posted on Jan, 5 2009 @ 10:26 AM
Mike - I absolutely agree with you, and you've voiced my opinions utterly. Starred and flagged.
I've been a member here for two or three years now. I don't have any particular interest in the middle east - or in Jewish history particularly -
I'm here for the aliens and funny-shaped rocks, mostly!
But I was shocked to discover on looking at my posting record on these boards what a high proportion have been responses to anti-Jewish threads. I'm
sure I'm not alone, and I know I've seen plenty of anti-Muslim threads too.
The problem is this is a conspiracy site. If someone has a problem with a particular country or religious group, and really wants to, they can make a
conspiracy out of more or less anything and claim justification for putting their opinions on the board. So a Islamic fundamentalist terrorist attack
on the West is posted up as a conspiracy perpetuated by all followers of Islam, and an aggressive attack on Palestine is posted up as a Zionist
conspiracy in which all Jewish people are involved.
My view: this isn't the correct forum for these theories. Heaven knows there are plenty of websites out there for people who want to discuss
justification for religious intolerance or bigotry. It's not why I signed up for ATS, though - and to my mind the presence of this kind of half-baked
thinking only gives credence to those who don't choose to take the material that's posted on here (in good faith) seriously. If you wanted any
evidence that ATSers are a bunch of whacko nutjobs you could do a lot worse than search for "Zionist conspiracy" and read the first few posts.
The reality in this instance is much more stark and distressing. Both sides, as is so often the case, are utterly in the wrong and utterly unable to
see the other side of the coin. The "conspiracy", if there is one, is not Islam against the West, or Judaism and the New World Order. It is two
authorities both utterly obsessed with greed and their own power, and all too willing to put their own people in the line of fire to further their
aims. It may be this is the greatest conspiracy in human history - but it's not complicated. It's called human nature.
Please, let's drop the half-witted, juvenile mud-slinging. It gets us nowhere, and there are people dying out there that won't find it helpful.
LW