Hi Yaz,
I just found this draft of a PM I was going to send you a while ago. I'm still kind of hesitant because of the amount of controversy that seems to follow Rach around here:
Thanks for the message. Sorry for the length of what follows. I am not feeling well and am having difficulty organizing my thoughts.
Like you, I had a problem with Rach when I first started reading CE&P. He made some comments that seemed way out there and that I didn't know how to interpret. I actually got mad at him a couple of times. I thought he was trolling, arrogant, hateful, etc, things he is still frequently accused of.
And I still don't know how to take some of his remarks -- the remark about disowning an openly gay child, for example. But for now, I'm going with the interpretation that there is more to the story and that I am taking the remark out of context
It's difficult figuring out where anybody is coming from on BL and the internet not to mention real life. I generally try to give the benefit of the doubt, but at the same time, I tend to be gullible. This magnifies the difficulty of seeing where people are coming from.
Back to the CE&P discussions... A couple of years ago, I noticed that you of all people got along very well and were friendly with Rachimim. My first impression was that you had lost your mind, but then the significance of this sunk in. You, a Palestinian, were getting along with a Zionist IDF soldier.
I decided that I was reading him wrong... So I followed your lead to take an alternate and generous view and give him the benefit of the doubt. I began reading about the subjects he was talking about, which took a bit of time. My educational background is in engineering and the sciences, and I've had very little exposure to the humanities. Not only that, but throughout college, I existed in a kind of news vacuum. I just didn't have time to keep up with current events while maintaining a high enough GPA to keep my scholarships.
Eventually, rather than seeing Rach as somebody who was lying and twisting the facts, I came to view him as somebody knowledgeable and passionate (and very opinionated) about several subjects -- especially the Middle East.
Any way, I appreciate your taking the time to warn me. I hope I'm not this mistaken. Overall, I don't think it even matters. Neither of us will ever meet Rach in real life, and it is a waste of time to get mad at him. I try not find hidden meanings in his posts and enjoy reading his blog and some of his threads.
I will definitely check out your posts you mentioned - you're one of the 3 or 4 people on here that I regularly follow.
Thanks,
Robin
I just found this draft of a PM I was going to send you a while ago. I'm still kind of hesitant because of the amount of controversy that seems to follow Rach around here:
Thanks for the message. Sorry for the length of what follows. I am not feeling well and am having difficulty organizing my thoughts.
Like you, I had a problem with Rach when I first started reading CE&P. He made some comments that seemed way out there and that I didn't know how to interpret. I actually got mad at him a couple of times. I thought he was trolling, arrogant, hateful, etc, things he is still frequently accused of.
And I still don't know how to take some of his remarks -- the remark about disowning an openly gay child, for example. But for now, I'm going with the interpretation that there is more to the story and that I am taking the remark out of context
It's difficult figuring out where anybody is coming from on BL and the internet not to mention real life. I generally try to give the benefit of the doubt, but at the same time, I tend to be gullible. This magnifies the difficulty of seeing where people are coming from.
Back to the CE&P discussions... A couple of years ago, I noticed that you of all people got along very well and were friendly with Rachimim. My first impression was that you had lost your mind, but then the significance of this sunk in. You, a Palestinian, were getting along with a Zionist IDF soldier.
I decided that I was reading him wrong... So I followed your lead to take an alternate and generous view and give him the benefit of the doubt. I began reading about the subjects he was talking about, which took a bit of time. My educational background is in engineering and the sciences, and I've had very little exposure to the humanities. Not only that, but throughout college, I existed in a kind of news vacuum. I just didn't have time to keep up with current events while maintaining a high enough GPA to keep my scholarships.
Eventually, rather than seeing Rach as somebody who was lying and twisting the facts, I came to view him as somebody knowledgeable and passionate (and very opinionated) about several subjects -- especially the Middle East.
Any way, I appreciate your taking the time to warn me. I hope I'm not this mistaken. Overall, I don't think it even matters. Neither of us will ever meet Rach in real life, and it is a waste of time to get mad at him. I try not find hidden meanings in his posts and enjoy reading his blog and some of his threads.
I will definitely check out your posts you mentioned - you're one of the 3 or 4 people on here that I regularly follow.
Thanks,
Robin
Jamshyd said:Hey Robin,
No need to apologize, you did not do anything to offend. If anything, I should apologize for my harsh tone... when you see my post-quality in P&S dwindling, you can tell my mood had been crappy IRL.
Like I mentioned to you before, the ONLY reason I may argue with you in a Rachamim post is because I get concerned when I see someone as bright as yourself actually defending a Rach when the latter's malicious intent actually includes you its destructiveness. Rach does not hide his VERY low opinion of Americans and of young men. Yet I expect that his (poorly disguised) verbal-acrobatics are very clear to you. With that said, I can't help but suspect that you feel obligated to side with him because you perceive a bias in the forum posters' attitudes that is decidedly anti-israeli.
The truth is that most people are actually only "anti-rachamim." And they are not so just because he's jewish or Israeli. It is because most of them cannot put up with having their intelligence insulted by Rach, who is so intoxicated with his own ego that he imagines he can trick anyone into believing anything. He also seems to think that forum rules don't apply to him because he can trick us into thinking he did no wrong.
Now, I can see how someone who is consumed with hatred (like that australian kid whose name escapes me atm) can side with Rach. But you are not only intelligent, but also kind-hearted. I can only imagine that you come off as siding with rach without intending to, while you're trying to be fair. But I do not mean to judge you - I'm only trying to understand where you're coming from.
But I would implore you to check out some recent posts of mine: for example, I mention the fact that the mid-east was undeniably inhabited by Jews in the times during and before the birth of christ is backed up by archeology (in the S&T forum), or that the hebrew version of Ecclesiastes is a fantastic work (in P&S). What if I tell you that one of my favourite authors (Arthur Koestler) is not only a Jew, but a Zionist? My approach to the whole subject is an Academic one, where I reject the idea that any one side is entirely good or evil. I know that you, too, try to follow this method too. I do not deny that Palestine is the ancestral homeland of the Jews, yet at once I also don't see why this should give anyone a license to ethnically cleanse it today, two millennia after the fact.
Now, I *dare* you to find *anything* by Rach that praises Palestinian or Arab or Islamic culture. In fact, I dare you to find anything by him on these that isn't outright malicious. You won't be able to find such things, because rach only writes for one purpose and one purpose only: to spread hatred for, and ruin the image of, these people.
I need not remind you what happened last time a guy hated an entire people so much, and no one stood up against him until it was too late.
I apologize if I sound like I'm badmouthing someone whom you might consider a friend. Rach even almost managed to win my friendship until he decided that publicly-denigrating me (during the flotilla thing) was far more fun for him. But I never expected any differently from someone who hates gay people as much as he hates Palestinians.
Anyway, I won't give you any more headaches. Just wanted to clarify my position.
Cheers,
Yaz
socko said: