MadameChaos Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/09/stephen-hawking-palestinian-boycott-israel-history Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eugene Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 in before eugene...oh wait Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Npoess Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 in before compson...oh wait Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triachus Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 in before Stephen Hawking *enters Israel* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Visitor Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/09/stephen-hawking-palestinian-boycott-israel-history Given that the title of this thread is a general headline, maybe it's more fair to post a news piece on the subject rather than an op-ed piece to start the thread with, yeah? Esp for people who haven't heard about this yet.. Here's the actual news story about this, in facts, sourced from AP: http://news.yahoo.com/stephen-hawking-backs-boycott-israeli-academics-152822565.html Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beerwolf Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 I probably wouldnt go there either, can't say i'm a fan. Perhaps they act different in their home country? I've just met loads of them on my travels and they are the most deplorable people i've ever had the misfortune to come across. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Visitor Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 Oh, and I think the boycott, along with BDS and it's supporters are absurd and counter-productive to peace.. Serves only to divide the situation, further instill misguided anti-Israeli sentiment around the world, and also legitimizes groups like Hamas to "resist" occupation in their own special murderous way they've been doing forever, creating more problems for oppressed Palestinians. The neighboring Arab countries love using Israel as a pawn and scapegoat for their internal and geopolitical issues. Where are human rights groups when it comes to the countless other "occupation" instances and human rights abuses in the world? How about a boycott of any society whose leaderships, religious clerics, institutions, dogma and infrastructure are violently racist, homophobic, misogynist, anti-christian, anti-semetic, anti-atheist, anti-buddhist, and on and on and on and on... ? No we don't boycott those societies, but rather one of our only standing allies in the middle east, why? Because hating on Israel is just really really fashionable, that's why. Hawking was bought out by BDS, like all the other musicians, actors, etc who they threaten, harass and try to stamp out. In 2013, it's simply fashionable to not be a fan of the west. fashion, fashion, fashion. either way, the dude's a physicist, not a social justice worker or politician, i'm not really concerned with what he thinks about israel.. the same way im not concerned what my doctor thinks about how i produce electronic music haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beerwolf Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 I probably wouldnt go there either, can't say i'm a fan. Perhaps they act different in their home country? I've just met loads of them on my travels and they are the most deplorable people i've ever had the misfortune to come across. lol, ive just read my post and realised how stupid those comments were. Of course I know how they act in their home country I see it on BBC news all the time. Like I said, Deplorable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silent Member Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Visitor Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 I probably wouldnt go there either, can't say i'm a fan. Perhaps they act different in their home country? I've just met loads of them on my travels and they are the most deplorable people i've ever had the misfortune to come across. I've met some african american people in my life, some of whom i wasn't a fan of.. doesn't mean i'm not a fan of african countries, or that id say that Nigerians or African Americans or whatever nationality they were, were deplorable.. Not sure how you can generalize an entire country of people.. I think the North Korean society, leadership is crazy.. Doesn't mean I would ever be mean spirited in my speech about the North Korean people.. just that theyre misguided, brainwashed by the gov't. We in the U.S., wrongfully, talk smack about the French, how they're rude, etc.. Doesn't mean all French are like that, or really any for that matter.. New Yorkers are joked about for being rude, LA peeps are joked about for being fake.. Honestly, what am I missing here? What's with this hardcore Anti-Israeli viewpoint? about their people, not just leadership or certain elements of their society? Not even any humor about it, not any explanation.. deplorable? really? wow. I'm not gonna pull out that special card here, just gonna say, wow you must really have been offended/hurt/threatened by these "beasts"... vermin? roaches... maybe less than human hmmm.. sounds a lil famil- nahh, nevermind, not gonna play that card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oscillik Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 the dude's a physicist, not a social justice worker or politician, i'm not really concerned with what he thinks about israel.. the same way im not concerned what my doctor thinks about how i produce electronic music haha all I want to say on this is what has been said here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Iain C Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 No we don't boycott those societies, but rather one of our only standing allies in the middle east, why? Because hating on Israel is just really really fashionable, that's why. Hawking was bought out by BDS, like all the other musicians, actors, etc who they threaten, harass and try to stamp out. In 2013, it's simply fashionable to not be a fan of the west. fashion, fashion, fashion. either way, the dude's a physicist, not a social justice worker or politician, i'm not really concerned with what he thinks about israel.. the same way im not concerned what my doctor thinks about how i produce electronic music haha Ah yes, that noted and notorious follower of fashion, Stephen Hawking, being "bought out" by those hugely powerful palestinians, who constantly threaten to weild their massive social influence and power to stamp out the life's work of ordinary hard-working English physicists. The monsters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Visitor Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 No we don't boycott those societies, but rather one of our only standing allies in the middle east, why? Because hating on Israel is just really really fashionable, that's why. Hawking was bought out by BDS, like all the other musicians, actors, etc who they threaten, harass and try to stamp out. In 2013, it's simply fashionable to not be a fan of the west. fashion, fashion, fashion. either way, the dude's a physicist, not a social justice worker or politician, i'm not really concerned with what he thinks about israel.. the same way im not concerned what my doctor thinks about how i produce electronic music haha Ah yes, that noted and notorious follower of fashion, Stephen Hawking, being "bought out" by those hugely powerful palestinians, who constantly threaten to weild their massive social influence and power to stamp out the life's work of ordinary hard-working English physicists. The monsters. Excuse my extreme use of words-- "influence" may be better.. And I'm only implying this b/c it's what I actually read about the story, not cuz i think he was bought out.. from CNN: "His change of heart this week appears to be the result of pressure from Palestinian academics to abide by a boycott set up in protest over Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory." http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/09/world/meast/israel-hawking-boycott-controversy/index.html?hpt=hp_bn2 He's always gone to Israel before, so this is kind of a new mindset for him.. regardless, like I said, his stance on ME politics doesn't really concern me... It has been known thought, that BDS uses pretty intimidating tactics to try and sway people away from visiting Israel. His professor buddies may have helped talk him into, nothing crazy about that.. We've all had people talk us into things. Pressure can be powerful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goDel Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 in before eugene...oh wait LOL I think his timing is a bit silly, though. Just at the moment Israel is looking towards the north (Hezbollah/Syria and Iran pushing its hardware) mr. Hawking starts to whiteknight the Palestinians. Bit late, and as cynical as it may sound, the events in Syria are a bit more pressing, imo. If the violence spreads from Syria towards the south, the entire region will be on fire in no time. Bwah. Scientists, how do they work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rixxx Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 my israeli family are reeeeet cunts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goDel Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 I'll take a guess and assume they weren't present on the wedding. Did you even invite them, or just assumed they wouldn't come over and send them a card afterwards? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awepittance Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 yes I'm sure that Hawking's non support for Israel was because it's just so 'fashionable' right now. Did someone really say that or was I hallucinating? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshuatxuk Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 I have no qualms with anti-Israeli boycotts as long as they aren't themselves too militant or extreme and have definite endgames like Palestinian statehood, end to occupation, and formal two-state solution, even if it's a tentative one in terms of finalized borders. I'll be honest, I'm pretty indifferent to Hawking adding his two cents. One must make distinctions between nationals of a country and their government. Israel is just particularly tricky because it's ideological diversity within the population has been overshadowed by recent governments and PMs in office there. Up until the 1970s they had far greater allies in the UK and France than in the U.S. Their reputation has been damaged greatly in the last decade or so (and one can say the same about Iran since the 1970s, or post-war attitudes toward Americans). I'm sure people had the same issues on whether or not to engage in South African boycotts, and if so, to what extent, during apartheid. I find that has many parallels to the Israeli-Arab conflict. Key Western governments formally supported South Africa until the Cold War began to wind down - until the 80s South Africa's abuses under apartheid was excused by the fact that it was a stable and "progressive government" and by the government made efforts to let the non-white populations exist "independently" in townships and bantustan homelands. The ANC was regularly discredited as a terrorist group, much like the entire movement to free Palestine is regularly discredited by pro-Israeli, anti-Arab entities because of the actions of Hamas and Hezbollah. I don't know what the breaking point will be for the U.S. and West to finally put pressure on the Israeli right-wing, maybe Iran lessening as a threat or secularism becoming more dominant in the middle east, but for now I feel that little is going to change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goDel Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 Scientists and fashionable are mutually exclusive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awepittance Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 Jimmy Carter was smart too, he knew he could only increase his worldwide credibility by jumping onto the latest fashion, which is to criticize a country which will undoubtedly get you labeled as an anti semite by a great deal of ignorant people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Npoess Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 "YOLO" - Stephen Hawking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goDel Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 Jimmy Carter deserves a statue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awepittance Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 i'm not really concerned with what he thinks about israel.. the same way im not concerned what my doctor thinks about how i produce electronic music haha you are concerned though, or you wouldn't have made several assertions such as he did this because he caved to pressure from palestinians or that he did it to be 'fashionable'. You can act as if you don't give a shit, but you clearly have a pretty strong opinion about it. You obviously seem to think that even this very mild form of 'protest' is 'misguided'. So for someone who isn't 'concerned what he thinks about Israel', you sure have a lot of judgments about the way in which he criticized it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xox Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 > Zionism Is Not Judaism < Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Visitor Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 i'm not really concerned with what he thinks about israel.. the same way im not concerned what my doctor thinks about how i produce electronic music haha you are concerned though, or you wouldn't have made several assertions such as he did this because he caved to pressure from palestinians or that he did it to be 'fashionable'. You can act as if you don't give a shit, but you clearly have a pretty strong opinion about it. You obviously seem to think that even this very mild form of 'protest' is 'misguided'. So for someone who isn't 'concerned what he thinks about Israel', you sure have a lot of judgments about the way in which he criticized it. I guess I'm more concerned with the BDS in itself than Hawking, to be clear.. the idea of boycotting an entire nation. The fact that Hawking is a symbol of intelligence to the world, and that he refused to go there in respect for the boycott movement puts the aspect of Israeli boycott into headlines- that's the issue that I'm addressing, not necessarily Hawking or his personal viewpoints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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