Theos-Talk Archives (March 2003 Message tt00338)

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, Etzion Becker <etvionbb@n...> 
wrote:
> It is
> true that a *goy* should be treated as an *animal* ...
> a man devoid of
> spirituality is no more but a talking beast; world affairs confirm 
this on a
> daily basis.

What you say makes sense on one level, but it leads to the very kinds 
of abuses committed for centuries by the Catholic Church and which 
you rightly decry. Maybe the better position should be "some men are 
animals, but it's 'Be kind to anumals century.'"

I also think you may have missed something. Erica posted some 
quotes, Leon said they were bogus but that he did not know where they 
came from, and I said I think I may have identified their source. 
The document in question selectively quotes only extremists, and 
makes it appear everyone who belongs to that sect is an extremist. 
The facts are as stated, in other words, but the impression they give 
is purposely unbalanced and therefore may not be completely fair. 
There has been a certain amount of fact twisting on this site, and it 
goes on constantly in the political arena, so I submit that it may be 
useful to notice the techniques by which this is done. As Herb Cohen 
said in his book: "A tactic perceived ceases to be a tactic." 
Tactics are like magic tricks. They only fool us until we find out 
how the trick is done. Cohen argued - with considerable 
justification in my opinion - that we should educate outselves on how 
this is done so we recognize it when it is done to us, which it 
surely will be.