14 Characteristics of Fascism

John Ray posts a list, authored by Laurence W. Britt, of 14 characteristics of fascism. Despite it’s ridiculous conclusion, and its missing “15th characteristic” (which John takes pains to point out) I found it quite accurate. Which regimes today do these characteristics accurately describe? All the Arab regimes, with the possible exception (I hope) of Iraq. The headers are as follows:

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism.
2. Disdain for the importance of human rights.
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause.
4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism.
5. Rampant sexism.
6. A controlled mass media.
7. Obsession with national security.
8. Religion and ruling elite tied together.
9. Power of corporations protected.
10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated.
11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts.
12. Obsession with crime and punishment.
13. Rampant cronyism and corruption.
14. Fraudulent elections.

Which one doesn’t apply to Arab regimes? They all apply, to an extreme degree.

I would like to draw your attention to characteristics 9 and 13 – not because they are necessarily more important than the others, but because they are most likely to be misunderstood. It is commonly thought that big companies favor capitalism (free enterprise). Nothing could be further from the truth! A big company would like nothing more than to be institutionalized by the government. This is particularly true once the entrepreneurial founder has retired – though under fascist regimes a different kind of entrepreneurism flourishes: the art of currying favor with the government. (One expert at this kind of entrepreneurism was Osama Bin Laden’s father, who was a favorite of the Saudi royal family.)

It is a lack of imagination that makes a reader suppose that this list can be compatible with capitalism. “Power of corporations protected” surely doesn’t refer to your small-town general store, which could be the next Wal-Mart, nor does it refer to the tinkerer in his garage, who might stumble upon the next big thing. In relatively free economies, people like these are the primary source of corporations, and the biggest employers. The power of which corporations are protected? The big corporations, of course. From what do they want to be protected? From the free market, from the possibility that some insignificant, one-man, two-bit corporation, could one day challenge them. How do they achieve this protection? “Rampant cronyism and corruption.” Cronyism and corruption are enemies of free enterprise.

This system is not new, fascism is the modern-day incarnation of feudalism. At a time when the primary source of wealth was land, a small group of people – the aristocracy – sought to institutionalize its wealth by granting itself a monopoly on government (with consequent monopoly on the military). Now that the primary source of wealth is industry, a (not necessarily) new group of people seeks to do the same. Unfortunately for our ability to understand this phenomenon, we have no word for this group of people. Perhaps I should propose one: the fascistocracy.

UPDATE: Just to be clear, I have nothing against big business as long as it doesn’t get special favors from the government, i.e. as long as it maintains its success by better serving its customers. However, it should be noted that bigger government by nature favors big business – they are the ones with the resources to cope with increased bureaucracy and regulations, and the influence to get government contracts. Wherever the power of government is greater, you will find the economy more dominated by big business. The economies of Canada and Europe, for example, are much more dominated by big business than the economy of the US.

Fruits of Israel

Iraq the Model has post on date palms:

The date is considered as a fruit and food and you can get many products from it such as vinegar, arak (the most famous local alcoholic drink in Iraq) and date honey (dibis) and the leaves of the palm has always been used in building cottages and furniture in the urban areas of Iraq.

Generally there’s a strong bond between Iraqis and date palms and there’s a saying that is believed to be one of Mohammed the prophet sayings that mention the date palm as being created from what was left of the ashes that Adam was created from, and the date palm was mentioned several times in the Koran.

Date palms are also well loved by Israelis, and mentioned numerous times in the Bible. They are considered one of the five fruits that particularly characterize the land of Israel, the others being grapes, figs, pomegranates, and olives.

tamar	– date	t'marim	– dates
`enav	– grape	`anavim	– grapes
t'ena	– fig	t'enim	– figs
rimon	– pomegranate	rimonim	– pomegranates
zayit	– olive	zeytim	– olives

Arak is also a popular drink in Israel, though in general, distilled drinks are not very popular here, by US standards. “Date honey” – dibis, is obviously a cognate to Hebrew dvash – “honey”. In fact, in Biblical Hebrew dvash meant date honey, as in the famous verse: “a land flowing with milk and honey” – eres zavat halav udvash (lit. a land oozing milk and honey).

Mazal Tov Amritas

מזל טוב לבן נצח
עד מאה ועשרים

Mazal tov l’ven nesah
`ad me’a v`esrim

Happy Birthday Amritas
May you live to 120

Actually, “Mazal tov” means congratulations, not happy birthday. But Israelis don’t say, “Happy birthday” to someone who has a birthday. Not that it’s ungrammatical, it’s just not normal. It would be something like wishing an English speaker, “Good week.” You can say, “Good day,” why can’t you say, “Good week?” It’s just not done. But in Hebrew it’s normal to say, shavua` tov – “Good week.”

So why did I translate it as, “happy birthday?” The wish, `ad me’a v`esrim is the traditional blessing for one who has a birthday, so obviously, “congratulations” means “happy birthday” in this context.

(If you’re wondering about the Hebrew for Amritas, go here. Grammatical point: b > v after a vowel, when not doubled. In this case the vowel is a schwa.)

UPDATE: To see what Amritas says go here.

UPDATE: Thirty-three in Hebrew is shloshim v’shalosh (lit. thirty and three). In Biblical Hebrew it would be the other way around: shalosh ushloshim. A thirty-three year-old in Hebrew is ben shloshim v’shalosh. Hebrew numbers have gender from 1 to 10, after that, they’re genderless. In this case, shalosh is feminine, (masculine: shlosha) not because Amritas is feminine! It agrees with the unspoken word “year,” shana, which is feminine. (For those of you who are wondering, usually words that end in –a are feminine, but for numbers it’s the other way around.)

Today Amritas is thirty three.
Hayom Ben Nesah ben shloshim v’shalosh.

(lit. Today Amritas is a thirty-three year-old.)
(more lit. Today Son of Eternity is a son of thirty-three.)
(even more lit. This day Son of Eternity is a son of thirty-three.)

Klingon blog

Who knew, there’s a Klingon blog out there. I wonder what it says. Maybe the author can tell us some interesting things about it?

UPDATE: I found The Klingon Language Institute site and guess what? It's hosted by The Logical Language Group! Remember them?

UPDATE: Just to remind you, here's where we first met Adam.

Falun Gong Swastika

The emblem of the Falun Gong (via OpinionJournal), also known as Falun Dafa, is a backward swastika surrounded by smaller swastikas alternating with yin-yang symbols. Part of their explanation is as follows:

The English and German word Swastika is derived from the Sanskrit word: Svastikah, which means "being fortunate." The first part of the word, SVASTI-, can be divided into two parts: SU- (good; well), and -ASTI- (is.) The -ASTIKAH part just means "being". The word is associated with auspicious things in India – because it means "auspicious." In India, both clockwise and counterclockwise swastikas were used, with different meanings.

The swastika symbol has been used for thousands of years among practically every group of humans on the planet. It was known to Germanic tribes as the "Cross of Thor," and it is interesting that the Nazis did not use that term, which is consistent with German history, but instead preferred to "steal" the Indian term "swastika." As the "Cross of Thor," the symbol was even brought to England by Scandinavian settlers in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, long before Hitler. Even more interesting, the sign has been found on Jewish temples from 2000 years ago in Palestine, so Hitler was (inadvertently?) "stealing" a Jewish symbol as well as an Indian one.

This is true. I have seen for myself ancient synagogues decorated with swastikas. But the Nazis have irrevocably changed its meaning. To me it looks evil, I can’t imagine anyone thinking it beautiful, inspiring, or good. Evidently, the Falun Gong disagree:

The Falun emblem is the symbol of Falun Dafa. The character in the center (<link removed>) is the symbol called "wan", which has been used in many cultures for thousands of years to denote good fortune.

It gives me the creeps.

Social Democracy is Fascism

Nelson Ascher (via Amritas):

Social-democracy has been much more successful than either capitalism or communism in one thing: the manufacturing of consent. Besides, at least in theory, neither capitalism nor communism has any trust in the State. Though what he did in practice was the opposite, Lenin, according to his writings, saw the abolition of the State as something desirable. And capitalism on the other hand considers the State a kind of inevitable evil that shouldn’t be allowed to grow too much. But in the eyes of social-democratic ideologues, the state is the very materialization of what’s best in human nature and society.

Free enterprise and anti-Semitism

Amritas says:

I'll just say that anti-Semitism is the sibling of anti-capitalism.

It is true, but anti-Semitism is the sibling of any ideology that seeks hidden manipulators as the explanation for why things are the way they are. Jews, visible but foreign, the eternal other, make a good hook on which to hang any accusation. So we are not just scheming capitalists, but also scheming communists. Back when Christianity was more important than either ideology, we were the anti-Christ. In the era of minority empowerment, we are unique in being the only minority not deserving special understanding. In the era of multi-culturism we are the only culture not worthy of protection.

It reminds me of a joke, which will be familiar to my Jewish readers:

One Jew says to another: Why are you always reading that anti-Semitic newspaper?

Answer: It’s always so full of good news. We’re rich! We control the world! But there’s one thing I don’t understand, how come I’m always the last to know?

Nevertheless, capitalism has a special place with respect to anti-Semitism not because capitalists are less anti-Semitic than others, and not because Jews are more capitalist than others, but because money is the great equalizer. Or, as the expression goes, “all money is green” (at least in the US, have they come out with colored money yet?). In other words, in contrast to all other systems, the ruler of the capitalist system is not a person, or group of people, but Adam Smith’s invisible hand. In a free-enterprise system (by the way, I far prefer the term “free-enterprise” to “capitalist,” because freedom and enterprise are much more important than capital to its inner workings) no human barriers can long resist the enterprise of a persecuted people. Why are there “Jewish” banks in the US? Because the non-Jewish old-guard bankers wouldn’t hire Jews, so they were forced to found their own banks. Why are there “Jewish” hospitals in the US? Because the non-Jewish hospitals wouldn’t hire Jewish doctors. Why are there so many Jews in Hollywood? Because it was a new industry at a time when a lot of Jews immigrated the US. Jews were attracted to Hollywood because it didn’t have an establishment to discriminate against them. What happened when Ivy League schools wouldn’t accept Jews? They went to City College (now City University of New York). The result:

At last count, there were 11 Nobel Prize winners among the alumni of what came to be called "the poor man's Harvard." Prominent graduates include Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, Jonas Salk, Intel founder Andrew Grove, General Colin Powell, civil rights leader A. Phillip Randolph, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, Ira Gershwin, novelist Oscar Hijuelos, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, writer Walter Moseley, and entertainers Ben Gazzara, Paul Simon, Jerry Seinfeld, and Jimmy Smits. A Standard & Poor's survey found that more top corporate executives had degrees from CUNY than from any other single university; Yale came in second.

Like water building up behind a dam, free enterprise will find any crack in the system from which to burst through – the ultimate weapon of a persecuted minority.

Jews mourn at opening of Democratic Convention

Does anyone else think it’s weird that the Democratic Convention opened on Tish`a b’av?

Perhaps only actor Ben Affleck caused more stares on the floor of the Democratic Convention Monday night than the gathering of roughly 25 Jews, sitting on the floor, chanting the Book of Lamentations at the start of Tisha Be'av.

The day of mourning, commemorating the destruction of the Temple, coincided with the first night of the convention. And to help out observant Jews in need of a place to pray, the National Jewish Democratic Council arranged for Bill Hamilton, a Boston rabbi, to lead a service at the Fleet Center.

Considering that conventions are purely for publicity, it seems somehow inauspicious.

Kabbalah.com

Well, on the advice (see comment) of Bryan Ashcroft, I took a look at Kabbalah.com, a site maintained by Kabbalah Centre International, Inc. – evidently where Madonna learns. Brian warned me that, “Serious Kabbalists all seem to regard it as a shallow faddish form of Kabbalah,” but that actually didn’t bother me. What I wanted to know was whether its shallow, faddish messages were real wisdom, and real Kabbalah. I think that there are simple, but meaningful, messages.

It wasn’t as easy to answer that question as I would have liked. I followed that link, and got to a really slick Flash presentation, which strung me along with one teaser after another like this:

Suppose there was a universal wisdom, one singular seed that was the origin of all teachings — a body of knowledge that could reveal the spiritual and physical laws that govern the entire cosmos. What if it could account for and explain every emotion and desire that stirs within you? Suppose it could clarify and resolve all the problems that burden you at this very moment?

What if it could explain all the eruptions that occur in our universe the birth of a new star exploding into existence... to the explosive arguments that erupt in your life? What if it could shed a profound light on the mysteries surrounding the unknown whereabouts of our Creator? In other words, what if it could answer the age-old question, "Where's God?" What if it could blow the lid off of centuries of corruption and superstition, the trademark of religion throughout time?

What if it could offer you practical knowledge in this dizzying, mind-numbing age of endless information? What if it could show you a more effective way to pursue happiness? What if it could help you reclaim all the control you've surrendered to psychiatrists, doctors, consultants, and other people in your life? Perhaps most importantly, what if it could explain all those feelings and thoughts growing inside of you at this very moment, the ones telling you that these compelling claims are just too darn good to be true?

And this:

What if it could offer you practical knowledge in this dizzying, mind-numbing age of endless information? What if it could show you a more effective way to pursue happiness? What if it could help you reclaim all the control you've surrendered to psychiatrists, doctors, consultants, and other people in your life? Perhaps most importantly, what if it could explain all those feelings and thoughts growing inside of you at this very moment, the ones telling you that these compelling claims are just too darn good to be true?

In ancient times, the word "Kabbalah" used to strike cold fear into the hearts of most Rabbis. Its teachings were considered to be far too dangerous and mystical for mere mortal men. Imagine traveling back in time 200 years. Try explaining the concept of a computer, a fax machine, or the Internet for that matter, to the people of this era? They'd brand you as mystic. Curse you as a heretic. Maybe even burn you at the stake.

After enduring this kind of thing for what seemed like an eternity, I finally started to get to something serious:

Scenario 1

Jack is an investment banker who, over the course of 25 years, has accumulated a net worth of $20 million dollars. Jack invested a lot of money in a company that just went Chapter 11. It turns out that Jack lost $15 million dollars in one day. The majority of his wealth has suddenly vanished, but he still has a few million dollars in assets.

Scenario 2

Robert is a carpenter. He earns a modest living of $40,000 a year. Robert has managed to save $10,000 over the last few years and he has invested it in a new Internet company owned by his brother-in-law. This new company launched an IPO (initial public offering) and the stock went through the roof. This took place on the very same day that Jack's company went Chapter 11. Robert made over $50,000 in one day-which is more than he earns in a whole year from his full time job.

Who goes to bed that night with a greater feeling of financial security and peace of mind-Jack or Robert? It doesn't take a psychiatrist to figure that one out.

This is promising. It is a powerful example of a real truth. But it too is a teaser, albeit one which hints at what’s to come. But there’s more:

Whatever force brought about the creation of our universe, it obviously saw it fit to create physical, material items as well. Kabbalah teaches us how to strike that elusive balance between the physical and spiritual so that we can infuse our lives with peace of mind and fulfillment.

There is a reason behind everything in existence, be it physical or spiritual. Once we learn what that reason is, we will learn how to balance our lives so that we get everything we truly need from life.

Good, good, but wait, are they really going to tell us THE REASON?!?! I’m getting really restless now…

But, more slick presentation. A baseball game… the best baseball players… don’t know the rules…

As we have just learned, without an understanding of the rules, talent means absolutely nothing, no matter what game we play. Without the rules, there is fighting, arguing, some people make up their own rules, frustration and chaos are everywhere!

On the other hand, an awareness of the rules produces immediate order. Chaos comes to a screeching halt.

Suddenly, everyone knows what to do, what's expected of them, and how to play the game. Their talents can now blossom. Greatness can fully actualize as they begin to evolve their raw abilities through a series of orderly and well-structured situations that serve to bring out the best in them.

All of which brings us to a game a lot older than the game of baseball. It also happens to be a lot older than basketball, hockey, the Olympics, or any other game for that matter. It's called the Game of Life — and the rule book to this very challenging game was actually recorded in an ancient manuscript some 2000 years ago. It is called "The Zohar", the definitive body of knowledge on Kabbalah; a mystical canon containing all the spiritual laws governing the oldest game in the cosmos.

More:

Many times we're forced to make up our own set of rules, or we're pressured into making up new games. Many times, we feel like picking up a bat and taking a swing at the next guy. Some of us simply quit every time a game situation becomes too frustrating or too difficult.

Kabbalah contends that each one of us is imbued with the power to succeed and achieve greatly in this unique game. But there is a prerequisite: we must learn and master the rules in order for our talents and potential to fully actualize.

To help us fully grasp the 4000-year-old wisdom of Kabbalah, the Kabbalah One Basic Course has broken down the teachings of Kabbalah into 13 simple rules of life.

These are not rules that impose restrictions upon us. Rather, they are universal spiritual precepts that liberate the soul and empower the mind quite profoundly.

You have already learned Rule #1.

What follows are the remaining rules to the Game of Life.

Well that was a cliffhanger! I guess I’ll have to sign up for the course to find out the rest. Somehow, I don’t think I will. What’s my verdict? The jury’s still out. Not my style, very slick. But so far nothing objectionable.

Burning Corpses, Summer of 1944

When the crematoria ovens were not functioning properly, or were insufficient to dispose of the huge volume of corpses, the bodies were burned and then buried in ditches. These photographs from Birkenau were made secretly by members of the Polish resistance, and several of them were smuggled to England.

Tish`a b’av

At sundown, in another two hours, it will be Tish`a b’av – the ninth of the month of Av. Tish`a b’av is a day of mourning. It is the anniversary of the destruction of both the first and second Temples, and the symbolic end of the first and second Jewish commonwealths. (The actual end, at least of the second commonwealth, was a bit later.) While primarily mourning the loss of Jewish sovereignty, Jews also mourn all tragedies which have befallen them, such as the Spanish inquisition (which also began on Tish`a b’av).

On Tish`a b’av, Jews read the book of Lamentations, say qinot – hymns of mourning, fast (don’t eat or drink) and don’t start new ventures. (One of the pieces of evidence that Columbus was Jewish is that he was scheduled to sail on Tish`a B’av, but delayed sailing for one day. On the other hand, his translator, who is known to have been Jewish, might have told him that it was an inauspicious day to begin his venture. Knowing how people relate to bad luck, that alone could have been enough to delay him.)

I don’t know if I’ll be blogging on Tish`a b’av. If I do, it’ll be late in the day.

UPDATE: More here.

Why does the Left hate so much?

From the Boston Globe (via Sarah):

A POPULAR conceit of the left is that political hatred is a sickness of the right, one to which liberals are largely immune. "Just who are these Clinton haters," asked Time magazine in April 1994, "and why do they loathe Bill and Hillary with such passion?" It answered, in effect: That's just the way conservatives are. The article quoted historian Alan Brinkley: "Liberals tend to value tolerance highly, so there's a greater reluctance to destroy enemies than among the right."

That was a whopper even in 1994, a year when Republican leader Newt Gingrich was routinely vilified as a McCarthyite and a racist. Ten years later, with a storm of Bush hatred raging among liberal Democrats, the notion that the left is too high-minded to savage its opponents is about as plausible as the claim that the moon landings were staged in Hollywood.

The reason they hate Bush so much is that he is a genuine challenge to their ideology, unlike his father (who by the way lost his bid for re-election).

Madonna becomes Esther?

I don’t know what to make of this:

Assuming a newly modest public image more in keeping with that of a nice Jewish girl than a “Material Girl,” pop star Madonna says she has adopted the Hebrew name of Esther. The Catholic-bred singer/actress said in an ABC News “20/20” interview airing on Friday that her identification with the Biblical queen celebrated in the Jewish festival of Purim stems in part from her adherence to the study of Jewish mysticism known as Kabbalah.

I always thought that Judaism had some general wisdom to offer, that it deserved to be “cool” like Buddhism or Hinduism. But how Jewish is this? Guy Richie, Madonna’s husband objects to it being called Jewish at all:

The religion, said to date back to the second century, is usually described as "Jewish mysticism", but Guy rejects that description. Its advocates say it offers a path to fulfilment based on spiritual and scientific laws of the universe.

Traditionally, before you could study Kabbalah (Qabala) you had to be conversant in Jewish Law (halakha), be over 40, and married. I guess Madonna has two out of three. I actually don’t know what Madonna’s brand of Kabbalah is. For now, I’ll assume it’s for the best.

Qabala in Hebrew means reception. A kabbalist is a m’qubal.

Amritas is back

For some reason I decided to check Amritas’s blog today, though he wasn’t due back until the end of the week. I don’t know why I did it, but Amritas is back! He surprised us when he left. He surprised us when he returned. What happened? Will he tell us?

UPDATE: Maybe he just had restless legs?

Money to burn

What do you think about this example of Israeli ingenuity? Repulsed? Embarrassed? I was amused.

Passengers were issued €15-vouchers for food, wine, beer, soft drinks, and snacks on two-way flights.

Issta Lines managing director Ahishai Gal said that Israelis were simply unaccustomed to the method, which is used all over the world. The Transavia CEO said, “If someone buys food for €13, he wants to give his unused balance to someone else, who wants to buy food for €17, without paying the extra €2. The stewardesses would have had to run up and down the plane with calculators in order to keep track of the Israelis passengers’ arithmetic. This method makes it possible to use one less stewardess on each flight, but we would have had to add a stewardess on flights to Israel to keep order.”

Understand the problem: If you have a 15 euro voucher, and you only want to buy 13 euros of food, but your neighbor wants to buy 17 euros worth, you can pool your vouchers and together use all 30 euros. Evidently Europeans are not energetic enough, or cooperative enough to do such a thing – they just throw away the extra 2 euros, and let the guy who would like to use it suffer. I think this indifference to the allocation of resources in Europe is telling.

The sad part is that Transavia discontinued the voucher system altogether, when there’s a simple solution: issue 15 vouchers of 1 euro each, and let people swap them.

A war against private education

I haven’t been paying much attention to the commission on education reform, figuring that it would finger the usual suspects and recommend the usual fixes. But evidently I was wrong. The Jerusalem Post conducts an interview with the head of the commission. Some key questions:

Will schools be able to determine their own curricula?

One of the focal points of the report is that the education system has to be more state-based on the one hand, but more pluralistic on the other. It has to allow for different worldviews to be expressed in scholastic content. We recommend that 50 percent of education be dedicated to a required core curriculum, and that the other 50% be at the discretion of the schools themselves. We also think that schools should be able to choose a character, so that there will be certain schools that emphasize sports, and others that specialize in science or something else.

Will parents be able to choose schools for their children?

Yes. School choice encourages excellence in different fields, and enables parents to find frameworks suitable for the specific talents and interests of their children. And it will also enable a certain degree of cultural pluralism.

Today, the only way to put one's worldview into practice is to do it outside the state education system. This explains the establishment of schools for the arts, and a school for democracy, or anthroposophy. But as a result, such schools become elitist, segregationist, and expensive.

What we're saying is that we want a complete state-sponsored education system that provides this kind of pluralism within it, for all citizens.

Now this is a reform that I can get enthusiastic about! In fact, it creates an official framework for a trend that already exists in the Israeli education system. But there’s one mystifying thing:

Is "school empowerment" just another euphemism for a capitalist enterprise?

On the day the report was published, there was a lot of media noise about the "privatization of the education system." But anyone who's actually read the report knows that the opposite is the case. We are waging a war against private education. We think that the state is responsible for providing education for everybody; we think that the gaps between different municipalities are too great, which is why we recommend that government funds be funneled into one large education basket, to ensure countrywide equality.

Well, if this has to be sold as “a war against private education” I guess I can live with it.

Crime and Guns

When I was growing up, one of the most effective arguments for gun control compared the US and Britain. It went something like, “In the US there are <some astronomical number> murders per year, and you can own a gun, in Britain you guns are banned, how many murders to they have per year? Two.” I don’t know what happened, but look at the comparison now. Mark Steyn reports:

Even when you factor in America’s nutcake jurisdictions with the crackhead mayors, the overall crime rate in England and Wales is higher than in all 50 states, even though over there they have more policemen per capita than in the US, on vastly higher rates of pay installing more video surveillance cameras than anywhere else in the Western world. Robbery, sex crimes, and violence against the person are higher in England and Wales; property crime is twice as high; vehicle theft is higher still; the British are 2.3 times more likely than Americans to be assaulted, and three times more likely to be violently assaulted. Between 1973 and 1992, burglary rates in the US fell by half. In Britain, not even the Home Office’s disreputable reporting methods (if a burglar steals from 15 different apartments in one building, it counts as a single crime) can conceal the remorseless rise: Britons are now more than twice as likely as Americans to be mugged; two-thirds will have their property broken into at some time in their lives. Even more revealing is the divergent character between UK and US property crime: In America, just over 10% of all burglaries are “hot burglaries” - committed while the owners are present; in Britain, it’s over half.

I have never really had much enthusiasm for gun advocacy. However, when I came to Israel one of the first things I noticed is that there are guns everywhere. Many people own handguns, but what you really notice are the off-duty soldiers carrying semiautomatic rifles. In the US soldiers leave their guns on base, but in Israel your gun is considered part of your uniform, you have to take it everywhere.

Actually, legal guns are quite strictly controlled. Though it not hard to get one, you do have to get a license, and you have to put in a certain number of hours at the practice range. It’s a common sight here to see people flashing their gun license at security guards – all crowded public places have them: restaurants, supermarkets, malls, etc.

But given the prevalence of guns, it’s interesting to note that the armed crime rate is extremely low. In particular what Steyn calls "British crimes" are unheard of:

the ones I read about when I drive up to Montreal, buy a day-old Telegraph, sit at a sidewalk cafe and wonder why you guys put up with it. You know the sort of thing: the fellow in South Wales who gets kicked to death by thugs just for a laugh, the guy who can't swim who gets tossed off a bridge in the Midlands, the girl who gets her face slashed tottering home in her stilettoes from the nightclub in Manchester . . .

Back in the old days, when terrorists used to try to get away after proving their patriotism, they were almost invariably gunned down by either a civilian or an off-duty soldier. In fact, it is probably recognition of the fact that terrorism in Israel is suicidal that forced them, in desperation, to openly embrace suicide attacks.

Trackback from trying to grok, CRIME:

My German co-worker has insisted on several occasions that my American co-worker and I are much better off living in Europe than in the US because in Europe we're away from all the crime. Nevermind that my co-worker hails from...

The usual suspects

I should have known. Why is it that anti-Semitism is always linked to the same side of the political spectrum? I was embarrassed by this episode up till now, but maybe I should be glad to have it associated with such a loser? The Australian reports (via Instapundit):

IT makes you wonder about Helen Clark's priorities. In two separate sting operations in March and April, Thai police seized 23 bogus New Zealand passports that were being sold on the Bangkok black market. And, if that isn't bad enough, security officials in Thailand expressed the belief al-Qa'ida terrorists have been using the products of these forgery rings for quite some time.

But the prospect of Osama bin Laden flashing a visa-free Kiwi passport as he sauntered through customs at Heathrow didn't seem to bother the New Zealand Prime Minister. In fact, her Government's reaction to these passport forgeries was exceedingly low key. Thus, a Foreign Affairs spokesman responded dismissively to this story, declaring that he "had absolutely no confirmation" of "claims by Thai police that New Zealand passports may have been used by al-Qa'ida-linked terrorists in Europe".

About the same time, two Israeli men were arrested during the course of a rather amateurish plot to obtain a genuine NZ passport under false pretences. Yet on this occasion, Clark was galvanised into action, angrily proclaiming that she had "very strong grounds for believing that these are Israeli intelligence agents". She slapped diplomatic sanctions on Israel, while vociferously decrying this "unfriendly action" that is a "sorry indictment" of the Jewish state.

To put it bluntly, Clark is in trouble. Deep trouble. Not only was she voted New Zealand's "least kissable" woman in a recent survey conducted by Listerine, but the political fortunes of her Labour Party are flagging as well. Over the past year Opposition Leader Don Brash has orchestrated a phoenix-like ascent from the electoral ashes by his National Party. Brash has led the Nats to a commanding position in the New Zealand political landscape by preaching a highly popular creed of free-market economics and equal rights.

BTW, If the Mossad is involved, it is to fight terrorism. You don’t go to Afghanistan on an Israeli passport!

Exciting Israel

Bjørn Stærk writes a thoroughly entertaining post on his Baltic travels. Among (many) other things, he relates his meeting with a 16-year-old Israeli girl in Denmark:

To her, the tension has become part of the background, part of what's normal. She had moved to Canada once, but found it boring. With all the tension gone, far away from the big conflict, life became suddenly too quiet, too bland. Something was missing, and Israel was her home anyway. So she returned, and intends to stick with her country, even if she has no hope for peace. In a year, she's off for two years of military service.

I share this girl’s sense of excitement about living in Israel, and I think I can assure Bjørn that it doesn’t come from the danger. In fact, I feel much safer living in Israel than I did living in West Philadelphia, where I lived for four years while I attended university. (In fact the worst part of the city is North Philadelphia, West Philadelphia being only moderately bad.) I was afraid to walk the streets at night, and it wasn’t great during the day either. I understand that crime rates in the US have plummeted since I left (I had nothing to do with it!), but I was recently warned to be careful about kidnappings, so I see that worrying about crime is still part of daily life there. Israelis don’t worry about crime. Muggings here are unknown. Murders are almost always crimes of passion. Except for the last two years, and ending a few months ago, I’m quite sure that the chances of dying by violence in Israel are lower than in the US and much of Western Europe.

On the other hand, it’s hard for me to put a finger on exactly what does make life in Israel exciting. Here are some possibilities:

Openness – Israelis are very open people. Meaning is exciting. One of the things that gives life meaning is your relationships, and it is far easier to have a meaningful relationship with the average Israeli than with the average American or European. Now, it is true that this same characteristic can often be annoying – there are a lot of people out there whom you’d rather not know – but on balance, I think, it’s worth it.

Variety – Variety is the spice of life. I think it’s exciting. There are a tremendous variety of Israelis. Not just Arabs and Jews (and some others, like Druse), but also within the Jewish community. You can look at the political parties to see some reflection of this. There are some contributing factors to maintaining this variety. First of all, within the religious community: remember that Judaism is a traditional religion. It requires Jews to maintain their own traditions, while mandating respect for all Jewish traditions. The result is a lot of different Jewish traditions. The Israel school system supports this – each community maintains its own school system. In fact, any sufficiently large group of people can start a school to teach according to their own values.

Jewishness – If you are Jewish, it is tremendously meaningful to be in Israel. Of course, if you are religious, Israel is the Holy Land, and has intrinsic spiritual significance – even Jews who are not nominally religious usually feel this way to some extent. But it is also exciting to feel at the center of things. In the US, I often felt like an outsider. Don’t get me wrong, I do feel a great connection to the US, and to the values it stands for. But in Israel the feeling of connection is that much greater. Its history is my history; its holidays are my holidays. I don’t have to explain myself – not that Americans ever ask for explanations, such openness is not considered polite, but being understood is exciting!

Does all this add up? I don’t know, but it’s what I can think of at the moment.

Every man his hour

The Instapundit proves:

אל תהי בז לכל אדם
ואל תהי מפליג לכל דבר
שאין לך אדם שאין לו שעה
ואין לך דבר שאין לו מקום

Al t’hi baz l’khol adam
V’al t’hi maflig l’khol davar
She’eyn l’kha adam she’eyn lo sha`a
V’eyn l’kha davar she’eyn lo maqom

Don’t be disparaging of any man 
And don’t take exception to any thing
For there is no man who doesn’t have his hour 
And there is no thing that doesn’t have its place

Pirqey Avot 4:3

Hareios Poter

Here’s a delightful essay on translating Harry Potter (Ἅρειος Ποτήρ – Hareios Poter) into Ancient Greek (via Language Hat). Some of the problems:

Cultural problems There were many, one of the more obvious being relationships - the patriarchal Greeks not really concerning themselves with relationships like mother's sister (very important for Harry of course) because once married a Greek bride would have little contact with her former family. There does exist a word for aunt (mother's as opposed to father's sister), but it's rare - although the Greeks had a word for "women whose husbands are brothers" - εἰνάτερες [einateres] - because this might be important if one of the brothers died.

And colours - it's little appreciated how languages divide up the visible spectum of light in their own way - our red orange yellow etc is of course completely arbitrary- the spectrum is a continuum. The Greeks had very few real colour-words- Homer's "wine-looking, wine-faced" sea is a typical circumlocution (if it in fact means that - the traditional "wine-dark" is a romantic suggestion). So you will have to judge how I've dealt with the various yellows, blues, greens and other colours that JKR is so fond of - especially pink (the Romans invented the word - it comes from puniceus, the Carthaginian/Punic colour - which was the result of dyeing cloth with a sea mollusc whose identity is now unknown! But it was the "purple" of the emperors - inappropriate surely for a blush or or Dudley's baby photos!)

And also noises: an ancient Greek got by with one or two words which did duty for every kind of noise from a snap to a crackle to a pop to a bang to a rustle to a toot to a creak to a clunk to a click - this makes life difficult, and I had to avoid over-using comparisons with Mount Etna - probably the only really loud noise ever heard in the ancient world! Somewhat bathetically, I do use it for the wizard cracker in chapter 12 which "went of with blast like a cannon". But we just take it for granted in English how many words we have for different kinds and intensities of sound.

Alienationals

I just added two new blogs to my blogroll: Bjørn Stærk and Baltic Blog. They are both great bloggers in their own right, but added to that is the fun of seeing the world from a different geographical perspective. In particular, I am interested in what I call fringe countries – countries that don’t fit into a super-national grouping (like Europe or Latin America) and aren’t big enough to be their own group (like the US, Japan, or China). Israel is a fringe county. So is Iceland. Finland is too, I was looking for a good Finnish blog for a while, and though Bryan Ashcroft helped me look, I didn’t find any. Well, now I have a blog from Estonia, which may be equally fringe (I don’t know yet). If you know of any good fringe-country blogs, please tell me about them!

Bjørn writes about Norway’s love-hate relationship with the US:

Also don't miss the story of how a travel article Bawer wrote for the New York Times in 2001, unremarkable except for a few unfavorable references to the level of service at the Norwegian farm he'd stayed at, made big news in Norway. Aftenposten's Washington correspondent Morten Fyhn wrote a front page story about it, the grumpy farmer became a media hero when he struck back at rude, vulgar Americans who came to his farm expecting McDonalds burgers. Morten Fyhn dug up a critical article on Norway's social democracy that Bawer had written for Cato, and could triumphantly reveal that Bawer "isn't just unhappy with the service in Flatdal, he dislikes most things about Norway". The image of the vulgar, fast-food eating American had been complemented by that of a "thundering", "condescending" conservative. A real farce.

My solution: First, admit to ourselves that the US is a great culture, with great art, learning and science. Second, to stop being so damn preoccupied with it and start building our own, even greater culture. Not just so we can win a p***ing context. Not a culture defined against whatever the Americans do, while copying them badly, but one that learns from what Americans do right, ignore all the rest, and politely try to outperform them at their own game. Embrace the America dominated global culture with all the awe it deserves - then set about to improve it.

You can find some of the same attitudes among some Israelis. The interesting thing is that it’s most prominently displayed on the far left – the same people who seem to hate Israeli culture too. Bjørn is right. The ones with the most respect for their own culture have least trouble liking another culture. The problem is that the left has purposely alienated themselves from humanity. They are alienationals. Maoz Azaryahu:

While most of the public is "national," the elite minority is what I call "alienational." Alienation is a built-in part of the Left. And what they're alienated from is common sense. Why does every peddler in the market understand more than many intellectuals? You could say that it's because the Left is evil. This isn't true. You could say that it's because the