David Mamet on Obama, conservatism and Israel.

[323guiltyspark]

So David Mamet defines conservatism as just uncompromising support for Israel? I think it's a little more nuanced than that. It's like being a communist because red is your favorite color.

[spekonaspek]

Stick to writing scripts David.

[TheJarrod00]

it is futile to continue saying so and so are jew haters or the UN is anti-Israel, or Jews have been persecuted for 1000s of years, or Israel attracts more negative views from other nations than any other country, or Jews own the media or Jews own the banks and were responsible for the economic collapse - we've all heard these accusations, the key questions we must ask ourselves now is why do jews make people hate them, what is it about jewish culture or race that causes this?

[terratrema]

@TheJarrod00

The Jews don't MAKE people hate them; people just hate them.

That's all there is to it.

[TheJarrod00]

@terratrema That's illogical, nobody hates something or someone, just for the hell of it = if you look at the BNP in the UK they don't like immigrants because of the overpopulation, job scarcity, cultural differences, etc. If you look at the English Defence League in London, they don't like the islamification of England and wish to restrict muslim immigration. So based on these two movements, why has the world always hated jews? There has to be a reason, it is ot possble to just hate blindly

[terratrema]

@TheJarrod00

No, it's not "illogical". It may be wrong, although I'm sure it's not, but it certainly isn't illogical. Why? Because if you believe that humans DON'T have the capacity to hate blindly, then you're incredibly naive.

So yes, it is possible to hate blindly.

It is also possible to hate based on misinformation.

Those two things would explain the thousand years of hatred towards the Jews, in my personal opinion.

[TheJarrod00]

@terratrema you are attempting to excuse jews and exonoerate them of any fault. I repeat my ? 1000s of years of hate must have a reason for it, they didn't have TVs or internets then so it would not be possible to hate based on misinformation or media as today. There are clear reasons why jews have and will always continue to be hated until they admit their wrongs, you seem to make out jews are innocent - THEY ARE NOT, because if they were they wouldn't be hated now would they?

[terratrema]

@TheJarrod00

There have been Jews who have done, and who currently do, bad things. But to hate the entire race based on the actions of a few is racist, and qualifies as blind hatred. So stop talking about "the Jews" as if they are one homogenous entity.

Also, just because back then the internet didn't exist, doesn't mean conspiracy theories didn't exist. How naive are you?

However, the main reason for historical anti-semitism was due to Christian hatred, "Christ killers" etc.

[TheJarrod00]

@terratrema so is 'christ killer' is no longer the lagel attributed to the jews in the present day, why are they hated today? Is it because of the banking crisis?

[terratrema]

@TheJarrod00

Plenty of Christians still hate Jews as "Christ killers", if thousands of comments found scattered across YouTube are to be believed.

Have Jews been hated for 1,000 years because of the present banking crisis? I doubt even you are stupid enough to suggest that.

So the reasons change, but people continue to hate them, on any excuse, because they are a small but visible (and famous) minority, and therefore an easy target for the anger and frustrations of racist idiots.

[dramajew]

@mbera11 You say "some Jews do bad things" -- I accept. Many more Arabs commit atrocities beyond the scope of the worst Jew to comprehend. Israel gave the Palestinian people the Gaza strip -- the killing and violence continues. They vow openly to destroy Israel -- not to rid an occupation. Your comments give bad name to the human race. I adjure you to reexamine your stance and decide whether your views are based on logic or on baseless hatred of Jews.

[mbera11]

@dramajew The placement of the false nation of Israel is entirely arbitrary, why not colonize Pennsylvania? We already have a Bethlehem and a Jerusalem and you won't need to endorse widespread murder of civilians and children because everyone loves Jews here.

[mbera11]

@dramajew you probably think Norman Finkelstein is an anti-semitic person, huh? Passing judgement on fellow Jews for disagreeing with you, while encouraging stereotyping and widespread hate for an equally semitic ethnic group because you buy a bunch of bullshit the media and your social group tells you, because you like to feel afraid, because you like to feel persecuted, because you like to feel special.

you're just another human being, and you're morally in the wrong. learn to live with it.

[dramajew]

@mbera11 And now you finally reveal yourself hiding behind the pretense. I'm done now because I have no reason to respond to name calling and profanity. Mamet is right about people like you which is why G-d is giving him a voice louder than yours.

[mbera11]

@dramajew God didn't give Mamet a voice. He got his own voice heard from a career of exploiting sex, racism, and swindling.

[terratrema]

@mbera11

You have no understanding of irony or satire.

You are a brainless, useless person.

Yes.

[dramajew]

@mbera11 In addition, Israel responds to threats I wholeheartedly support their efforts. You seem to think there's something wrong with Israel protecting itself. You've never lived there, you don't know. I have, I do. End of story. Protecting citizens is justified. Just as it's justified for the US to go into Afghanistan to protect its citizens, so too Israel. If you disagree, fine. But Israel is no savage country -- it doesn't teach her children to hate and desire the death of Arabs.

[mbera11]

@dramajew Israel is NOT protecting itself. Israel initiated the conflict to create a nation under religious pretenses and from the beginning has been waging a war based on conquest and genocide. You're uninformed and bigoted if you believe otherwise.

[mbera11]

mamet has nice taste in glasses, though, I'll say that. He can be a misinformed bigot and a derivative playwright all he wants, but those are nice glasses.

[Skeptic121]

The USA needs to mind its own business. Israel has the second or third best nuclear force in the world She can defend herself and should take the risks and suffer the cost of doing so. The USA has given Israel hundreds of billions in aid and weapons. We do not owe it to Israel to fight Iran to protect her from a nuke that Iran probably does not even have, according to Meir Dagan, former Mossad spy chief.

[TheJarrod00]

for anyone to believe a playright/screenwriter/directo­r is equiped with authority to comment on on world affairs must mean musicians, actors, catwalkmodels are also the same. This is not the case, David Mamet is raised unfairly to a throne and somehow crowned KING on his socio-economic/political views, where as when a beauty pagent or musician like Bono from U2 makes their views heard they are laughed at as they are from the entertainment industry. Mamet mustn't be taken seriously he entertains

[Danny022479]

This guy scares me....

[Skeptic121]

I do not want the US to tell Israel what to do.

I also do not want US taxpayers' money going to Israel, estimated at about $3 billion per year officially and perhaps twice or three times that unofficially. Even more if we count our bribes to Egypt and Jordan to be nice to Israel.

Enough. Before anyone shrieks "ANTISEMITE" at me, understand that I favor the same policy, NO MONEY, toward Europe, Japan, Korea, and every other friendly country.

[dramajew]

@Skeptic121 Um... ok, so you want the US to go back to a pre-1900 isolationist policy? That's... progressive. I think. Skeptic, taxpayer dollars that go to other countries do so for several reasons. Protecting our interests around the world, I think -- and many, many other tax payers think -- is a really good idea. Israel happens to stand for Democracy and human rights in a region dominated by Arab Islamic fundamentalism with NO human rights (especially for women and homosexuals).

[Skeptic121]

@dramajew Not pre-1900 really, but pre-World War I and pre-Woodrow Wilson. If the USA had stayed out of WWI, the one in which Hitler was a corporal, then no Nazis and no Communists. Perish the thought.

[Skeptic121]

And while we are on the subject, I really see no need for the USA to fight Spain and occupy former Spanish colonies. So put me down as a NO vote on the Spanish-American war and call me an anti-Semite Jew-hater and be done with it.

[dramajew]

@Skeptic121 That's a bit oversimplifying the matter. World War I was already being fought before the US got involved. The Communist revolution was years in the making. To suggest that simply staying out of it would have prevented Hitler is denying the facts of history. Instead, try this out: No US in WWI, Germany wins, Europe becomes the 3rd Reich, Hitler rises and kills everyone. As absurd as that sounds is as absurd as your scenario.

[Skeptic121]

@dramajew Without the US in WWI Germany could have negotiated a less humiliating peace with less economic chaos. Without the humiliation and economic chaos, no Hitler. As it was, Hitler just barely was able to sneak into power by manipulating the sick and confused Hindenberg. Hindenberg said of the German Jews "If they were good enough to bleed for Germany they are good enough to work in the civil service." Over 12000 German Jews were killed fighting for Germany in WWI.

[sledgehammer2064]

AGREE! Thanks for waking up and waking the rest of the country up!! Go David Mamet...

[mbera11]

I am enormously suspicious, after watching this again, that David Mamet is attempting a long con. I really hope this is the case.

[mbera11]

also david mamet is a fool. The Judeo-Christian society is not what made America America. Slavery is what created and defined America. Our country was built on foundations of Black backs. If that's "the Judeo-Christian society", I want no part of Judeo-Christian society.

[dramajew]

The liberalist comments here just go to prove everything he is saying. The Liberal Left has become a "holier than thou" yet G-dless world of compartmentalizing and nitpicking categorizations. Please. Regarding Zionism versus Judaism you cannot tell me that they are separate because to accuse Zionists of "Violations of UN Resolutions" is tantamount to saying Jews violate the UN Resolution. AND, if you say that Jews violate UN resolutions, you are also saying "Jews do bad things". He's right.

[mbera11]

@dramajew Some Jews do bad things. What's wrong with that?

[dramajew]

@mbera11 First of all, that a Jew does something bad is not something to be ok with. It is a desecration of everything sacred. But that is not the issue. The issue is that he is right: when it comes to politics, if you don't agree with the political left about everything, especially Israel, you are called a right wing, reactionary idiot who is not part of the enlightenment. The same people who built America on the foundations of blacks.

[mbera11]

@dramajew Ostensibly every Jew in Israel follows the Orthodox movement, but you and I both know not everyone knows or cares as deeply as another about their religion. This applies to ideologies beyond religion as well. Other Jews existing and holding different opinions to you doesn't mean someone thinks badly of all Jews. I know a lot of Christians, and priests at that, suck little boy dick. This doesn't mean I think all Christians are pedophiles. Be okay with some Jews murdering innocents.

[dramajew]

@mbera11 Why should I just be OK with the world and people like you saying that Israel is a murderous country? Posit: Vancouver, CA starts shooting rockets at Seattle. Do you start blaming Seattle as a murderous, villainous occupier of clearly Canadian soil? Or do you condemn the people shooting? The world turns Jews and Israelis into monsters. We're not monsters, we're people trying to protect ourselves. Mamet is defending that position. Lay off.

[mbera11]

@dramajew if Seattle tried to occupy Vancouver's land, murder their children, bomb their schools, and fire white phosphorous into their public spaces and churches like Israel is doing to Palestine, yes I would blame Seattle, obviously. Stop lying about what your pet country does and stop equating Jews with Israelis, you give a bad name to the Jewish people. You're not trying to protect yourselves, you're trying to steal a country like the American colonialists stole these lands.

[dramajew]

@mbera11 You give any thinking person a bad name. Israel is not the country sending children on buses strapped with bombs to kill themselves. Israel allows Arabs to be citizens, have jobs, civil rights, membership in the Parliament, to be homosexual and out and a number of other civil liberties that are absent in the Arab world. Moreover, Israel has an absolute right to their land whether by resolution or by victory. I suppose you'd have the US returned to the Indians? If so, you're a fool.

[mbera11]

@dramajew I'm getting tired of your propaganda implying that all arabs are the same and that peaceful, struggling nations are the same as saudi/american-funded terrorist groups, and i'm done arguing with a guy who refuses to argue based on truth in favor of jingoistic nationalist and the politics of fear. Keep supporting your fake nation trying to kill everyone with a deep tan, do what the fuck you want.

[TheJarrod00]

@dramajew You can not be serious about really believing what you say, because to do so implies all white Europeans are responsible for the Aparthied in the same way all Germans are guilty of Nazi Germany. I suggest you at least read some of history of the world before commenting recklessly, clearly you are uninvolved in politics why else would you've remarked without care or regard?

[dramajew]

@TheJarrod00 Clearly, you have no clue what it is like to be the object of world scrutiny or why would you comment without regard?

[TheJarrod00]

@dramajew he is a play/screenwriter and director so his prfession is firmly rooted in the entertainment industry, meaning his purpose is to entertain, so I care very little about his views/opinions and would really give more weight to the average working joe on the the street, rather than an entertainer. As for you feeling you are an object of world scrutiny, yes, I agree Jews have always been subject to scrutiny. Perhaps it is time to really ask why and seek the real answer

[dramajew]

@TheJarrod00 So, Shakespeare should also be disregarded since he was a playwright and actor? Your logic is faulty. But what does it matter. You imply in your final sentence that you think Jews are responsible for the hatred the world gives them. I wonder why you think that is? When you answer, please address Jew hatred dating back 1000 years before the common era. I think you'll find you cannot truly answer without coming to the same conclusions as Mamet: the world hates Jews and you do too.

[TheJarrod00]

@dramajew you seem to place emphasis on the architects of the entertainment industry as qualified individuals to comment with authority on political/social and economic climates, whereas I believe they're no more qualified than the average working joe. Furthermore, I accept jews have been the most criticised race on the planet for the most longest period, but I propose we must really ask why Israel is the least liked nation and jews are the most vilified and suddenly i'm a hater? credibility=0

[MrBolas33]

Thank you for sharing. God bless David Mamet.

[xalstarx]

Hmmm... I'm not sure if I want to read about David's political views. At this stage, I'd prefer to stick to reading his theories on acting and directing for film and theatre.

[TheBAGGEN]

@xalstarx I agree!

[marcmeup1]

I'm a big fan of Mamet's writing, but it's a shame to hear him defer to religious doctrine in defence of Israel while purporting to the importance of law, given Israel's continued infraction of UN resolutions. Like many Jews he conflates opposition to zionism with latent anti-semitism. Remember- palestinians are semitic, whereas many Jews of eastern european origin are not! The more scientifically minded among us look to universal codes of morality independent of scriptural dogma.

[mbera11]

@marcmeup1 I've heard more anti-semitism from Jews directed towards Arabs in actual conversation than I've ever heard anti-semitism from any other person I've ever met directed towards Jews. Nobody has any problems with Jews, people have problems with America funnelling billions of dollars every year to a well-to-do first world nation with nuclear weapons under the guise of "protecting Israel from invaders" because our country is run by people who follow a religion that is a Judaism sequel.

[VictorLepanto]

@marcmeup1: There are few more legally dubious institutions in the world then the UN. To be accused of illegallity by the evil UN is the highest compliment in the world. The gangsters at the UN, collecting graft for their gang running their countries back home are the biggest crooks in the universe.

[marcmeup1]

@VictorLepanto WOW! "evil UN...biggest crooks in the universe." You sound like a universal authority. I must be wrong then and I defer to your infinite wisdom. ;D

[VictorLepanto]

@marcmeup1: Some people would be astonished if they were informed that the Sun rises in the East every morning. Now I've given you another occasion for astonishment. Her is another occasion for astonishment on your account. Water is wet.

[marcmeup1]

@VictorLepanto Double wow! That's profound!

[VictorLepanto]

@marcmeup1: The saddest thing is, you're not being ironic. You are actualy astonished to learn these things. You should keep listening to me. After a few thousand years of it, you might be up to speed w/ Mamet.

[marcmeup1]

@VictorLepanto Will do my best Victor. Cheers :)

[spartan2600]

@marcmeup1 Mamet's overall understanding of politics is appallingly shallow. He's not any more intelligent than the "liberals" he attacks.

[spankula123]

@marcmeup1  uses religious dogma in defense! - unlike muslims. =o]

[byquist]

Comprehensive interview from the author of the little masterpiece: "True and False."

[Lombokstrait1]

anointed? doesn't the bible anoint israel? And the bible is just a book written by a bunch on old men 3000 years ago in the desert.

This is completely irrational. Not one bit of his major conclusions rely factor within the actual real world. It just defaults to Israel... because of the bible. No other factors. this is shallow.

[israelx7]

@Lombokstrait1 if you only knew how bound your ability to freely write such tripe is to Judaeo Christian principles, your head would explode.

You swim in a pond whose waters flow from the rock of ages, yet you deny the existence of the very water that allows your liberty...and life.

Don't worry though...you'll be allowed your experiment in godlessness soon enough...

[Lombokstrait1]

@israelx7 godlessness? who said that? I may or may not believe in god. It is the bible's dogma that I question. Actually doubt. But the bible was created by men with agendas. God, if there is one, had nothing to do with it.

Faith in the Bible is just pretending.

You only pretend to know. You may be fanatical about it, and that makes you insane.

[toejam152]

@Lombokstrait1 I hate this shit of God outside the bible. You either believe in the bible (or some scripture) or you don't. No one says "I don't believe in the Greek gods, but I do believe there's a man in the sky that throws thunder". Although I do agree with you about Mamet's point.

[toejam152]

@israelx7 That's beautifully written but fucking retarded. Also, it doesn't make any sense. Are you saying that our ability to write freely is due to the existence of God, or the morals that are associated with the bible? If the latter, me writing God is stupid has nothing to do with morality. Aswell, your experiment with believing in God will also be over soon, ending with you ceasing to exist.

Nice vocab though bro.

[mbera11]

@israelx7 stop trying to immanentize the eschaton, you're making me think I'm living in Robert Anton Wilson's hellish afterlife.

[swedgoy]

Excellent !

A brilliant analysis by Mr. Mamet!

[MamaofWilliamIII]

Great stuff. What a journey.