A Response to David Kelsey – The Kvetcher

David:

First, thank you for inaugurating my new blog. I really appreciate your commenting on my blog. This is my first blog and you’re the first to comment!

The Kvetcher wrote: “My post was, in fact, edited. A lot. All the block quotes--never mind the links--were taken out, and it is consequently much harder to read coherently. But I guess that works well for you with your penchant for nasty name calling that you are famous for, Dr. Mehler.”

I apologize for the inadvertent edits. I just did a cut and paste and obviously some of the formatting changed, I hope that anyone who is interested in your original remarks will go directly to your blog:
http://kvetcher.net/
I would restore the links as you asked, but I’m not sure how to do it. Your welcome to post them.

With regard to my “penchant for nasty name calling” - I must tell you that I have many bad traits. I’ve been called a Marxist and a Lysenkoist. A recent correspondent said I was either irresponsible or despicable and I wrote him back to point out that the two were not mutually exclusive. I might, in fact, be both irresponsible and despicable. David, I have always felt that it is not up to me to decide how to characterize myself and I don’t take offense.

When I characterize certain arguments as “white nationalist” it’s not a matter of name calling, I’m trying to point out that arguments about the dangers of Mexican immigration to American culture or the American nation are basically white nationalist. The United States defines citizens as those born or naturalized and it says nothing about what language they speak or what beliefs they hold about religion or government or anything. The character of this nation has changed dramatically since the colonial days and it is constantly changing. I’m not making that happen. The demography of the world is changing and the kinds of debates we are having, the British and French and Germans are having as well.

Now, you commented, “But it's okay when Israel does it, right?” If you mean, do I believe it is ok to have a Jewish state, I would have to say that if I had been in charge of history, I would have made Israel a bi-national state. What the future will hold for Israel is not up to me. Demography in Israel is changing just as it is changing everywhere. The Arab and non-Jewish minority is growing as a percentage of the population and the conflict between fundamentalist Jews and secular Jews is a serious schism that is growing more serious and shows little sign of any peaceful resolution. I wish I had an answer, but I don’t. In short, I don’t think anything is right just because Israel does it.