Submitted to a Candid World

John Hagee was the name I selected to put on my fake ID.

Ah those were the days….

I had a dream that I was a World of Warcraft character… I had to kill all of these evil humanoid badger dudes, and I could see the green life bars above their heads (which would get shorter as I beat them up).

This has nothing to do with Hagee (whom I’ve never heard of) or Lieberman, but they’re probably right about the Jews. Let’s think about this: the Jews have seen 3,000+ years of getting hated and dominated and isolated and enslaved and beat up; why would God let that change now!? No, my friend, it is obvious that they are the stairs upon which the righteous will step as the Second Coming nears. *

Nice work, Ames! I’ll be in touch.

* This post was 100% tongue-in-cheek and tasteless.

Seriously though, while I can agree that Hagee is bonkers, it’s easy to understand why an American Jew might feel that his way of thinking is something to encourage. There are creepy means-to-an-end undertones to it all, but the fact remains that Hagee’s ilk don’t actually endorse the Holocaust or seek to recreate it – while their particular obsession with Israel is due to Revelation, they also draw pretty strongly on Genesis, and they see recent history as evidence that God’s early promise to Abraham (that He will bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him) is still being enforced. They point to Russia, Germany, and Poland as examples of anti-semitic countries which have gotten pretty badly bloodied in the 20th century (and, more recently, they sometimes try to argue that the Arab world is in poor shape precisely because of its general dislike of Jews). I’ve even seen them use the US’ relative friendliness to Jews to explain why the US has done so well for itself, etc.

And it’s certainly the case that conservative Christians are much friendlier to Jews now than they were a century ago, thanks in no small part to this focus on protecting the Jews until God can kill them off. Whether or not this sort of thing has helped diminish anti-semitism of thought, it’s certainly reduced anti-semitism of action. As long as the Tribulation isn’t actually imminent, I for one don’t have much of an objection to patting useful idiots on the back if that encourages people like Hagee in taking actions that are better for Jews than they otherwise would be.

But I admit that it’s very hard for a Jew to be rational about this sort of thing. I try not to trust my first instinct on anything touching on Jews or Israel, both because it’s bound to be touched by cultural boosterism but also because attitudes and lessons derived from the diaspora and the Holocaust are impressed on most of us from a very young age, and I, for one, find it very hard to think critically about them.

I regret never talking to Andrea about this sort of thing. I’m sure she’d have a very interesting take.

Ugh. I’ve been googling this and reading up on it – why have I not heard about any of this until now? Wright was all over the internet for weeks, and Hagee’s at least that bad. Lieberman should be ashamed.

Gotchaye, on the “why wright but not hager” point – RIGHT ON. And no worries for defending him at first – just glad to be getting the word out about Hagee’s evil. Isn’t he awful? Ugh.

And Andy – one of the best comments ever!