Louis Farrakhan is no scholar

Greetings.

Jewish date:  20 Tammuz 5770 (Parashath Pineḥas).

Today’s holidays:  Friday of the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of St. Phil Spector (Church of the SubGenius).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Stop Antibiotic Abuse on Factory Farms”.

Topic 1:  The daily dose of anti-Semitism gets weirder.  “Louis Farrakhan calls Jews the “worst enemy” of African Americans” and “Farrakhan charges Jews with 'anti-black' behavior” report that Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam, infamous for a long history of inflammatory anti-Semitic rhetoric, recently sent a letter to many major American Jewish groups, assailing Jews for alleged anti-black behavior above and beyond anything else anyone else has done, with tones of a conspiracy “theory”.  Bizarrely, the letter also asks for opening dialog.  (The rhetorical faux pas should be obvious even to people who are not particularly bright.)  The response of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is described in “ADL Slams Farrakhan For Blaming Jews For Financial Ruin Of Blacks”.  The most worthwhile thing your humble blogger managed to dig up in looking into this story is the ADL’s “Jew-Hatred as History”, which analyzes what Farrakhan tries to pass off as scholarship; he is apparently fond of overgeneralization, quoting out of context, blaming groups for the sins of individuals, historical revisionism, racism, blaming children for their parents’ crimes, and stereotyping.  This is definitely worth reading to learn how not to do scholarship.

More on anti-Semitism:  “Tom Friedman Slanders Israel” (dealing with double standards) and “Camp David ( 2000 )”.

Topic 2:  More religious persecution:  “48 Va. inmates isolated because of hair” (Rastafarians are supposed to wear long hair) and “After Failed Attempt of Forced Islamization Egyptian Christian Family Under Siege” (and this is happening in a country which is supposed to be an ally of the United States and receiving US aid).

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor: “MANTISYAHU”:


Peace and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron