Friday, August 21, 2009

Tevya's Response to Roman Catholic Leaders: Tevya of Fiddler on the Roof fame has been rolling around in his brain the latest mind numbing statement out of the Holy See and the response from major Jewish groups and rabbis:

On the one hand Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport Connecticut says "While the Catholic church does not proselytize the Jewish people, neither does she fail to witness to them her faith in Christ, nor to welcome them to share in that same faith whenever appropriate."

Tevya says: "On the other hand -- There is no other hand!! NO NO NO NO NO!"

Pope Benedict, what part of that response do you not understand?
Seeing CCFILE: I have, at times, listened to and watched CCFILE online to give its view a fair hearing. While I thought CCFILE made some believable points, I generally thought it often absurd, sometimes disgusting and generally an embarrassment. Its lack of articulate excellence is most pronounced. It is imbued with propaganda for the extreme right's point of view IRRESPECTIVE of their claim that they are "only about illegal immigration." I believe, they are NOT ONLY about ILLEGAL immigration. The tenor underneath the rhetoric is a deep-seated anger against those who may oppose their political points and to the immigrant community in this town from especially Brazil (legal or illegal) for the mere sin of simply being, most especially, here. I believe those that run CCFILE harbor a threatening hostility toward those whom they perceive to be the other but would never, of course, admit to that directly.

Who is not against illegal immigration? Most are against it and some views they espouse, as said, have credence but THAT show is more than about simply illegal immigration. The racism and other messages of hate not admitted as such on the show are clear for ANYONE who wants to really hear them.

I listened to a so called historian, interspersed on one show, lecture about his view of the history of US immigration. He explained that in his view the history of immigration was about letting into this nation those from countries other than Western Europe who posed an attendant danger by subverting the heretofore American Anglo (white Christian implied) way of life. He interjected, too, an oft articulated view by many in the anti-immigration movement, an anti-Semitism which sees the Jew, too, of course, as just another part of the many forms of the other who have invaded the American culture emasculating its Anglo roots and tradition, subverting our Founders’ original intent.

I thought it humorous, too, that the mouthpieces of a show that rails against immigrants who do not speak proper English were, in fact, guilty of gross grammatical error and poor English sentence structure themselves. At least new immigrants illegal or otherwise have an excuse. Since the narrators of the programs are self professed “true Americans” what is THEIR excuse? As Christ is alleged to have said “Judge not lest you be judged … why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Matthew 7.15

CCFILE is about illegal immigration yes BUT it is also about the halt, exclusion and even erasure of the influence of the other from, as they see it, the "American way of life." It is, I believe, this etiological essence that makes me cringe. All one must do is listen to the episodic content to hear what CCFILE has to say. Its message is often bombastic and confrontational. That, I believe, is the REAL threat plaguing our nation today.

NOT ANYMORE

  I wrote this last week and for the most part sat on it because I did not want my writing to imply anything against Israel. As stated agai...