Still the "Chosen People"?

This morning I got an email pointing me to free-opinion.com, and a poll there asking whether a person supports Palestine or Israel. Palestine's winning. I don't put much stock in this, it's a "create your own poll" site, and what does that actually mean? What's the sample? Who's voting? There's only the condition that you cannot vote more than once an hour, and that's not very restrictive. The email claimed that CNN was "pushing" this poll, which I saw no evidence of, and that annoyed me, but it annoys me that the poll is out there in the first place.

In my opinion, the reason that there isn't a cohesive Palestinian state is the Palestinian people, and their extreme leadership which rules by oppression and teaching children violence. I admit I'm biased.

Also this morning, a friend pointed me to an op-ed story at the NYT. It's a very sad tale of Jews who were forced to leave Egypt. It sounds like a bible story, but it was in the 20th century. It makes me think about all the people who lose everything in wars, and how sad that is, and unfair, of course. The author of the op-ed piece, though, was not a war refugee, he was just a refugee. Persecution exists every day and in every country. I read about how the Jews control things, and how Jewish influence is unfair, and how the U.S. plays favorites for Israel, but there are so many more nations out there that spread the idea that Jews are enemies, Jews are inferior, Jews are bad - because they're Jews. The prejudice remains pure for much of the world.

I feel that tolerance makes the world a better place. Personal conflicts are unavoidable, but can be kept personal - it's a big world, and we can avoid individuals in it. I wish that the word of acceptance and living together was spreading, but it's not what's being taught to children across the world, and that's going to keep the cycle of hatred growing.

How do you reach millions of people spread across thousands of miles? One person at a time, I guess.