The article <a href="https://blog.simplejustice.us/2023/12/03/the-rot-on-his-own-side/" author="Scott H. Greenfield" source="Simple Justice">The Rot On His Own Side</a> writes, <bq>There is no principle that enables Schumer, or Biden, or any liberal, to find common ground with people who can make excuses for rape, together with the litany of horrors perpetrated by Hamas.</bq> I've written about the author a few times because of the extremely sharp turn he took on October 7th, 2023. See <a href="{app}view_article.php?id=4839" date="November 1, 2023">Losing the plot completely</a>, <a href="{app}view_article.php?id=4846" date="November 6, 2023">Some commentator are still MIA</a>, and <a href="{app}view_article.php?id=4833" date="November 23, 2023">Moar unhinged commentary</a>. At the beginning of December, Greenfield was still setting up his strawmen and then knocking them down. I hope he’s having fun over there, but it seems much more like he’s going down a rabbit hole like James Howard Kunstler did a few years ago. <iq>The litany of horrors perpetrated by Hamas.</iq> As if the things that happened almost two months ago are the worst thing that’s ever happened to anyone ever—and as if nothing equally bad has happened since that we might also be paying attention to. Nope, just wallowing in misery and not all interested in any solution that doesn’t offer more misery. Now, he’s off and running on the RISE OF ANTISEMITISM. <bq>The same failure of principle that infects this ideological schism at its core, where decisions are made based not on substance, but on identities and which box they’re in. Black people are still very much subject to discrimination. Looting is wrong, even when done by black people. <b>Rape is a heinous crime. Rape is still a heinous crime even when done by Palestinians. Even when done by Palestinians to Jews.</b></bq> He starts off strong here. It’s a topic he’s admirably addressed in the past. He’s a strong defender of the idea that identirarianism has been damaging to nearly everyone but its most adamant advocates. <img attachment="strawman.jpg" align="right">But then he gets to the second part, which I’ve highlighted. Who’s he talking to here? Is there anyone worth listening to who’s saying that rape is sometimes OK? Is there anyone at all? Maybe a handful of yahoos who aren’t worth listening to? Is there any reason to continue to treat this idea like there’s a danger of it overtaking the Zeitgeist? What the hell are you arguing about? Having doubts about whether people were raped before they blasted to smithereens with hellfire missiles is not the same as thinking rape is OK. Even the Israeli government stopped pounding the rape drum weeks ago. Why does Greenfield still mention it all the time, when even the Israelis have given up on that story? Did he not get the memo? Does he really think he needs to fight the good fight, standing up for the <i>rarely held principle</i> that it’s not OK for Palestinians to rape Jews? Is he getting a lot of pushback on that? Or what is going on? Once he’s worked himself up into a lather about this, he drops his final stroke of genius, <bq>[…] there is far more in common between the progressive left and the Nazis and Klan than there is with a principled liberal.</bq> Put up the straw man, then knock it down. Way to go! I did not see that one coming.