Should America Deport Its Muslims?

Posted on August 5, 2016 by Luke Ford

This question is increasingly a part of the national conversation.

New York Times today:

On Monday, Mr. Nehlen went so far as to say he would be open to deporting all Muslims from the country because, he alleged, they may hold Shariah law above the Constitution and are urged to lie by their religion. “I’m suggesting we have a discussion about it, that’s for sure,’’ he said on a Chicago radio show, adding: “We should be monitoring every mosque. We should be monitoring all social media.”

Mr. Nehlen, who is far more conservative than many voters in Mr. Ryan’s district, has still managed to create headaches for the speaker, who has found himself fending off an attack from an opponent to whom he had given little thought, but who has captured the energy and resources of anti-establishment conservatives across the country…

Mr. Nehlen’s first online advertisement, which opens with tracking shots of him riding a Harley Davidson, tattoos that wind down his arms (one is of a 1940s-style pinup meant to honor women who have fought the Islamic State) exposed, rails against trade agreements and inadequate border protection.

“Donald Trump has courageously taken on the entrenched special interests who have sought to suppress the working people of this country,” he told reporters earlier Wednesday at a news conference just blocks from Mr. Ryan’s stately home here.

Mr. Ryan, he added, “is loyal to one thing: the almighty dollar.”

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Your Moral Code

Posted on August 5, 2016 by Luke Ford

I find slavery abhorrent but who cares about my feelings. I get my values from Judaism. The Torah (both in its written and oral forms) allowed slavery. From the Orthodox Jewish perspective, the Torah comes from God. So if I want to proclaim slavery abhorrent, then I am saying I am more moral than the Torah, the Bible, than Aristotle, than God?

Torah also makes allowances for raping women in war time. Isn’t that horrible?

I think that’s easy to say if you are like me and have never fought in a war. I suspect that one you have gone to war, it is much more understandable how in the heat of battle, men take women.

“But isn’t that contrary to the spirit of hasidus (Hasidic thought)?” I was challenged by a hasid the other day.

I replied: “If there had been a Jewish state, hasidus would have been different. Jewish law would have been different. By not having a state for almost 2000 years, Jews and Judaism had many luxuries not possible with a state. When you have a land to defend and maintain, you can’t spend as much time in mystical contemplation and minute ritual. You have work to do. You might very well have thousands of people to kill. You might be called to defend your land and your people and your family with your life. When you’re fighting for your life, I suspect your concerns become much more immediate and practical and less philosophical and mystical.”

Hasidim and democracy are often at odds because so many Hasidim abuse welfare, try to corrupt the government, run scams on outsiders, and often contribute little to the wider society. The Hasidim and Haredim in Israel, by and large, are as much of a drag on that country as the American Haredim are on their country. If people such as the Hasidim (outside of Chabad) want to turn their backs on the wider society, then wider society has the right and obligation to turn their backs on them. If I ran America, I would mandate no welfare and government assistance for minority groups who don’t contribute at least as much as they take from the wider society. They have to support their own. Why should America subsidize people who don’t follow the law, and don’t learn proper English and job skills?

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The Traitors Among Us

Posted on August 5, 2016 by Luke Ford

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What’s It Like When A Family Member Converts To Judaism?

Posted on August 5, 2016 by Luke Ford

Is it any different for those left behind if the black sheep had become Catholic or Buddhist or Muslim? Does it feel like a diss of the family? I meet a lot of people who convert to Judaism, but I don’t often get to ask their family what it is like for them.

I imagine it was a nasty shock for my mother and father’s families when they become Seventh-Day Adventists circa age 16.

I always felt distant from my relatives when I was growing up because of our Adventism (the rest of the family was nominally Anglican).

I notice some people carry their religion lightly and other people wave it as a bloody flag.

For many perhaps most of the people I grew up with, when they heard the news, they experienced my conversion as a rebuff to what they held dear. By converting, they felt I was saying they were wrong.

If I lived in Australia during my 20s, I doubt I would have converted to Judaism. Australia by and large has one culture and orthodox Judaism is outside of that.

In the United States, by contrast, there’s an ethos that you can become anything.

It wasn’t a great trauma for my family when I converted to Judaism in 1993. It was just a continuation of my general weirdness.

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Clothes Make The Man

Posted on August 5, 2016 by Luke Ford

I’ve never earned over $50,000 in a year and I usually choose freedom of expression over conventional employment paths. As a result, I’ve never developed expensive tastes. I’ve never gotten into clothes.

My sister came through town a few weeks ago and bought me a bunch of nice new clothes. When I wore them, I was stunned by how many compliments I received. Inspired, I went to Amazon.com and spent $22.50 on a black Van Heusen Men’s Poplin Fitted Solid Point Collar Dress Shirt.

Five hours into wearing it, I have received zero compliments. My friend says: “I really like the brand of that shirt – I think the colour might be the issue as to why no compliments – maybe you don’t look friendly in black – mafia?? – whereas blue is a colour that looks great on you! I am happy to be your fashion consultant until such time as you get a wife!”

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