From: perlman@qso.Colorado.EDU (Eric S. Perlman) Subject: Re: Who should be spied on... Keywords: hypocritical pig Nntp-Posting-Host: qso.colorado.edu Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder Lines: 49 In article anwar+@cs.cmu.edu (Anwar Mohammed) writes: >In article eshneken@ux4.cso.uiuc.edu (Edward A Shnekendorf) writes: >>anwar+@cs.cmu.edu (Anwar Mohammed) writes: >> >>>In article <4815@bimacs.BITNET> ehrlich@bimacs.BITNET (Gideon Ehrlich) writes: >>>>The readers of this forum seemed to be more interested in the contents >>>>of those files. >>>>So It will be nice if Yigal will tell us: >>>>1. Why do American authorities consider Yigal Arens to be dangerous? >> >>>ADL authorities seem to view a lot of people as dangerous, including >>>the millions of Americans of Arab ancestry. Perhaps you can answer >>>the question as to why the ADL maintained files and spied on ADC members >>>in California (and elsewhere??)? Friendly rivalry perhaps? >> >>Come on! Most if not all Arabs are sympathetic to the Palestinian war >>against Israel. That is why the ADL monitors Arab organizations. That is >>the same reason the US monitored communist organizations and Soviet nationals >>only a few years ago. >> > >The ADC is an organization of Arab-*AMERICANS*. > >Let me see...you're saying that "most if not all" Arab-AMERICANS should be >spied on? You're also saying that "most if not all" Arab-AMERICANS >should be views as a national security threat to Israel (and the US, >as you gratuitously imply in your reference to the WTC bombing, in >which no Arab-AMERICANS were involved)? By inference, can we assume >that you think that anyone of Arab lineage anywhere in the world poses >a threat to Israel and, therefore, should be spied on? Like it or not, Edward, Anwar has a very good, valid point. Obviously, in presenting it, he (quite legitimately and deliberately) takes a point of view to an extreme which might not have been what you intended, but that is one of the best ways to demonstrate a "slippery slope" type of argument, which I believe was his aim. I very frankly believe that the ADL will be proved innocent in this case. I doubt there's enough evidence to weigh against them even in a civil court, where preponderance of the evidence, not evidence beyond any reasonable doubt, is the standard for "winning" such a case. That, however, does not prevent me from seeing the merit in Anwar's point. Rest deleted. -- "How sad to see/A model of decorum and tranquillity/become like any other sport A battleground for rival ideologies to slug it out with glee." -Tim Rice,"Chess" Eric S. Perlman Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, University of Colorado, Boulder