Mainstream

1. I am linking to Maureen Dowd's column mostly out of spiteful astonishment that something this inane would be published in the New York Times.
2. I am linking to Tom Friedman's column for more substantive reasons. Tom Friedman's columns about the Middle East are more readable than his columns about economics which have a nasty self-satisfaction behind their superficial patriotic optimism. Nevertheless, I still think they are dumbed-down Roger Cohen columns. In this column, Friedman criticizes Romney for pointing out Israeli entrepeneurship while neglecting to mention Palestinian Arab entrepeneurship. In response, I would point out that Israelis are more accomplished than Palestinian Arabs, but this does not mean that (1) Israelis should be preferred to Palestinian Arabs, human rights are not a prize in a competition to enforce hierarchy but are something that belong to all of us unless there are specific reasons for taking them away. Only the most beligerently hierarchical conservative would state this, or that (2) Israelis are better than Palestinian Arabs. Palestinian Arabs as a group have their own skills that Israelis as a group do not have, or that (3) any individual Israeli is better than any individual Palestinian Arab. These are three rational definitions of racism, which I oppose with passion. I do not believe that it is inconsistent to be against racism for rational reasons with passion. Passion is a tool of the intellect. Many of the most beligerent hierarchical conservatives act with coolness but not warmth because they are not actually interested in the ideas they claim to support but are only interested in themselves.
I am feeling better being who I am, but still want to travel through time.