“The Jew is mightier than the sword.” Or, “I eat my pepperoni pizza on paper plates.”

I recently received the following:

I just signed this. Please join me in getting "Paradise Now" off the
Oscars.

The Revoke the "Paradise Now" Oscar Nomination Petition is red hot,
averaging well over a thousand signatures a day, and increasing speed. The
revulsion being felt around the
world over Hollywood's nomination of "Paradise Now", a movie glorifying PLO
suicide bombers, is palpable. It is galvanizing opposition and spurring
decent people of all backgrounds to action to right this tremendous wrong.

This petition is a UNIFIER. If you have not already signed, please do so.

http://www.petitiononline.com/060201/petition.html

And please pass this on.

Thanks.
E XXXXXX
Associate Producer
Martha
MSLO Productions, Inc.
226 West 26th Street, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10001

I quickly responded asking whether she had seen the movie? As of yet I have received no response.

This short, yet telling email forward just about sums up everything that is wrong with the American Jewish community today.

Not unlike the bogus Fuji Film mass email that circulated a few years back, there is no honor or dignity in garnering a sense of satisfaction, particularly that of being a “good Jew,” because you hit forward on your email. Especially, when this feeling is false and adds to the improper sense of belonging because you are “against” something and have mouse clicked to prove it.

I have seen this movie and I do have personal feelings about it. I found it to be one of the most beautiful, moving, touching and empathetic works of film that I have seen in some time. It was much better than Cats. It presented a window into an existence that I can hardly begin to imagine. And, as is one of the main objectives of art, it appealed to my imagination and caused me to think by doing so. This, of course, as opposed to, a documentary, which would be an attempt at representing a narrative, perceived as a truth by those people telling it. And it is part of the viewers responsibility to know what s/he is watching.

Unfortunately, responsibility regarding serious thought that includes contemplation of competing narrative (read: competing truth) seems to be way too much to ask of the average American Jew. Perhaps this is a result of the vestigial Judaism left in wake of the breakdown of the Jewish nation. “You can’t tell me what to eat, pepperoni is just too fucking delicious, but please tell me what to think when it comes to Israel – OUR precious.” Often, it seems that Israel, specifically the Jewish aversion to Palestinians and all things Muslim is one of the last universal binding components that international Jewry can share.

But Jews are smart people, so maybe it is too immature or naïve to think that such an email is circulating because Jews don’t really have the time to think about Israel and its myriad nuanced problems. I suppose the other option is that this is a calculated attack against our adversarial enemies on the other side of the proverbial Green Line. Perhaps the email should read:

Palestinian (if that is your real name)-

You have managed to thrust your narrative into the American mainstream. We Jews will be damned if we let your competing voice sully the good name of Spielberg’s Hollywood, the same Hollywood built by the hands of the hated Jew back when America wasn’t so enlightened and liberal – two more changes you can thank us for.

You are proving a worthy adversary but you will rue the day that you crossed the machine that is the American Jewish lobby. Prepare for the real battle.

Feel free to forward this message to your other terrorist, murderer, suicidal and/or homicidal friends.

So what is the answer?

Well, I have started a new petition. All I ask of you is not to sign it. Rather, go out and see Paradise Now. Then read the petition statement that is circulating via mass email, one that perhaps you have already seen, maybe even signed. Then make a decision and only then, should you lend your name to this effort.

Please feel free to pass this blog posting along (there is a little envelope icon at the bottom of the post). Better yet, if you have a blog of your own (and who doesn't these days, so I'm talking to you!) please provide a link to this posting or reproduce it or, still better, write your own posting about this petition. Thanks.

And remember, Jews don’t control the media – mass emails, blog postings and online petitions do.