A good rule of thumb is that if somebody is playing word games they should be ignored; they are dishonest and/or just parroting things and/or dumb (obfuscating is the dumb person’s idea of cleverness). If somebody tries to legitimize such conduct, it’s a good sign that one should disengage from them too.
This was yeoman’s work, but the takeaway is that NPR should continue to keep going out of business.
Oh I think intifada means ice cream party except to a few Israelis and other Jews who know what happened especially during the second intifada. Shame on all those minimizers of language deliberately chosen for its message of death a destruction to Jews. They all need to be called out for this crap.
While Wikipedia is not by any means the final word on anything, its etymology captures what I had read from various sources.
“Intifada is an Arabic word literally meaning, as a noun, "tremor", "shivering", "shuddering". It is derived from an Arabic term nafada meaning "to shake", "shake off", "get rid of", as a dog might shrug off water, or as one might shake off sleep, or dirt from one's sandals.”
As used in the Israel-Palestinian situation, the evident sense of intifada is that Jews are to be shaken off because they are dirt - as Abbas revealed in his statement about Jews with “their dirty feet” desecrating al Aqsa.
Generally, though, if you are made aware that your chant can send a message antithetical to your own peaceful one, any normal person would change the chant. That they refuse to do so here suggests that this word parsing is a dodge and a convenient cover for a call to violence that also dehumanizes Jews.
I don't know how common your given definitions of uprising and revolutions are. I don't share them personally (but maybe I'm very unusual?).
I always interpreted "uprising" to mean violence, so didn't think there was much of a point to quibbling over whether intifada is a synonym for it. Contemporary articles about the Iraqi intifada describe violent mobs attacking foreigners. Later on, the intifada culminated in a coup where the military executed the king. I'd call that an uprising.
In contrast, I don't think of revolutions as inherently violent so don't see why NPR would avoid recording that chant. Maybe I'm just affected by "revolution" being diluted by how often it's used in tech demos or whatever, but even political revolutions can be relatively peaceful (e.g. Velvet revolution, Singing Revolutions).
Are these unusual positions for what "uprising" and "revolution" mean? I think my understanding aligns with the dictionary:
Clearly. I had a guy on twitter trying to argue with me that I can't prove the Brooklyn Flood had anything to do with the Al-Aqsa flood (he was a "journalist" supportive of the Brooklyn Flood). In this essay I try to be fair and point out that not every dark interpretation is the right interpretation, rebutting the tendency as put forward by the quoted professor that "Arabic words are often stigmatized, associated with violence and terrorism when they don’t inherently carry those meanings."
That's ridiculous. If I started talking about needing to "lynch" the misinformation coming out of the pro Palestinian camp, whose fault would it be if that was taken as a call for violence?
Always give the benefit of the doubt, but often there’s zero doubt when somebody’s splitting verbal hairs while cosplaying with a green headband. You’re a fair, good faith broker. You wouldn’t even think to question yourself if you weren’t.
Thank you for this piece, Mike. Clearly sums up what’s been swirling in my head.
A good rule of thumb is that if somebody is playing word games they should be ignored; they are dishonest and/or just parroting things and/or dumb (obfuscating is the dumb person’s idea of cleverness). If somebody tries to legitimize such conduct, it’s a good sign that one should disengage from them too.
This was yeoman’s work, but the takeaway is that NPR should continue to keep going out of business.
Oh I think intifada means ice cream party except to a few Israelis and other Jews who know what happened especially during the second intifada. Shame on all those minimizers of language deliberately chosen for its message of death a destruction to Jews. They all need to be called out for this crap.
DAESH INTIFADA DAESH MUJAHEDIN
While Wikipedia is not by any means the final word on anything, its etymology captures what I had read from various sources.
“Intifada is an Arabic word literally meaning, as a noun, "tremor", "shivering", "shuddering". It is derived from an Arabic term nafada meaning "to shake", "shake off", "get rid of", as a dog might shrug off water, or as one might shake off sleep, or dirt from one's sandals.”
As used in the Israel-Palestinian situation, the evident sense of intifada is that Jews are to be shaken off because they are dirt - as Abbas revealed in his statement about Jews with “their dirty feet” desecrating al Aqsa.
Generally, though, if you are made aware that your chant can send a message antithetical to your own peaceful one, any normal person would change the chant. That they refuse to do so here suggests that this word parsing is a dodge and a convenient cover for a call to violence that also dehumanizes Jews.
They are openly calling for the violent destruction of Israel. Everyone knows this
I don't know how common your given definitions of uprising and revolutions are. I don't share them personally (but maybe I'm very unusual?).
I always interpreted "uprising" to mean violence, so didn't think there was much of a point to quibbling over whether intifada is a synonym for it. Contemporary articles about the Iraqi intifada describe violent mobs attacking foreigners. Later on, the intifada culminated in a coup where the military executed the king. I'd call that an uprising.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1952/12/07/84376305.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
In contrast, I don't think of revolutions as inherently violent so don't see why NPR would avoid recording that chant. Maybe I'm just affected by "revolution" being diluted by how often it's used in tech demos or whatever, but even political revolutions can be relatively peaceful (e.g. Velvet revolution, Singing Revolutions).
Are these unusual positions for what "uprising" and "revolution" mean? I think my understanding aligns with the dictionary:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/revolution
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/uprising
Ditto for the Brooklyn “flood”
Clearly. I had a guy on twitter trying to argue with me that I can't prove the Brooklyn Flood had anything to do with the Al-Aqsa flood (he was a "journalist" supportive of the Brooklyn Flood). In this essay I try to be fair and point out that not every dark interpretation is the right interpretation, rebutting the tendency as put forward by the quoted professor that "Arabic words are often stigmatized, associated with violence and terrorism when they don’t inherently carry those meanings."
They carry the meaning that is intended. Terror and violence. The rest is bullshit
That's ridiculous. If I started talking about needing to "lynch" the misinformation coming out of the pro Palestinian camp, whose fault would it be if that was taken as a call for violence?
Always give the benefit of the doubt, but often there’s zero doubt when somebody’s splitting verbal hairs while cosplaying with a green headband. You’re a fair, good faith broker. You wouldn’t even think to question yourself if you weren’t.