The Toronto Star Wants To Promote Retarded Jewish Values

There's an old Jewish joke about a woman asking one of her friends about her three sons.

"My first son is a genius, he's a doctor, he's head of Cardiology at the hospital. I'm so proud of him!" says Sadie about her eldest child.

"How's your second son doing?" asks the woman.

"He's just average, he became a lawyer," Sadie answers.

"And what about your third son?" the woman inquires.

"Him? He's retarded, " shrugs Sadie.

"I'm so sorry!" the woman responds, " How is he getting by?"

"Oh, he's managing," says Sadie, "he's a social worker."

I'm relaying that joke, and offending battalions of "social justice warriors" by using the "r word," (which, by the way, leftie activist types, everyone uses about you behind your back,) because of an article in yesterday's Toronto Star. It was written by a Ben Carniol, who is Professor Emeritus of Social Work at Ryerson University, which by the standards of that joke would make him Grand Duke of the Retards.

The article by Professor Carniol asserts the Prime Minister Stephen Harper's "ideology and attitudes" are out of step with Jewish values. Using the mangled, pompous and, dare I say, retarded reasoning one would expect from a Social Work professor, it basically boils down to the fact that Carniol doesn't like Harper or his policies, Carniol is Jewish, therefore Harper's values are un-Jewish.

Harper being out of step with Jewish values will come as a tremendous surprise to the majority of Jews and rabbis in Canada who enthusiastically support the Prime Minister and his government. Under Harper's tenure as Prime Minister, Canada has taken the firmest stand against antisemitism of any country on the globe. The Harper government has been an exceptionally strong supporter of Israel in its travails against its antidemocratic enemies. Though that support may be galling to Grand Duke Carniol, it is of substantial comfort to the overwhelming majority of Canadian Jews who see the Jewish state besieged both by murderous terror states like Iran and their Hezbollah and Hamas proxies, and hateful western academic bigots who advocate for Israel's destruction.

Carniol is bothered by Harper's support for Israel because of the suffering of the Palestinians. The tragic situation of the Palestinians is indeed troubling and all people of goodwill hope for a peaceful resolution to the conflict between them and Israel. But the Palestinians' woes are not of Harper's making, nor are they exacerbated by his support for Israel.

Someday there will be an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank next to an Israeli one. But before that can happen, a full commitment to peace and the bonds of trust must occur. Israel does need to make more effort to engage with the Palestinians in the West Bank. However, that is made exceptionally difficult when Palestinians routinely advocate violence, refuse to participate in sincere, serious negotiations, and they literally name public squares after terrorists who murder Jewish children. If there is blame to be placed for that, it belongs on an abysmal Palestinian leadership and their useful idiot enablers in the west who have embarked on a campaign to isolate Israel, not on the Israeli nor Canadian governments.

Other examples of Harper's out-of-steppiness with His Grand Ducal Highness' values are conflicts with a mushy-headed, nebulous notion of social justice about certain environmental policies and some canards about Harper's dealings with Canada's First Nations. Oddly enough, Harper's reforms and policies towards the First Nations are substantial improvements over those of the previous two Prime Ministers, Chretien and Martin, but only Harper is bestowed the anti-Jewish label by Perfessur Carniol.

Actually, if you look at what Carniol has to say and the politicized nature of his concept of "social justice," it becomes immediately apparent the Social Work professor has determined that "Jewish values" coincide precisely with NDP policy positions. That's amusingly ironic, or more to the point, outright ridiculous, considering that of the three major political parties in Canada, the NDP is easily the most antisemitic and anti-Israel.

Carniol uses the sleazy smear that the pastor of Harper's church claimed, "that the Muslim faith authorizes the persecution of Christians, and that the Muslim world wants to gain world dominance," as another example of why the Prime Minister is out of step with "Jewish values."  Personally, I think it's more of an example of why Professor Carniol personifies that old social worker joke. If Barack Obama shouldn't be tainted by his pastor's declaring, "God damn America," then why on earth should Harper be held accountable for his pastor's comments about Islam?

Beyond that, if Perfessur Carniol wanted to do some real exploration on the subject, he might discover that it's actually the Koran and a vast number of Islamic imams and scholars who authorize the persecution of Christians and who seek world dominance for Islam. But maybe being a retired Social Work professor keeps Carniol too busy to keep up with news about ISIS, Hezbollah, Iran, Christians being sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan, and so on.

Using the feeble, subjective term "Tikun Olam" or "heal the world" by which far-left-wing Jews try hide their political activism under the fake mantle of religious obligation, Harper is not healing the world in the way Grand Duke Carniol would like.

But the world Ben Carniol wants isn't necessarily a good one, nor a just one. It's Carniol's own personal idea of a better world.

Not every Jew is a self-hating, kvetching caricature of Woody Allen. And thank God for that. Being a parody of a pop-culture leftist stereotype isn't the same as Jewish values. It's just what The Toronto Star and Ben Carniol would like you to believe they are.