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Dr. Gottheil's Statement of Concern is now posted at PetitionsOnline.com, and is accepting signatures from anyone willing to speak out against human rights abuses in the Middle East. As you're obviously interested in the story, I urge you to step up and sign it: Support Regarding Discrimination in the Middle East against Women, Gays, and Lesbians Petition
Obviously, we'll be counting on everyone here to reply to this request.
And hey... Thanks for the shout-out there, Ducky.
I wouldn't say Dr. Gottheil punked out, exactly... ...but the methodology by which he tried to garner rhetorical support for anyone's human rights in the Middle East by collecting signatures (to the extent that such a thing actually was his goal, in the first place) was pretty sorely lacking...
And any comparison between the two campaigns to gather signatures that doesn't discuss in the slightest the methods by which each petitioner went about trying to get those signatures, seems kinda short-sighted and ultimately destined to be a failed experiment. (I mean, does anyone really believe that Dr. Lloyd (of the Israel divestment petition) sent out 900+ unsolicited e-mails to strangers one time, all by himself, with zero follow-up and no human rights or sociopolitical education group, history of work in the region, or so much as a website to back him up, the way Dr. Gottheil did? If so, it's bridge buying time, and I've got some real beauts over desert waters... ...cheap. But you have to hurry, they're goin' fast....)
As far as I'm concerned, counting the number of people who didn't respond to a single unsolicited e-mail from a stranger, that may or may not've even made it into their "IN" box (spam filters, don'cha know), is hardly the best way to determine who does and does not care about the rights of women or gay folks in Middle Eastern countries. YMMV, obviously...
Anyway... Please sign the petition. Whatever one thinks of the way Dr. Gottheil went about it or his motivations for doing so, his Statement of Concern is pretty sound, and somebody ought to get some actual use out of the thing.
Support Regarding Discrimination in the Middle East against Women, Gays, and Lesbians Petition
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Had some issues actually getting this bit of commentary to show up over there on GeeeeeZ, but I'm hoping the proprietess there will get it all straightened out. If not, I'll go on back there and try to post it again, later, perhaps by just posting a link to this post, here. (I'm thinkin' it's a spam folder thing, though. I left a comment there about that, too --see below-- but I'm not altogether sure that that showed up on the blog, either. As with everything else, though, it was in my e-mail.)
Below: After part/all of my messages didn't show on the blog, and ALL of 'em showed up in my e-mail, I (tried to) post the following (As I said, I'm not sure this one made it, either. In comment view (Blogger: GeeeeeZ! - Post a Comment), it was there, but in post page view: (GeeeeeZ!: Larry Elder REALLY tells it like it is.........) it wasn't. Go figure...:
hmmm... Somethin's up here (spam filter, is my bet)---
I got error messages, (and no message here) so I kept trying to post... Finally I (thought I) got both parts to post (though as I look now, part 1/2 isn't here). ALL of 'em (including the ones to which I got error messages) showed up in my e-mail, though...
Bottom line, sorry about any excess commentary anyone gets...
Z, please get one full copy of what I (tried to) say showing, and delete the rest, with my apologies to all for the wasted time/trouble. (If you wish, you can ditch this comment as well, once you get me posted as I intended.)
And then feel free to let me have it for whatever it is you disagree with in my words... 8>)
UPDATE, 9/26, 6:55 PM: Successfully posted full comment at GeeeeeZ! blog, Part 1, 6:48 PM, Part 2, 6:51 PM.
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To peruse all my other commentary on this subject, previous and since, click the "GOTTHEIL" label, below.
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