European vs. American views

[Avi]

I noticed the question of Israel thread is closed, but I copied this short quote from BB, because I think it opens the very interesting topic of differences in perspective between Europeans and Americans about Israel.

Quote: BB
britain made a lot of contradictory promises to a lot of contradictory people. as a brit, i feel that much can be laid at the feet of the "empire" due to their habit of drawing a line down the middle, buggering off and leaving the local factions to fight it out, from where we get the intractable conflicts in israel/palestine, cyprus, india/pakistan and ireland. it was a combination of arrogance, realpolitik and incompetence.

I do not have time to elaborate now, but I think questions about Zionism, Israel, and religion are all intertwined. I thought about putting it in the Politics section, but here it could be given a more Jewish perspective. Given that there is a nice distribution of posters between Europe and the US, I think some interesting discussion could ensue.

Hopefully the discussion can continue in a less rhetorical manner and without personal attacks.

 

[shawn]

IMO religions are attacked as they are being used as a power tool by empire builders and the world's power elite and they always have been.
The average adherent of whatever religion is typically rather naive in regards to the darker side of their religion of choice, as they have bought into the basic tenets of the religion which are moral, legalistic, tend towards righteousness and other laudable qualities.
But, those that rule have always used religions to get what they want.
All religions are designed (not by accident) to make such subtle machinations possible.
They are all the same.

 

[Avi]

the darker side of their religion

Shawn, so then are you an atheist ? If not, can you tell us a little about the "darker side" of your religion ?

All religions are designed (not by accident) to make such subtle machinations possible. They are all the same.

You do not see any differences between religions at all ?

And going back to the OP, do you see any differences between European and American perspectives, especially with respect to current disputes such as Israel / Palestine ?

For example, although I do not think Britain did a good job on following up the implementation of the Balfour, it seems that the earlier Zionists, such as Theodore Herzyl, were effective in bringing their message to the world community. Do you agree ?

 

[shawn]

I am not an atheist as I believe that there is a God, or a Source, or a Force behind creation, which also permeates creation and that force is intelligent and all are a part of it, even if they are blissfully unaware of that fact.
I do not adhere to any religion as I see that they have all been co-opted long ago by the rulers of the world (whoever they may be) to facilitate the running of the place.
They all have little to do with personal enlightenment and such, but have lots to do with subtle psychological manipulations of the herds.
But they do have lots of wheat amongst the chaff.
So I winnow through them all, doing as I will, whilst striving to do no harm.

So with american vs european perspective do you mean the average rank and file, or the aristocracy?
There is an american aristocracy, they just use a different label.
But of course there is a bit of a difference as there are different media agendas going on in each continent, also different educational agendas, so as a result people's paradigm's and perspectives will naturally be somewhat different.