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The Shaming Project
UPDATE, and a followup:
PLease see the update on this story Richard Bartholomew has kindly posted and also my comment attached to Richard's update. Excerpt:
A few days ago, as this story was heating up, I posted an idea - that the bloggers who say they support the "Stop The ACLU Coalition" should simply be asked, directly and politely - one by one as individuals with their own voices - whether they thought the outcome in Indian River was a good thing. I only emailed few people - 7 in all - and only received a response from one person, whose views I sharply differed with but who was willing to post his views and who was, in the email exchange, quite polite.
However, nothing more than my call for such an undertaking - which really could have only worked if many joined in, because one person alone cannot serve as any sort of collective moral voice - had an unexpected result. Others in the group of 200 bloggers listed as supporting the "Stop The ACLU Coalition" stepped up as voices of moral clarity to shame an entrenched few who chose to hunker down and defend their behavior.
When I called for such a project, there were voices on the left who told me that my idea was pointless because the group in question was "extreme" and all the same...... NOTE: this story was formerly titled "Jewish family flees Delaware Town Amidst Harassment and Alleged Death Threats"
But, I've since written this story up as a version I've placed on the front page of Talk To Action, and also as a story on the Daily Kos that was quite popular. So I'm converting this earlier version into an advertisement for a simple method by which those who feel a sense of outrage over the indicent in Indian River, MD can do something about it. I call it:
"The Shaming Project"
Here's my description of the project. The goal is to get bloggers who support the "Stop the ACLU Coalition" to state whether they support the impact of that coalition's efforts in Indian River ( or the possible impact ) or not.
The method is simple : email those members and ask them. Be direct, and be polite.
I've posted a few bloggers who I've initially contacted, towards the end of the discussion on my Daily Kos cover of the story.
ACTION ALERT : Stop The UCLU has assembled a crew of 200 bloggers to support its initiatives. Here is a link to a list of those 200 blogs HERE'S MY PROPOSAL : Simple Shaming. EMAIL the members on that list one by one and ask them if they think Nedd Kareiva and Stop the ACLU should be pleased by the outcome in Indian River. Be very neutral: let them speak for themselves. If they respond, then email them to ask if you can publish their response or if they'd like to take a public position on the matter. If they won't you can still justifiable characterize that as a refusal to comment. Do, there would be three groups - "supports", "doesn't support", and "refuses to comment".
Then, just list the blog you've contacted - and the response or not - on this diary. Later on, those can be collated and published in an organized form.
If the blog in question allows comments, ask directly on the blog. I you get one, reply and include a link to one of the blogs pieces I've mentioned that cover this story.
The point is to get each oe of the 200 bloggers aligned under Stop The ACLU to take a position or at least refuse to comment.
This is a simple shaming project but - as we've seen in the case of the recent incident involving the speaker of the Indiana House, Brian Bosma, who was moved by the Internet and also the goodness of his heart to make an apology to Jewish groups in Indiana [ kudos to dhonig of dKos for the legendary cartoon ] - shaming really, really does work When You Are Done, Post The Internet Names of the Blogburst bloggers from the list linked to above, and their website URL's as well, in comments on this thread. You'll need to sign up with the site to do that. So if you are so moved, shame away - Thanks !
A former board member suggested that Mona Dobrich might "disappear" like Madalyn Murray O'Hair...Callers to the local radio station said the family should convert or leave the area. Someone called them and said the Ku Klux Klan was nearby....Classmates accused Alex Dobrich of "killing Christ" and he became fearful about wearing his yarmulke, the complaint recounts. He took it off whenever he saw a police officer... [ excerpts from article by Jews On First
Jews On First highlights a recent case in which, it seems, Christian supremacist persecution of a Jewish family, by many members of a Delaware town including town leaders, caused the family to sell its house and flee. One other family that is a plaintiff in the lawsuit mentioned below has decided to remain anonymous and has also left the town because of fears over retaliation.
We must now confront this : in America in the year 2006, a Jewish family has apparently been driven from their home, forced to flee because of death threats and mob harassment. Is this a model for a new American style of pogrom ?
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[ excerpt from Jews On First article ] A large Delaware school district promoted Christianity so aggressively that a Jewish family felt it necessary to move to Wilmington, two hours away, because they feared retaliation for filing a lawsuit. The religion (if any) of a second family in the lawsuit is not known, because they're suing as Jane and John Doe; they also fear retaliation. Both families are asking relief from "state-sponsored religion."
The behavior of the Indian River School District board suggests the families' fears are hardly groundless.
The district spreads over a considerable portion of southern Delaware. The families' complaint, filed in federal court in February 2005, alleges that the district had created an "environment of religious exclusion" and unconstitutional state-sponsored religion. The behavior of the Indian River School District board suggests the families' fears are hardly groundless.
The district spreads over a considerable portion of southern Delaware. The families' complaint, filed in federal court in February 2005, alleges that the district had created an "environment of religious exclusion" and unconstitutional state-sponsored religion.
Among numerous specific examples in the complaint was what happened at plaintiff Samantha Dobrich's graduation in 2004 from the district's high school. She was the only Jewish student in her graduatingclass. The complaint relates that local pastor, Jerry Fike, in his invocation, followed requests for "our heavenly Father's" guidance for the graduates with:
I also pray for one specific student, that You be with her and guide her in the path that You have for her. And we ask all these things in Jesus' name.
Richard Bartholomew, on Bartholomew's Notes On Religion has dug up additional information on the incident not mentioned in the Jews On First article.
I'd like to thank Richard for pulling my attention back to this - I assumed, wrongly, that the Jews On First article would highlight the worst aspects from this ugly affair. I was wrong. That article contains hair raising details only hinted at by the story title which considerably understates the extremity of the hatred levelled at the Dobrich family. Below is an excerpt:
[ from Jews On First article ]...The complaint recounts a raucous crowd that applauded the board's opening prayer and then, when sixth-grader Alexander Dobrich stood up to read a statement, yelled at him "take your yarmulke off!" His statement, read by Samantha, confided "I feel bad when kids in my class call me Jew boy."
...A former board member suggested that Mona Dobrich might "disappear" like Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the atheist whose Supreme Court case resulted in ending organized school prayer. She disappeared in 1995 and her dismembered body was found six years later.
The crowd booed an ACLU speaker and told her to "go back up north."
In the days after the meeting the community poured venom on the Dobriches. Callers to the local radio station said the family they should convert or leave the area. Someone called them and said the Ku Klux Klan was nearby. [ emphasis mine ] The Republic of T has more on thi story, especially in terms of related recent incidents in schools involving Christian harassment of non-Christians
Unfortunately, this incident is not an anomaly.
Here is a sampling of Talk To Action stories that have covered aspects of antisemitism and the Christian right:
"The Catholic League", mighty champion of ....gay bashing and anti-semitism ?, by Bruce Wilson
Why Pat Robertson believes Ariel Sharon has incurred the wrath of God by Joan Bokaer
Ted Haggard Wants Jews to be Afraid, by Richard Bartholomew
Evangelicals and U.S. foreign policy, by Esther Kaplan
Christian Zionism all juiced up,by Esther Kaplan
Anti-Semitism and the Christmas warriors, by Michelle Goldberg
Did Tim LaHaye Just Call Israelis "Not-To-Be-Trusted Yids?", by Max Blumenthal
Attack dogs, by Esther Kaplan
Falwell's "Gracious Correction" emphatic : No, Jews Can't Get Into Heaven, by Bruce Wilson
The End of Apologies?, by Esther Kaplan
Enough Hate Speech To Stun An Ox, by Bruce Wilson
Replacement Theology: "Those Darned Jews", by Bruce Wilson
Second major Jewish group in two weeks condemns dominionism, by dogemperor
The Shaming Project | 10 comments (10 topical, 0 hidden)
The Shaming Project | 10 comments (10 topical, 0 hidden)
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