Fish, Jewish Democrats, and a Bottle of Pantene

I saw a Pantene shampoo add on TV.  Although the commercial promised no more split ends, the best thing about buying a bottle of Pantene was that you were getting 2 for 1.  You were also getting a big bottle of altruism. 

The bottle of Pantene had a pink ribbon on it.  You know what that means.  If you are caring, compassionate, and socially conscious, then you will buy it.  Because the truly compassionate people are those who buy products that support breast cancer research. 

The commercial ended by reminding the dumb-downed audience that they aren’t just buying Pantene because they don’t want to have split ends anymore.  They are buying it because, “Buying a bottle of Pantene means that you care.”

Please tell me that I wasn’t the only one screaming in my head that one of the reasons there is even a need for cancer research treatment in this country is because of products like Pantene that are filled with unpronounceable ingredients that are carcinogens. 

The Pantene commercial reminded me of Jews who are going to vote for Obama.  They’ve laid aside all modes of critical thinking while they reach for the party that reminds you that, "If you vote for us, that means that you care."

A comment on Facebook today by a Jew said, “No committed observant Jew could vote for Romney/Ryan. Mr. Romney and Ryan are proposing to introduce levels of inequality, poverty, intolerance, discrimination, and legalized predation unseen since before the Civil War. Their policies stand in direct opposition to the moral teachings of Judaism and the ethical conduct that is required of Jews.”

Nevermind that, ahem, the KKK was started by democrats, that Abraham Lincoln was a republican, as well as Martin Luther King.  Nevermind that it was a democratic president who turned away the SS St. Louis, a ship full of Jews trying to escape Hitler.  Nevermind that Clinton perhaps was the biggest womanizing president in history.  But hey, he stood for women’s rights, so who cares if he was getting on top of women as often as possible.  Is that ethical conduct required by Judaism?  Nevermind that Obama supports governments, hell he's practically in bed with them, who prohibit women from driving, from holding a job, and from going in public without being covered from head to toe.  Ask one of those women about the purported republican's "war on women" and she'd probably laugh her burqa covered ass off.  And nevermind that Obama suggested that Israel return to its indefensible 1967 borders.  I guess Jews in America forget about that little snippet of moral teaching in Judaism, the little part about the Land of Israel belonging to the Jews.  Guess Jerusalem seems a lifetime away from the breezy retirement villages in Florida or the Jewish delis in New York. 

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people replace critical thinking with rhetoric.  Don’t get me wrong.  The man who posted that on Facebook, along with all the other anti-Romney posts I’ve seen by Jews, has every right to his opinion and to vote for Obama.  But I hate the fact that he is basing his opinion on rhetoric that the media and democrat party spoon-feeds to the masses.

Critical thinking is defined as the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.  In other words, you actually think before believing something.

Jews have been so loyal to the democratic party for so long, that they’ve forgotten to think about or even care that the party has actually evolved away from the tenants of Judaism. 

I love the fact that much of Judaism is a discipline of pragmatism.  The ancient teachings of Judaism house the secrets of the operations of the universe.  But Jews are prone to say, “So what?” to that kind of knowledge if the application of that knowledge fails to make one a better person.  Judaism is more about transformation than education.  Long story short, I love that Judaism is practical.  It teaches one to act like he is the only gardener in this world, the only one that can fix things in a world that needs fixing.  It is Judaism’s way of saying, “Get off your butt, and do your part because no one else can do it for you.”  Which leads me to the irony of Jews being so loyal to the democratic party.  

The democrats laud themselves, and Jews have swallowed it hook, line, and sinker, as being the compassionate party.  The party who cares for all and who will take care of all (nevermind that they will do this with money that doesn’t exist, but hey who cares about the details when you’re being so nice.)  Which reminds me, I’d like to buy you a new house, and new car, and pay for your education, as soon as I go find someone richer than me to gladly give me his money so I can be nice and buy all that for you.  Sound like a plan? 

But according to Judaism, guess what the highest form of charity is?  Oh, handouts make the list.  It’s a nice and honorable act to give to someone less fortunate than you.  But that’s not the highest form of charity.  The highest form of charity is to either give someone a job or to help him start his own business.  Gee, which party does that sound like?

Creating a sense of entitlement might sound nice, might look nice, but it is not nice.  Because creating a sense of entitlement is like buying a bottle of Panteen with a pink ribbon on it.  You think you’re changing the world, but you’re really not doing squat.  

I had a Jewish friend who is also a Torah teacher tell me something one time that has stuck with me.  He said, “The most righteous person isn’t always the nicest person.”  Touche.’  

Do you remember the brewhaha in the media a few months ago when then presidential candidate hopeful Newt Gingrich told people camped out at Occupy Wall Street sites day and night to do something positive for themselves and, “Go get a job!”  According to the knee-jerk media what he said was reprehensible.  So maybe according to Judaism he should have said, “Let me help you go get a job.”  But what he said and what republican capitalists believe is closer to Torah than the “compassionate” let-me-help-you-depend-on-the-government perpetual mode of the democrat party.  

It’s the old adage of teaching a man to fish or giving him a fish.  It’s time for Jews to awaken out of their loyalist stupor and realize that the fish that’s been handed out by the democrats for decades stinks.  Just like the duplicitous bottle of Pantene shampoo that has a pink ribbon on it.  It’s full of fragrant carcinogens.  And it stinks.