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<TITLE>Re-evaluation per RK's request</TITLE>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Hi all -- </FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Robert seems to think I've been unfair to him, and for that I am sorry. It may even be that he is correct and that I chose a less than perfect example. Nevertheless, I stand by the following points:</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">First, I saw no evidence of ad hominem attacks or harassment on Robert's page, with the exception of Jtdirl's "Arabophobe" comment, which seemed to me to have been written out of frustration -- although this is not an excuse.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Second, I think that many people ( I cannot speak for others, but this is based on much of what I have read on talk pages for a couple of years now) are tired of the accusation of anti-Semitism being raised in almost every (non-Gaia) RK edit war. There is a real and valid difference to many people between anti-Semitism and questioning militant Zionism or being pro-Israeli. Tarring all his opponents with the same brush is unjust, blurs the questions at hand, and is often just plain insulting -- certainly not wikilove, and certainly not an intellectual way of defending a position.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Third, ditto as above, replacing "anti-Semitism" with "trolling, abuse, harassment", etc.</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">I have noticed that most of the articles where this happens live in a grey area. That's as it should be. In such situations (we could just as easily be talking about The Troubles), no one is innocent and everyone who resorts to violence has what he or she sees as a valid motivation for doing so. The roots of the conflict are often well out of the participants' hands -- and the real roots often the result of someone else's meddling. Our job is not to say who is right or wrong. It is not to pick sides. It is to produce well-rounded, neutral, informative articles. If we continue to create articles with non-neutral subjects (Arab violence against Israelis, Israeli violence against Arabs), instead of trying to present a balanced article that gives light to all sides of the story (maybe, instead, Conflicts over Israel, Arab-Israeli conflict), we're doomed to continue to deal with these types of edit wars and accusations. But again, over two years of watching, I can't really recall any direct accusations of the type RK claims to see. There may be insults. But I cannot for the life of me see how that adds up to "people are picking on me because I am Jewish." Especially when other Jewish wikipedians are not making the same complaints. And especially when the "people are picking on me" accusation comes up all-to-often when it's convenient.</FONT></P>
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