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Bobby Fischer FBI Files Released Under FOIA
An anonymous reader writes: "Philidelphia Inquirer has a stroy detailing the results of a FOIA request for chess great Bobby Fischer." Turns out they thought the anti-semitic chess grandmaster(and his mother) was a soviet spy.
Fischer's anti-semitism and his apparent approval of the attack on the World Trade Center might make him an asshole, but it doesn't make him a terrorist, and it certainly doesn't retroactively make him a Soviet spy in the 1970's or vindicate any of the FBI's suspicions.
As explained in the article, the FBI had a long-running investigation of Fischer and his mother back in the 70's and earlier. It's just another illustration that the US govt has been spying on its own citizens for decades, long before there was any sort of terrorist rationalization.
I concur. They are making it seem like a crime to hold a certain attitude towards a certain population, the jewish people.
... even if unsubstantiated. With freedom of speech, people will be able to distinguish truth from falsity. When restrictions are placed and a portion of the population is given special untouchable-from-criticism status, the people are not given this opportunity to guage truth from falsehood and suspicion and corruption of truth will brew even more so.
Case in point. John McCain has more than once voiced his anti-Vietnamese attitude. You don't see the press calling him the Anti-Vietnamese Senater.
Of course if Joe Smoe says anything negative about jewish people, IMMEDIATELY everyone (like a reflex action) labels him an antismetic and it's like he is a pedophile and they discount everything that he says, even the truthful elements.
I find this behavior troubling because: 1. it creates restriction on freedom of speech and thought for the general population. 2. It creates white/non-jewish backlash against minority groups.
Both of these troubling, growing situations can be prevented by BEING FAIR and not trying to make the jewish population untouchable from public comments, even if the comments happen to be negative
Of course, I'm sure I will be labeled anti-semetic after this post by the ignorant and by pro-censors. But, please think about it. I'm advocating freedom of speech, an essential pillar of our democratic society that is being chiseled away at for the past decade or so.
Millions of people getting burned and treated like animals called a sham or a conspiracy is awful, despicable, and just down right inhumane
Like when turkey denies the 1.5 million armenians that were killed in the armenian holocaust? Nobody seems to flich.
GoatPigSheep, the 3 most important food groups
Because it shows the scum fuck for what he really is. A hate breeding mongrel.
It's who he is, you don't write about someone and neglect who they are. Do you write about hitler and not mention he hated jews?
No, you most certainly do write about someone and neglect some details, given the topic at hand. It's completely appropriate to neglect the fact that Hitler hated Jews when discussing his economic policies or military decisions in the same way that it's appropriate to neglect the fact that Fischer is an anti-Semite when discussing chess strategies or one of many other topics.
Now, this article is a historical summary and the anti-Semitism is rather pertinent. I probably would have been upset if the authors had left it out but only because that detail pertains to the topic at hand--not because I think Fischer is a "hate-breeding mongrel."
I can probably find a point of disagreement with anybody I know. Does that mean I have to mention that fact every time I write about them?
Disclaimer: I don't agree with Fischer's views on Jews, either. That doesn't mean that I get to slap "ANTI-SEMITE" across anything he's said/done and subsequently ignore it.
" How come Israelis and JEws who call for the murder and ethnic cleansing of palestinians are never called "Anti-arab"or "Anti-muslim"?"
They are
"Then just 30 years later pol pot is commit genocide of an unprecedented scale in combodia but no one gives a good god damn cuase they are just some broke ass asians."
Because we got our asses kicked in that part of the world trying to do them a favor (we entered vietnam at south vietnams request).
Check your history, America isn't the worlds police. We don't go around saving everyone, it's their job to save themselves. We don't have to "give a shit", but if you would like us too then I suggest you give us a reason to "give a shit" by not strapping bombs to your chest and going kamakazi through grocery stores and bus stations.
ECONOMICALLY? How so? We alienate the arab nations, which control half the world's oil supply, in order to support a nation that has no oil whatsoever. We support Israel so much, in fact, that fully 1/3rd of their GDP is in the form of American aid. That's right, essentially one in three Israelis is living off of American handouts. How does this provide the USA with an economic benefit?
No, there are reasons that we support Israel, but money ain't one of them. We support Israel because of the holocaust. After WWII, the Allies decided that because of the horrors the Jewish people had endured (not only at the hands of the Nazis, but throughout their history), Israel would be turned over to them. Because we made that commitment, we back them. The second reason is suicide bombing. The Israelis may commit military actions which are of dubious morality (at best), but they've never sent in suicide bombers, or taken actions with no strategic value whatsoever. The third reason is historical. The arab nations in the middle east attacked Israel repeatedly without provocation. Each defeat has made them more and more hostile. Between terrorist actions like the slaughter of the Israeli Olympic team and wars of agression from the First Arab-Israeli War onward, it's easy to be sympathetic to Israel.
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
I have played chess for years. Ever since I was a kid and received my first chess book as a gift, "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess", I have idolized Fischer. I have gone over his games over and over. They are amazing.
Of course, he has problems. Many geniuses, and by extension, chess grandmasters, have severe psychological issues. I read Karpov's autobiography (World Champion 75-85) and it is filled with stories of both genius and complete emotional immaturity. Sometimes I felt like I was reading about the antics at a playground.
One doesn't become a grandmaster overnight. Generally, if you are not on your way by your teens, you will never make it. It involves studying chess every day for years and years. There is a reason there are less than 500 in the world. As a result of their studies, however, I think many miss out on the basic socialization acquired by most people. They would probably make the average Slashdot reader look like a well-adjusted socialite.
Now, I am not trying to make excuses for Fischer's comments. I'm just trying to put them in perspective. Try not to judge him too harshly for his screwed up views on politics and society. He's not exactly an expert on either. He's an idiot, in fact.
I still idolize Fischer, but not for anything but his chess. That is quite enough for me. He created works of art in his games that will be studied for as long as people play the game.
there are people who advocate hatred in every society. the nazis rounded up millions of civilians and slaughtered them. israelis have not. for you to equate the israelis with the nazis is ignorant.
Just because there are people advocating hate in every society doesn't make it right. And you may want to check your own level of ignorance, last time I checked there were millions of Palestinians rounded up into the West Bank and Gaza, having been evicted by force from land they had lived on for centuries. And as for slaughter, check up on the activities of the Jewish forces during the foundation of Israel - murdering Arab civilians was common place.
I can and will equate the extremists in Israeli society with Nazis, because they are very vocal about the policies I attributed to them in my previous post. The proposals to ethnically cleanse the West Bank by any means necessary is not conjecture, but the avowed policies of some of the parties represented in the Knesset. It's also the view of the head of the Israeli land forces.
israel invades neighbors defensively, in response to attacks, such as missiles and mortar fire coming from across the border in lebanon
Israel threw the first stone. It's a state born out of violence, and perpetuated by violence.
try educating yourself about the facts if you want to post about such issues. most likely you're just being a troll, though, i don't know why i waste my time responding to you.
I've been to Israel, met many different people both Arabs and Jews. Go back far enough in my family tree and you'll find Jewish blood on my fathers side. I'm not a troll, I'm simply cheesed off with the misinformed gibberish that most people spout about the Middle East. Having lived in America, I can understand the bias there - the popular press is rabidly pro-Israeli, and any politician who upsets the Jewish lobby can kiss their career goodbye. The sad thing is there are people on both sides of the Arab-Israeli divide who are level headed and reasonable, but their voices are drowned out by populist bullshit from all sides. Even when the cheif Rabbi in Britain questioned Israeli human rights abuses, he was shouted down by the loudmouted Israeli apologists in his won society.
Chris