On Tue, 5 Feb 2002, Gabor Varnai wrote:
> Ad hominem Baruch Kimmerling, my friend.
About this you're right, and I have to apologize.
> (1) I'm not a Jewish patriot in Hungary (certainly it'd be great but
> boring) but - I hope - a human being and a Jew in the world, a
> cosmopolitan and an inhabitant of a multicultural metropolis where I
> live.
As a Jew I wish I can define Israel with same terms, and I hope will
come soon the time I'll be able to do so.
> (2) Baruch, you are one of the most influental scholars in Yisrael and
> therefore on the stage not a scholar but a man - a very human being -
> who makes policy. You cannot tell anything only as a 'scholar'.
Read again my options and see that I said the same.
> If you
> don't like Sharon's policy, it doesn't mean that this is not a war and
> databases aren't and aren't to be utilised as strategic, intelligence
> and military sources.
Like what?
> And in a war everybody must take a position on one
> of the sides.
Yes, correct. I'm on the said that try to free my country from its
brutalization and corruption cause by 35 years of rule and exploitation
of another people.
> This is a global war
I beg to differ. It is a very local war between two ethnic groups.
As a part of this war, each tribe trying to mobilize the world against
the other "tribe".
> and as times go on, neutrality and
> moralizing looses its place, even in the circles of highly educated
> sociologists as well.
Agree.
> (3) Dear sociologists, please utilise as many databases as possible but
> don't think the way you collect and/or utilise them is value free. It is
> not. And if it is a criterion of morality, democracy and peace to make
> databases that are accessible to everybody, don't say "it was financed
> by the European Union". - So what? What about the media databases
> sponsored by anybody that show and teach young Palestinians how to
> commit suicide actions? Shouldn't we protest against the Palestinian
> utilising of welfare-state electronic products and PR skills for such
> goals? Of course as - let's say - sociologists of communications?
If you wish to do so and possess hard data to prove these you are free to
do so and I wish you success.
your friend, Baruch.
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