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1 Bob Levin  Sun, Oct 23, 2011 9:50:08pm

I haven't made any comments about any of the Occupy franchises, mostly because there isn't enough clarity. Outside of the general feeling that something is wrong with the country, a feeling which is shared by just about everyone living here, there isn't a sense of direction, no statement to agree with or disagree.

I assumed the usual student groups would show up, the groups with a membership about five or six people, who sponsor forums and bake sales attended by 15 to 17, the folks who put up leaflets and make sure telephone poles have a membrane of staples--the folks waiting for the moment when the consciousness of the masses finally awakens. They have a tendency to be media hogs, megaphone hogs, attention hogs. But even among these dedicated folks, they can only last so long until they see that the mass consciousness isn't going to do what they hope. So when they go home, we'll see what this movement is--or isn't.

2 Eclectic Infidel  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 12:32:19am

This doesn't help my cause when I try to defend OWS to those who see antisemitism everywhere. Argh!

That said, this woman is a major creep. Sadly, when I first began activism years ago, some of the most antisemitic people I came across, aside from Arabs, were in fact black Americans. Just my experience. And they were as hateful as this woman is.

3 Bob Levin  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 1:02:24am

re: #2 eclectic infidel

Do you see PJ as antisemitic, or just the ex-teacher? Or do you see something else entirely? Just curious.

4 WINDUPBIRD DISEASE [S.K.U.M.M.]  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 1:34:06am

if only Samson gave the shit about black people that he pretends to give about jews

5 Bob Levin  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 2:11:56am

re: #4 WindUpBird

What are you talking about?

6 Charles Johnson  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 9:28:45am

Some important points:

1) the video is not "new" at all -- this was broadcast on the LA affiliate of Fox News at the beginning of last week.

2) this woman was not affiliated with Occupy LA at all. She has been thoroughly denounced, and fired from her substitute teacher job.

3) the person who posted this video at YouTube has no freaking business talking about anyone else's racist, bigoted comments. Take a look at this profile page:

YouCruising's Channel - YouTube

Beware of the evil of Islam!
YouCruising's Channel

Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller, and every other radical anti-Muslim bigot is represented. These are the people trying to smear the OWS movement with the charge of antisemitism.

7 Charles Johnson  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 9:31:08am

I'm moving this to the featured list because people should see the dishonest tactics being used here.

8 Charles Johnson  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 9:33:46am

And by the way, are you the same "Samson" that frequently gets hat tips from Pamela Geller?

9 Bob Levin  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 9:36:37am

As I watched the video, clearly there are edits at the end of the segment. The male reporter is trying to get a word in, but we never see that. So, I did a little search, and I'll post the events that occurred before the interview--in which PJ actually does object to the sign and statements. And there are events that occurred after the interview--where the weather reporter expresses a degree of disgust over what just went over their airwaves.

Here's the after and before.

For the record, here's a little bit about the Federal Reserve.

After I watched all of this, to me, the reporter comes off looking like the fool--one poor decision after another, and nearly provoking a fight as the big guy, whose job must be to protect the reporter, has to get into a position that I'm sure he doesn't want to be.

10 Bob Levin  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 9:46:10am

I think I'm within the time limit, and haven't been able to get the editing to stick. So....'their airwaves'.

11 BishopX  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 10:16:34am

re: #2 eclectic infidel

This doesn't help my cause when I try to defend OWS to those who see antisemitism everywhere. Argh!

That said, this woman is a major creep. Sadly, when I first began activism years ago, some of the most antisemitic people I came across, aside from Arabs, were in fact black Americans. Just my experience. And they were as hateful as this woman is.

I've given up trying to defend Occupy LA.

My standard answer is now that each Occupy group is it's own distinct entity with it's own specific issues, it's own quirks and absolutely no oversight from any national occupy organization. I'm very happy with my local occupation (Occupy Boston) which specifically denounced antisemitism, and I believe the original Occupy Wall Street protest is not in any way antisemitic. Beyond that, the question about how to tackle issues of oppression and bigotry outside of a purely anti-corporatist standpoint is up to each occupations general assembly, and some of them are more interested in dealing with it than others are.

12 Bob Levin  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 10:18:12am

One more thing. PJ is taking video, and the behind the scenes cuts are from the little video camera she is holding. It turns out that she is quite savvy, something that we do not see in the 2:37 cut. I think that she handled this episode very well.

13 CuriousLurker  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 10:30:01am

re: #9 Bob Levin

Thanks for digging up those additional videos. It never ceases to amaze me how drastically different events can be presented when context is edited out. The world of 90-second sound bites we live in is very bad for us. Too much altered "reality".

14 Charles Johnson  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 10:31:03am

re: #9 Bob Levin

As I watched the video, clearly there are edits at the end of the segment. The male reporter is trying to get a word in, but we never see that. So, I did a little search, and I'll post the events that occurred before the interview--in which PJ actually does object to the sign and statements. And there are events that occurred after the interview--where the weather reporter expresses a degree of disgust over what just went over their airwaves.

Here's the after and before.

[Video]For the record, here's a little bit about the Federal Reserve.

After I watched all of this, to me, the reporter comes off looking like the fool--one poor decision after another, and nearly provoking a fight as the big guy, whose job must be to protect the reporter, has to get into a position that I'm sure he doesn't want to be.

Good finds. Those videos underline my point very well -- this is a totally dishonest attack. The definition of a sleazy smear.

15 Lord Baron Viscount Duke Earl Count Planckton  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 10:34:49am

I remember the original clip well. I just looked at this edited version. Some extremely dishonest individual edited this clip.

16 Bob Levin  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 10:43:49am

re: #13 CuriousLurker

I'm jaded, and even I'm surprised by this. Patricia shouldn't have been interviewed in the first place. It seems like the journalist can't tell the difference between a fact and an opinion. It can't fall any lower than that. Thank goodness for this site.

17 Bob Levin  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 10:45:31am

re: #14 Charles

I'm honored. You are the man when it comes to this. This is going to sound corny, but I do hold you in the same regard as I do Ed Murrow.

18 Bob Levin  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 10:46:52am

re: #15 Sergey Romanov

Forget about the Youtube edit. What about the editing to get this on the air? That's bad enough. The Youtube edit is the icing.

19 (I Stand By What I Said Whatever It Was)  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 10:49:22am

There's a front page post in this somehow.

20 Lord Baron Viscount Duke Earl Count Planckton  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 10:54:15am

I was struck by a top comment under one of the videos:

This black lady is 100% correct. The jews do control the money supply and the lending, banks, Wall Street, etc.
jimj122680 4 days ago 40

21 SanFranciscoZionist  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 11:03:04am

Almost as notable as the rightwingnutosphere's rush to paint the OWS as anti-Semitic is the apparent inability of the OWS to stand having to even acknowledge that things like this might tarnish their reputation.

Right now I'm watching a fight on Facebook involving a vehemently anti-Zionist Jew (someone I know from other squabbles on friends pages), someone who is involved with OWS on the ground, who is trying to convince the people who put up a big 'OWS is not Anti-Semitic, and That's It' page to take some of the concerns coming from that big rwnj front group, New Jewish Resistance, seriously.

He's not getting much love.

22 BishopX  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 11:06:43am

re: #21 SanFranciscoZionist

Almost as notable as the rightwingnutosphere's rush to paint the OWS as anti-Semitic is the apparent inability of the OWS to stand having to even acknowledge that things like this might tarnish their reputation.

Right now I'm watching a fight on Facebook involving a vehemently anti-Zionist Jew (someone I know from other squabbles on friends pages), someone who is involved with OWS on the ground, who is trying to convince the people who put up a big 'OWS is not Anti-Semitic, and That's It' page to take some of the concerns coming from that big rwnj front group, New Jewish Resistance, seriously.

He's not getting much love.

Is he actually involved with Occupy Wall Street? Or is it a local occupy movement?

23 Samson  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 11:20:07am

No, I am not any Samson who ever gets hat tips from anyone.

I posted this video, unadorned as I found it, not because I find the OWS to be anti-semitic as a whole, but because it appears to have some adherents or hangers-on who are and who deserve to be called out for this. Does Ms. Macallister have anything to do with the OWS? I did not do a background check on her, and if she really has nothing to do with OWS I will accept that and be happy about it. That said, I think the message of this now fired teacher is as clear as could be and could not be distorted in any way by any tricks of editing.

Unless someone has re-dubbed this video with antisemitic remarks, I will take Ms. Macallister at her words, which need no further explanation. If there is video that shows "PJ" - whoever she is and whatever she represents - to have commented negatively about these remarks, I will be happy to see that as well. I really have no axe to grind about OWS, but I do not like to see anti-semites and their enablers get away with anything.

I did not do a background check on whoever posted this on You Tube, and if they are racists, islamophobes, or otherwise bad people, I apologize for giving them the time of day. But again, I posted the video as I found it, and did not imply any endorsement of anyone or anything else by it. If I have been duped by dishonest editing, I will admit my mistake.

Last, but certainly not least, the comment listed above:

"if only Samson gave the shit about black people that he pretends to give about jews"

does not really deserve a response, other than to point out that it was made before there were aspersions cast on the video, if that matters. It does deserve an apology, however.

24 Obdicut  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 11:22:50am

re: #23 Samson

If I have been duped by dishonest editing, I will admit my mistake.

So, after reviewing what Charles posted, do you feel you've been duped by dishonest editing?

25 CuriousLurker  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 11:28:07am

Down-dinged for the dishonest video, and for using an anti-Muslim YouTube hate channel as a source. How would you like it if I posted something from a virulently antisemitic channel, Samson? Even if the thing I posted was partially true (though misrepresented) and wasn't about Jews, how would you feel? What would you think of me, as a person?

Yeah, it's personal. I'm a real person, just like you, with real feelings, just like you, and sometimes your messaging sucks. You're not doing yourself or your cause any favors. As a matter of fact, I feel pretty fucking hostile towards you at the moment. I'll get over it eventually, but it still sucks because you didn't have to use this B.S. video from a crappy to make your point.

I mean, seriously? A hateful, antisemitic video that you rightfully call "shameless", yet you feel no shame that you brought it here from and equally hateful and shameless anti-Muslim channel? Do you not see the irony in that?

Fighting hate with more hate is never going to bring peace, security, or freedom to anyone—not in America, Israel, the Middle East, or anywhere else.

How depressing.

26 Flavia  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 11:31:42am

FTR, I have been accused by people (& yes, wrongly, IMO) to "seeing antisemitsm everywhere". And, FTR (again), I am certain that the Jew-hatred that's coming from the OWS movement is at least no worse than the "Obama's a Muslim with a bone in his nose" Tabagger whackos: IOW, a disgusting minority. It may even be less. What's interesting, however, is that the MSM doesn't seem to be focusing on it as much.

27 Bob Levin  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 11:32:21am

re: #20 Sergey Romanov

Youtube should just ban all comments, except on the videos I post, which range from 'fantastic' to 'I'm in heaven'. (Music)

28 CuriousLurker  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 11:33:58am

re: #23 Samson

I did not do a background check on whoever posted this on You Tube, and if they are racists, islamophobes, or otherwise bad people, I apologize for giving them the time of day.

Seriously? The only "background check" needed was to click on the link to the user's YouTube channel. That would've taken, what, 15-20 seconds of you looking around at the videos to see how bad it was?

Come on, you're smarter than that. We're smarter than that.

29 wrenchwench  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 11:40:09am

re: #28 CuriousLurker

Seriously? The only "background check" needed was to click on the link to the user's YouTube channel. That would've taken, what, 15-20 seconds of you looking around at the videos to see how bad it was?

Come on, you're smarter than that. We're smarter than that.

Fixed. He also linked to the Washington Times last week.

30 Bob Levin  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 11:45:59am

re: #23 Samson

If there is video that shows "PJ" - whoever she is and whatever she represents - to have commented negatively about these remarks, I will be happy to see that as well.

I posted that. It wasn't an easy find, but not back breaking. I wanted to find the entire TV segment. I eventually had to Google Patricia McAllister, and ended up back at Youtube with a better search result. Still, it was fueled by curiosity.

I was okay with the post, and it took a while for my curiosity to get me to do the search. Clearly the 2:37 cut was edited. The extent of the editing was more than I thought.

31 Bob Levin  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 11:54:53am

re: #25 CuriousLurker

Let's clear this up.

re: #23 Samson

Where did you find this? I'll leave the question open ended.

32 Samson  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 12:08:11pm

My mistake for not looking more carefully at who was posting the video. I apologize for that. I will agree that I have been at least partially duped by dishonest editing, although to be clear about this, the fired teacher's comments were not mis-edited or distorted in any way as far as I can tell.

As for the rest of the hostile comments, I am sad to hear them, and I apologize if I have unfairly offended anyone for any reason, not least of all you CuriousLurker. For the record, I do not personally condone or appreciate websites or individuals that promote racism, anti-semitism, islamophobia or other forms of hate speech. As do many, however, I do read and post many articles from sites that I do not fundamentally agree with because they are of interest and/or make some point that cannot be made as effectively any other way. I do not routinely make disclaimers about whether I agree or disagree, wholly or in part, with everything I post. Nor do others. I hope that my intentions in making these posts is not misconstrued. On several occasions in the past I feel that they have been, but I accept that it comes with the territory and have tried to respond as best I can.

Again, I apologize if I have unfairly offended or misled anyone with this or other posts. I view it as a great privilege to make a contribution to this website and I would rather desist than make offensive posts.

33 CuriousLurker  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 12:15:32pm

re: #32 Samson

Thank you for the explanation and the apology. It makes all the difference in the world...at least to me it does.

34 Bob Levin  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 12:15:40pm

re: #32 Samson

C'mon, where did you find this? I will say this, if you click on the video, Youtube will send you to a search that includes lots of stuff from YouCruising. But if you Google the event itself (and this link in dropping like a rock in Google search), you'll end up with only one posting from YouCruising, and some stuff from PJ.

I'll tell you though, I do not want to click on those other search results. I hate visiting sick sites.

35 Charles Johnson  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 12:20:23pm

re: #32 Samson

My advice would be to update your Page with the videos posted by Bob Levin, and a note about how they change the narrative -- because it's pretty clear that although this antisemitic teacher is getting pushed out there as a representative of OWS, in fact she was repudiated by OWS. And perhaps a note about the obvious anti-Muslim hate speech of the person who posted this edited video.

That's what I'd do, anyway.

36 Charles Johnson  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 12:24:35pm

By the way, my own feelings about OWS really haven't changed. I still have reservations about it, due to the role played by Anon and International ANSWER and some other groups that I cannot stand with.

But I also know a right wing smear when I see one, and this "OWS is antisemitic" stuff is a classic example.

37 (I Stand By What I Said Whatever It Was)  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 1:21:49pm

re: #20 Sergey Romanov

I was struck by a top comment under one of the videos:

YT is filled to the brim with jew haters.

38 philosophus invidius  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 2:39:47pm

re: #37 000G

YT is filled to the brim with jew haters.

Filled with all manner of bigots, racists, and assorted miscreants.

39 Eclectic Infidel  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 3:04:24pm

re: #3 Bob Levin

Do you see PJ as antisemitic, or just the ex-teacher? Or do you see something else entirely? Just curious.

Just the ex-teacher. I didn't investigate further into the actual poster of said video.

40 Bob Levin  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 3:29:21pm

re: #39 eclectic infidel

Well, dude, let me tell you that the story has some twists and turns. The entire recorded chronicle of the event is posted in comment 9. This is Rashomon: Fox LA.

We still do not know where Samson found this 2:37 clip. But Charles found the editor of the already highly edited clip that actually aired.

I think if you put it all together, this episode contains everything one needs to know about contemporary culture and journalism, and this very weird osmosis that takes place between the two.

41 SanFranciscoZionist  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 8:01:23pm

re: #22 BishopX

Is he actually involved with Occupy Wall Street? Or is it a local occupy movement?

I don't even know where he lives--probably one of the others.

42 SanFranciscoZionist  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 8:04:27pm

re: #36 Charles

By the way, my own feelings about OWS really haven't changed. I still have reservations about it, due to the role played by Anon and International ANSWER and some other groups that I cannot stand with.

But I also know a right wing smear when I see one, and this "OWS is antisemitic" stuff is a classic example.

As it's being presented by the right wing nutters, yes.

What bothers me is that when there's comment and upset from non right wing non-nutters, the reaction has been...less than sensitive...from certain quarters.

43 Samson  Mon, Oct 24, 2011 8:51:59pm

re: #40 Bob Levin

Bob, I'm not sure what your fascination is with how I came up with the 2:37 of the video, but I just Googled the obvious terms along with YouTube. I found it and several other posts of the 2:37 version on YouTube, of which I viewed and posted the first one on the list. I did not notice that this was posted or linked to the "YouCruising" website, which I had never heard of before in any case and, at least based on the name, would never have guessed that it contained political content of the type already discussed. I have already acknowledged and apologized for this, and if at all possible, would like to drop the subject.

With all due respect to Charles, I don't think there is anything to be gained by reposting all the various versions of these videos yet again. While I would agree with you that there is a genuine Rashomon flavor to this story, Kurosawa this is not, as I think you will agree. Especially for anyone who has never seen the film, I think the time would be much better spent watching it than reviewing and comparing the multiple versions of this incident.

Last but not least, Charles queried if I was the "same "Samson" that frequently gets hat tips from Pamela Geller?" I have never posted anything on her website, but I wondered if something posted somewhere else might have turned up there with a hat tip to me. So I looked, and there are a few posts by someone who calls him (or her) self "Samson", but to the best of my knowledge they are not mine directly or indirectly. So it looks like there is at least one other Samson in our blogosphere.

44 Bob Levin  Tue, Oct 25, 2011 3:58:10am

re: #43 Samson

Isn't this a tale of what is to be believed? You can see from all of the footage that the 2:37 clip isn't even remotely related to the truth of the incident. But outside of the final few seconds, it was carefully pieced together by a local, upper market news team. It would seem like the most desirable skill in this technological age is the ability to differentiate between fact and fiction--and culturally, we're all a little behind the curve.

For instance, sometimes items just travel through the Internet and gain credibility each time they're forwarded. Doesn't this speak to a part of the psyche that has been talked about since the inception of the magazine Advertising Age, and exploited beyond imagination through Minister Goebbels all the way to our modern society--a society that seems to have amnesia over events only seventy years old?

Back to the less abstract topic. Because of the mistrust of the media, a mistrust they have truly earned, there is a tendency to place belief in the blogosphere. I know that you've posted articles from Elder of Zion. Maybe the clip was there. So I visited the site. There was a post about Turkey rejecting earthquake aid--from every country except Iran. Did Elder scoop the Jerusalem Post, Ynet, Hurriyet? His source is Reuters--today. I'm sure you see the problem.

This is why I'm fascinated. We live in a time when there is more information than muons flying at us, making truth more elusive than ever. It's not making us smarter, more intuitive, more informed, more educated. And humans cannot survive without truth. We are taught this as Jews. We learn that the nations in the past made Torah study illegal--in other words, keeping us from the information. Did not work. We overcame the challenge.

Do we even see this challenge--that truth is hidden because we can't see through the blizzard? I could go on. This incident is a micrology, it yields the kind of insight and raises the types of questions that quantitative studies can never reach. So don't feel picked on. You found the first funny shaded rock at Sutter's Mill.

In other words, sometimes you can see the whole while holding the smallest part. That's why this is worth re-posting.


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