15 Reader Responses

1. alistair Says:
   August 9th, 2006 at 12:13 am

   political debate in britain has always been vitriolic. that guy is just another media whore. the isreali / arab conflict has been going on for how many years? two thousand or so at last count.

2. JK Says:
   August 9th, 2006 at 5:06 am

   Did you watch the video alistair? Galloway himself hones in on the lack of historical perspective on the part of the Sky News syndicate as only having a four week long memory. A media whore he may be, but nevertheless he speaks to the obvious humanity of our supposed enemies as well as the all too naturally occurring flaws of our sworn Israeli “friends”. There is nothing more damning about the pimp-convention media than Galloway’s one way or the other heart felt lament for the Palestinian beach goers vs. the lopsided favoritism for all things Israel. Before all this bullshit started (oh ’round 9/11 I s’pose), you were allowed to feel Arabs to be people too. Now Israelis are the only humans in the Middle East, lest you be labeled a sympathizer to terrorism. Because as we know, only an Arab or a Muslim can ever possibly TERRORIZE another human being. Any terror they may feel is incidental to their depleted capacity at being human. Sure you can scare them, but one is hardly a terrorist for stamping their feet at an animal when she least expects it. Arabists must surely be taught a lesson.

   If it takes a “whore” to point out the humanity of our brothers and sisters of differing persuasions and ethnicities, so be it. Sometimes even a whore is right, even within an all enveloping carnival of other whores.

3. Ktulu Says:
   August 9th, 2006 at 6:37 am

   And only a true “whore” can teach you how to be a good lover!

   Personally, I’m a fan of Galloway. He’s one of the few politicians in the world that I can trust to speak from his heart. I may not always agree with him, but I can count on him to be honest - a very rare character trait in modern politics.

4. Justin Hart Says:
   August 9th, 2006 at 12:46 pm

   So what does everyone here think of Hezbollah? Is anyone in agreement with Galloway?

5. Tim Boucher Says:
   August 9th, 2006 at 1:13 pm

   political debate in britain has always been vitriolic.

   Coming from England, all this may be old news that this is part and parcel of their media… But it’s new and intriguing from my perspective.

   At the same time though, even if this stuff is common place in England, they are in just as bad a situation as we are, if not worse. Any time I see some Big Brother type stuff going on in the news, they ALWAYS roll it out in England first - I think to test it out on a smaller scale and work out the kinks before bringing it over here.

   So for all of Galloway’s opinionizing, what good does it really do? I don’t know… The media machine itself I don’t think cares so much. Still interesting to see though I think.

6. Johnathen Says:
   August 9th, 2006 at 1:29 pm

   Hezbollah are freedom fighters. Period.

   1) They wouldnt exist were it not for Israel’s invasion of Lebanon

   2) Israel STILL occupies part of their country (Shebba Farms) because of its water resources. If the area isnt important, why are they still occupying it?

   3) The death toll on the Lebanon side is appauling.

   I am a former ARDENT supporter of Israel. This conflict has changed my opinion on the entire middle east. All of these deaths for 2 soldiers kidnapped and 8 killed?

   Israel has gone mad.

7. prunes Says:
   August 9th, 2006 at 3:20 pm

   I don’t know if they are freedom fighters, but I can’t see what is supposed to separate them morally from Israel. The only discriminant I can see in the rhetoric is that one side ‘targets civilians’ and the other ostensibly doesn’t, while managing to kill far more civilians.

8. Jill Says:
   August 9th, 2006 at 4:41 pm

   After dinner last night with a beloved Persian friend, I must take issue with “Hezbollah are freedom fighters” She pointed out to me that criticizing Israel (which is morally right, imho) does not need to make us blind to the terrorist tactics of Hezbollah, who would like to replacethe Israeli theocracy with their own. They lack the honor of a group who fights a system. They only fight Jews because they want their OWN religion/ethnic group to be the dictators.

9. Tim Boucher Says:
   August 9th, 2006 at 10:43 pm

   They only fight Jews because they want their OWN religion/ethnic group to be the dictators.

   Is it wrong to want your own “dictator” (not that I necessarily agree with that statement) than to have someone else’s though?

10. Jill Says:
    August 10th, 2006 at 11:41 am

    no. not wrong to want your own dictator. but my point is, they aren’t fighting for a system of govt that would be any different than the one they have. We would see the same human rights abuses from an Arab govt as we do from the Israeli govt.

    What group in the MidEast actually supports a secular state? a true Republic/Democracy where you have full rights of citizenship NOT based on race or religion. I am ignorant of any. whoever they are, that’s who I could support.

    Of course, I still will rail against the inhumanity of Israel and other dictators.

11. Tim Boucher Says:
    August 10th, 2006 at 1:50 pm

    but my point is, they aren’t fighting for a system of govt that would be any different than the one they have.

    And my point is the system of government they are fighting for is irrelevant so long as the goal is self-determination. A democratic ideal would have to recognize that some people don’t want democracy - that particular majority groups willingly (democratically?) choose non-democratic systems.

12. Mark S Says:
    August 10th, 2006 at 2:55 pm

    Oh my god, I just watched part of that video, and tried to understand and make what I could from that arrogantly annoying scottish accent. I think it’s kind of interesting how Scottish people (at least from my experience) are notoriously bad at turning everything into a solid black or white issue. I kind of agree with Tim on the big brother thing. If this guy was giving a lecture like that at my Unversity, then I would probably immediately walk out during the first sentence. Then of course on my drive home, I would turn on the radio and most likely hear some Right-wing pro Israel screwball brandishing about how we need to support Israel and its bombing campaign on Lebanon. This of course being broadcast on the “Blah Galloway show…” (Lots of Galloways here in Texas)

13. SubstanceM Says:
    August 11th, 2006 at 10:08 am

    interesting how Scottish people (at least from my experience) are notoriously bad at turning everything into a solid black or white issue

    Does that mean that they are notoriously good at articulating the nuance between the black and white of issues? It’s strange to me that you pull off some sort of generalized slur against the Scots here after watching that video, hardly seems to be the point.

14. Mark S Says:
    August 11th, 2006 at 3:21 pm

    TERROR suspect Waheed Zaman met controversial MP George Galloway many times, his sister said last night.

    Safeena, 24, said of her 23-year-old brother: “He saw it as his duty to stand up for his community and that’s what led him to know George Galloway. He has a lot of respect for him and has met him many times.”
    http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006370177,00.html

    Oh man now the Scots are turning into associates of suspected Terrorists?? The plot just continues to thicken…

15. SubstanceM Says:
    August 12th, 2006 at 12:07 pm

    Oh man now the Scots are turning into associates of suspected Terrorists?? The plot just continues to thicken…

    Oh ya, you ARE the same old stupid fuck I remembered you to be.
    Well at least Scots aren’t Texans.