TROLLS WITH KEYBOARDS

One of the current readers of this blog is mighty upset that I do not jump at his demand for information. Particularly, that I do not wish to cater to his curiosity about the support for Hamas and similar organizations by several of the anti-Semitic-fringe groups so well represented in Berkeley.


See this post:

BAY AREA PEACE-ACTIVISTS SUPPORT 'RESISTANCE'
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/04/bay-area-peace-activists-support-hamas.html

Quote:
"As is made clear by their websites, their literature and signs in several protests, and their rhetoric, such Bay Area groups as International ANSWER, the ISM, Students for Justice in Palestine, Bay Area Women in Black, Jewish Voice for Peace, and even members of Code Pink support Hamas."

[Forty comments as of this writing.]


I have urged him to google, and even suggested several search criteria. But no. He is adamant that I do it for him. Livid, and having a big ole hissy. Despite the support for Hamas and similar organizations being both extremely well-known, and entirely beside the point of that post.

In that, he is rather like my customers a quarter of a century ago, when I still wrote term-papers for fellow "students". They too seemed incapable of reading on their own, or grasping what they read.


Perhaps he fails to understand that bloggers thrive on controversy, and are delighted when someone returns again and again to their blog. And perhaps he also wishes to put words in my mouth, and trick me into betraying sources or stating something that might be useful to him and his ilk.


No matter - all I really care about is that he keep coming back to be frustrated.
To enhance that experience for him, I present a list of posts on this blog that have irritated the living daylights out of other trolls.



VIOLENT ANTI-SEMITES RALLY FOR PEACE
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/03/violent-anti-semites-rally-for-peace.html

Quote:
"Peace rally in San Francisco's civic center turns into angry confrontation. Activists scream hatred at Jews. Angry Lakota Sioux radical spouts racist rant, finishes by bad drumming and unintelligible chanting. Dick Becker has a fit. Speaker at microphone calls the police mothe***88ers and accuses them of wanting to kill people. Arab bites cop. Palestinians attack Jews in metro."

Quote from an anonymous comment:
"The same Lily Haskell who led the chant at the AIPAC rally back in late 2008: "Israel Supporters Watch your Backs, or we'll push you down a shaft!" The same Lily Haskell who referred to Jews as "racist Zionists" upon complaining to SFAC back in Sept 2007 regarding the remodification of a mural. "

[21 comments as of this writing.]



WHERE ARE THE PROTESTS?
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/01/where-are-protests.html

Quote:
"Surely Tamils deserve the same consideration if not more than the civilians of Gaza?
No? Are you sure? You're not just being racist, are you?
You really think it's all peachy over there, and you are not at all concerned?
Oh, I forgot - Tamils are the Jews of Sri-Lanka, and therefore not worthy of the intellectual pretentiousness of the good people of Berkeley. You guys ARE racists."

Quote from an anonymous comment:
"Thats why the talk in Oakland was so egregious- solidarity should be built working side by side on issues of mutual aid, not by creating distrust through lies, demonization and hate. The way to elevate the Palestinian people is not by attacking the Israeli people- it is by convincing the Palestinians that their future lies on the path of peace."

[30 comments as of this writing.]



MALAYSIAN RACISM
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/01/malaysian-racism.html

Quote:
"Here, we have rejected the ideology of George Wallace, and that type of hate has been marginalized in the United States and most of the Western World.
You, on the other hand, elected his equivalent, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, to leadership of your country, and kept him, and his reprehensible points of view, in power for 22 years. That racialist hate, and that dislike of other peoples, continues to live on in your country, and thrives among your people. In that regard, you are true imitators of many of the modern Arab nations - societies marked by cronyism, repression of unapproved points of view, and support for terrorist organizations. What are the words screamed at your anti-American demonstrations? Hezbollah, Hamas, and Jihad."

Quote from an anonymous comment:
"Mahathir is a smuck, and Malays are third rate Pakis. So fifth rate Arabs anyhow. An odious petty people without either culture or civilization, imitative, unoriginal, and in all things deficient. Kind of like the Greeks, in other words."

[35 comments as of this writing.]



DUTCH HAMAS SUPPORTERS
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/01/dutch-hamas-supporters.html

Quote:
"All of these people have tacitly or actively endorsed continued terrorist attacks against Israel. In that desire, they join the rest of European socialist parties (rebranded successors to the old-style Stalinist parties). A more convincing argument for an expanded no-fly list is hard to imagine."

Quote from an anonymous comment:
"The left wingers in the netherlands are not the most educated persons in the world. You can't blame them thinking these things. Most Socialist have had just a few years in school and don't know history very well. Keep that in mind!"

[57 comments as of this writing.]



JEW HATE IN SF: DEMONSTRATION IN FRONT OF THE ISRAELI CONSULATE TUESDAY DECEMBER 30, 2008
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2008/12/jew-hate-in-sf-demonstration-in-front.html

Quote:
"Besides, the angry Middle-Eastern Jew-hater with a bullhorn, and the rabid white chick with an equally loud bullhorn and a grating voice, made plain in great detail what the peace movement's plan for Israel and the Jews entails, as did the numerous threats and insults directed at our side by both Arabs and Anglos."

Quote from an anonymous comment:
"Read THE INTERNATIONAL JEW by Henry Ford!!! These Jews are an international band of criminals and BABY KILLERS who have hijacked our foreign policy and and bought our corrupt politicians and control our media but WE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE are smarter than they think. I say it is time we stopped financing them and protecting them without us they would not last two weeks. IRAN will NUKE them soon."

[108 comments as of this writing.]



PIE FOR FINKELSTEIN
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2008/10/pie-for-finkelstein.html

Quote:
"A frequent reader and occasional commenter draws my attention to the upcoming visit of Norman Finkelstein, kapo and collaborateur-extraordinaire of the International Phillistinist Enterprise, which will be sponsored by the usual gang of thugs at UC Berkeley - that being an Arab-funded operation going under the name of 'Students For Justice In Palestine'."

Quote from an anonymous comment:
"But Finkelstein sets himself up so beautifully for ad hominems. After all, he admits he is fixated on his mother (oh, gee), and he admits he went into a deep funk when the soviet union fell (3 weeks- no eating and sleeping, poor baby). How can you NOT make fun of this guy?"

[71 comments as of this writing.]



Please feel free to peruse the posts cited above, my dear anonymous commenter. You will without a doubt find soul-mates among the commenters, and probably also revisit some of your own writing.
You will also find some comments and counter-comments in Dutch - that you shall not be able to comprehend them in the slightest saddens me, as I really do wish that more Americans were literate.
There's always Babelfish - no, I shall NOT translate for you, do your own research, you lazy darn Berkeleyite!

SPEAK ENGLISH! OR MAYBE SOMETHING ELSE!

A postmaster in Nottingham, England, will refuse to serve people if they cannot speak English.


Quote:
Deva Kumarasiri, who moved to England from Sri Lanka 18 years ago, runs the Sneinton Boulevard Post Office.

Mr Kumarasiri said he could not serve people if he did not understand what they were asking for.


Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/nottinghamshire/7951778.stm


"I am part of a service but how can I serve them if I don't understand what they are asking for?"

The 40-year-old felt he was only asking people to make the same efforts he had done himself.

"I was born and raised in a different country, my language was different, my religion was different. But when I came to England I obeyed the British way of life, I got into the British way of life. That is what I ask everyone else to do - respect the country where you are working and living."

Ina Norgate, 49, from Sneinton, said: "I agree with him. It's a bit ignorant to come here and not speak the language. If you went to France you would have to learn French."

But Mohammed Ahmed, 22, also from the area, disagreed. "This is a multicultural society and this is not right really," he said. "If they come here to work, it's their right to stay here even if they speak their own language. Some people can't speak English but they can learn the language once they come here."

Afzal Sadif from the Nottingham Racial Equality Council said Mr Kumarasiri's stance was "unacceptable".
"This is a public service, the Post Office is there for everybody and we seriously have to look at the stereotypical view he's coming across with. In the long run, I believe, if we're living in Britain, over the course of the years, you have to speak English to get by but you can't force it upon people."

--------------------------------

I am of two minds about this. On the one hand, I can understand that multilingualism is neither necessary for daily life nor something that can be enforced. On the other hand, learning another language is not as easy as the monolingualists fondly make it out to be.
[Oops, wait - that's really the same hand! Oh well.]

English, as you may have heard, is not the easiest language in the world (even though a derivative of English, known as Tokpisin, arguably is). We need not even mention the insane spelling of this language (strictly for the birds).
And there are some parts of the world where English has pronunciations and usages which deviate ENORMOUSLY from standard speech - among others: Karachi, Mumbai, and Yorkshire. This adds a dimension of dificulty.

Nevertheless, how hard is it to communicate with someone who wishes to give you money? It isn't as if the two of you will be discussing deep philosphical concepts, analyses of theology, or a recent Swedish movie filled with angst and weltschmertz.

"Goot efternun! Ee vish to be aporchessing wan stemp. Hit iz for mey emblop, that iz tu be gowung tu Salamibod in Pekkiston. Vich is laik Hindia, tatahpi reet nixt dawar. Eeh yes? Ewe 'nerstending pliz? Hir er saveril koo-ins, vitch iz tu sey, wan pawand & fir shilleng. Ee think ewe, hazoor."

See? How hard is that? Just take the money.
Weltschmertz absolutely requires fluent English. Commerce, meh, not so much.


Anti-Irish attitudes haven't been acceptable, even in Britain or Massachusetts, in several decades.

Welshmen and Valley Girls are a different matter.