral norms without shame.
Shame, to be sure, is an extremely problematic sentiment. Yet it
is one we cannot live without if only because, within a shameless society,
everything is permitted.
Neve Gordon teaches politics at Ben-Gurion University,
Israel, and can be reached at ngordon@bgumail.bgu.ac.il
National Catholic Reporter, May 24,
2002
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