Pacifica not really understood.Byline: GUEST VIEWPOINT By Orval Etter For The Register-GuardOn June 11, The Register-Guard editorialized that Temple Beth Israel Beth Israel, which means "House of Israel" in Hebrew, could refer for:
A correction: At least three paths. The chairman of the Pacifica Forum has believed since back in the 20th century, along with the Jewish Committee on the Middle East, that what Israel has been perpetrating in Israel-occupied Palestine has been a holocaust. Ironically, the Jewish incantation incantation, set formula, spoken or sung, for the purpose of working magic. An incantation is normally an invocation to beneficent supernatural spirits for aid, protection, or inspiration. It may also serve as a charm or spell to ward off the effects of evil spirits. "never again" regarding the Holocaust has not been practiced with reference to Israel-occupied Palestine. The editorial's characterization of the Pacifica Forum as "once respected" needs updating. Four years ago, The Register-Guard carried a routine announcement that the Pacifica Forum would show the second of two videos on Israel-occupied Palestine. A Jewish attendant at the Eugene Friends Meeting immediately e-mailed a dozen of her fellow attendants that the showing "threatens" Jews in Eugene and "is seen as a smear and a hate campaign." The Pacifica Forum has undergone five years of intermittent discrediting as anti-Semitic. The editorial recites two incidents in 12 years of vandalism at Temple Beth Israel. It says nothing about the more recent trespass and vandalism at the smaller synagogue in Eugene. All Pacifica Forum attendants quite certainly disparage dis·par·age tr.v. dis·par·aged, dis·par·ag·ing, dis·par·ag·es 1. To speak of in a slighting or disrespectful way; belittle. See Synonyms at decry. 2. To reduce in esteem or rank. all this vandalism. No Pacifica Forum presenter has advocated it. The Register-Guard's not having suggested the contrary is appreciated. Also appreciated is the editorial's having noted the Pacifica Forum's emphasis on free speech. Along with the high-gear efforts late in 2003 to tar Pacifica Forum with the anti-Semitic stick went an effort to shut it and its chairman down, leaving the forum to present its programs outdoors unprotected from the elements. One of the most potent of the tactics to this end was to persuade sponsors of the Pacifica Forum to end their sponsorship. The Pacifica Forum therefore has a selfish interest in free speech. It is, however, also interested in the free speech for others, partly because recent developments have made clear that there is little or no commitment in certain high circles in Eugene to free speech for certain persons or groups. The editorial makes very clear that one of these is David Duke David Ernest Duke is a former Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, a candidate in presidential primaries for both the Democratic and Republican parties, and former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. . And that another is Valdas Anelauskas. The editorial apparently was written by someone who, like hundreds of others in Eugene, has never attended a Pacifica Forum session, but is ready to disparage it on the basis of hearsay hearsay: see evidence. , gossip and rumor. Had the writer of the editorial attended numerous recent sessions, he would have known that he had no basis for writing that Anelauskas is "a regular Pacifica Foruma... lecturer." Had the writer attended more sessions, and had he more extensive knowledge of anti-Semitism, he would have had a more informed basis for evaluating my response to reporter Jeff Wright Jeff Wright can refer to:
The response to Wright came very early in my acquaintance with Anelauskas. Early on, I devoted a whole Pacifica Forum program to challenging his racial separatism Racial separatism refers to a belief that people of different races should live apart. It can be used in either the sense of:
The editorial writer clearly knows how to spin words for certain effects. Item: "The parade of Holocaust revisers." They were two, Mark Weber Mark Weber is president of the Legion for the Survival of Freedom and director of the Institute for Historical Review, an American Holocaust denial[1] organization. Weber has been associated with the IHR since 1991 and has been the Institute Director since 1995. and David Irving For other persons of the same name, see David Irving (footballer) and David Irving (politician). David John Cawdell Irving (born March 24, 1938) is an English writer specializing in the military history of World War II. , almost eight months apart. Quite a parade! The editorial's final advice to the Pacifica Forum is a superb example of jumping from an unwarranted assumption to a foregone conclusion foregone conclusion n. 1. An end or a result regarded as inevitable: The victory was a foregone conclusion. See Usage Note at foregone. 2. . The Pacifica Forum is committed to the truth, including, with an eye to one of Jesus' observations, truth that is controversial. The Pacifica Forum also is committed to justice, especially in places where others, even Temple Beth Israel, seem unable to discern its lack. The Pacifica Forum may be counted on to continue in its commitment to make people better informed. If its information is divisive now and then, let those on either side of the division, on either side of the road, still discourse with one another, in trust that doing so will be conducive to amity am·i·ty n. pl. am·i·ties Peaceful relations, as between nations; friendship. [Middle English amite, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin *am and tranquility. Retired University of Oregon The University of Oregon is a public university located in Eugene, Oregon. The university was founded in 1876, graduating its first class two years later. The University of Oregon is one of 60 members of the Association of American Universities. professor Orval Etter of Eugene is the founder of the Pacifica Forum. |
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