Mary Anne, everything you say is right. Perhaps the lowest form of disrespect to a thoughtful and fair person is to be labeled a racist, anti-Semmite, or a bigot. I just see it as the last gasp of a desparate person though. In many ways it's an admission of defeat in the debate. He called you that because you beat him in logic. He became a wild animal trapped in the corner with two options, attack with something he knew would get to you or go on his back in submissive position and hope you rubbed his belly.

If Daniel wants a target, I'll gladly share it with you. Here's my thoughts on anti-Semmitism. There are way too many Jewish people (and my label here designates a religious choice not a geneological heritage) that wear their religion on their sleeve and equate any attack on a person claiming the title as an attack on the entire clan. For the rest of us wearing no such a label, there seems to be great confusion in exactly who it is we're supposedly prejudiced against.

First of all, people loudly proclaiming the label "Jewish" put off others in the same way as a person walking up to you and having their first sentence be a pronouncement that they are Catholic or a Methodist. Any of those labels when forced upon you in a conversation create an either/or situation, ie: I'm made the choice to be a "XXXX" and you did not. That effect doesn't seem so severe if someone's first sentence starts with "I'm Irish" or "I'm Norweigan". In that case, the message is more "My heritage came from "XXXX" and yours?"

If one wants to differentiate based on where in the world geographically their ancestors originated, that's one thing. That becomes cocktail party conversation and something we can all relate to. It doesn't feel threatening. When that distinction is solely religious, it becomes a bit strange to me. When it's taken a step further and it's frequently repeated for comedy, political positioning, and most importantly debate, it becomes religious bullying. I'm intolerant of any type of bullying but religious seems the most depraved. It has that element where debate can simply stop being logical and faith becomes the central issue.

So when we're being anti-Semmitic are we against persons with heritage begun in the area of present day Israel or simply anyone that bases their faith primarily on the Old Testament? If it's the former, didn't the original descendents of that area expand out into all areas of the Mideast? Isn't the Christian bedrock in Jerusalem? Hell, if we're against Jews shouldn't we be against Jesus? Last I heard, he fits the "profile".

I'll gladly accept the derogatory label if it means I'm against Jewish people that feel that their shit doesn't stink because of their choice of religion or where their ancestors decided to screw. Of course I'm also against a person of any heritage or faith system that acts that same way. I hate atheists that think they deserve respect for their interpretation of the world and not on their accomplishments in life and what they've given back to society.

Don't let em get to you Mary Anne.

Art