Mitt Romney recently said in Israel that Palestinians don't have as high a GDP per capita as Israelis do because their culture is not as good as Jewish culture. That is both deeply racist and deeply stupid.
According to that logic, Jewish culture must not be as good as Arab culture because the GDP per capita of Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait crush Israel's.
Mitt Romney also talked about divine hand of providence as a possible explanation of why Israelis are richer than Palestinians. Did God, or should I say Allah, change his mind and decide that he likes Arabs in the Gulf States more than even the Jews?
Here's another explanation for the Palestinians plight: They have been under occupation for over 60 years now. They don't even control their own borders or trade. There have been crushing embargoes on their territories. It's a little hard to get trade going when you're literally not allowed to trade.
Our military has aided and abetted this occupation and, in many ways, we have paid for it. Now we have a candidate for president of one of our major political parties go there and rub their face in it. It wasn't our military that did this to you; it was your own inferior culture. That's literally adding insult to injury.
Despite all of this, the most relevant part of this exchange might be the perspective it gives us into Mitt Romney's world view. Rich makes right. If Israel is richer, by definition, it must be superior. If Mitt Romney is richer than everyone else, he must be superior to everyone else. Elect me for president, I'm richer than the other guy.
What he leaves unsaid is what is obvious in his mind, "The richer guy is obviously the better guy."
The fact that Mitt might have had some advantages being the son of multi-millionaire governor and Israel might have had some advantages in getting $3 billion a year from the US and having a sovereign country is irrelevant to Romney. Richer equals better. Period. Who cares what the circumstances are? Mitt's always about the bottom line.
Romney's deeply offensive comments about the Palestinians probably won't hurt him in the election at all. There is no group in America you can insult with more impunity than Palestinians and Arabs. That doesn't hurt your electoral chances, it might even help. But what does hurt is the overwhelming sense you get from Romney that he is looking down his nose at you. This son of a bitch actually thinks he's better than the rest of us because he was born to a mega-rich dad, figured out how to cheat the system at Bain and hid away so much of his money abroad (tax avoidance was an enormous contributor to his fortune - do you have any idea how much more you save up if you pay 10% in taxes a year rather than 35%). Now, that doesn't sit so well.
Who wants to have a beer with a guy who thinks he'd rather be having a Chardonnay with one of his equals? To Mitt, we're all Palestinians.
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No one can live and thrive in the 21st century while living with 12th century values and traditions.
Civilizations rise and fall. And the reasons for this are complex, and not conducive to understanding by people such yourself who are ignorant and simple minded!
Also, virtually all of the Nobel Prizes in the sciences and medicine were/are awarded to individuals from the Western World, or who worked within Western Institutions. Thus, you could apply your standard to rest of the world beyond the Islamic World as well. However, this is going to rapidly change in the coming years.
Incidentally, the Palestinians, including the millions in the Palestinian diaspora, are the most modern, secular, and liberal of all the people today known as Arabs! So your ignorance applies there as well!
You obviously cannot develop an advanced economy under a occupation that sets conditions that are hostile to that!
And thank you, thank you, thank you.
- Bible from the Planet Kolob in some alternate Universe...
He not only insulted Palestinians by saying Jewish culture is better, using GDP per capita as the evidence for his argument, but also said US culture is better than Mexican culture for the same reason. Most western European countries, despite the economic and Eurozone crises, have a higher GDP per capita than the US. Does that mean their cultures are superior to ours? And aren't they more politically and economically left than the US? The Obama campaign needs to emphasize Romney's insult of Mexican culture to Latinos in the US and the Obama campaign needs to figure out how to make the connection that if Romney believes higher per capita GDP means a better culture, then Romney must think western European culture is better than US culture.
Also, some ethnic groups in the US enjoy a higher income per capita than other ethnic groups in the US. Does Romney really want to go there when he talks about superiority?
Anyway, Romney is auditioning for head diplomat. And he shouldn't insult his allies to make a point, unless the point is to insult his allies.
But, not just to Flipper, but to Republicans, we're all Palestinians.
You are not addressing the main point. Mitt made the observation that those cultures that celebrate Western values of Free Speech, All Men are Created Equal, Freedom of Religion, & Private Property Rights are more successful.
Is your position that a culture that celebrates death i.e Hamas, the Stoning of Homosexuals, the denial of Religious Freedom, that holds that women are only half the worth of men is one you embrace???
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If the American people elect this vulture capitalist to be their president then we deserve the ash heap of history we're headed for.
Of course Mitt and his buddies will be just fine sitting atop their heaps of cash.
He might also be asked how he would apply his ideas of economic and political freedom to Palestine.
Or does he think that cultures which devalue materialism are inferior?
That is the Republican goal: turn the entire country into Mississippi.