Socrates in Israel

 

By Prof. Paul Eidelberg

 

Imagine Socrates in Israel.а What would be the fate of this lover of truth in this country?а To answer this question, recall the trial of Socrates in PlatoТs dialogue, the Apology.

 

ааааааааааа Socrates was accused of not believing in the gods of Athens, indeed, of being an atheist and corrupter of youth.а Notwithstanding his proven patriotism, he was convicted and sentenced to death by AthensТ democratic assembly.

 

ааааааааааа Consider SocratesТ accusers.а Their names are not important, save to say they represented AthensТ political and intellectual elites.а Whether policy-makers or opinion-makers, they had one thing in common:а they feared truth on the one hand, and a diminution of their power on the other.

 

ааааааааааа Now, as we all know, Socrates went around Athens questioning all sorts of people about their Уgods,Ф meaning those ends which democrats pursue with the greatest zeal.а He saw that Athenians were preoccupied with money-making or pleasure-seeking and security.

 

ааааааааааа He also saw that freedom and equality in democratic Athens were leveling all distinctions.а The bad was called good, the good was called bad, and everyone had his own Уlifestyle,Ф monotonously trivial.а In other words, moral relativism or pluralism permeated the mentality of Athenians, thanks largely to its educators, the sophists, the counterparts of todayТs Уintellectuals.Ф

 

ааааааааааа Socrates understood that the lack of conviction fostered by relativism, or the disunity resulting from pluralism, would render Athens incapable of persevering in a protracted conflict with a militaristic regime like Sparta.а

 

No wonder the elites of Athens hated Socrates, who readily exposed their self-serving motives and folly.аа They not only envied his superior mind, but they feared his influence on youth.а Socrates had to be silenced if the self-serving fools that ruled Athens were to remain in power.

 

Let us now imagine Socrates in Israel. Socrates would show that, contrary to its reputation, Israel is not a democracy.а He would reveal that IsraelТs rulers use the language and some of the trappings of democracyа -- periodic, multiparty elections Ц to legitimize what, in reality, is a system of self-perpetuating oligarchies or fiefdoms called Уpolitical parties.Ф

 

The Knesset members of these parties, he would show, are not accountable to the people in constituency elections.а As a consequence, every four years or so, the people vote for this or that party list and then relapse into servitude.а Pluralism being the god of Israeli elites, one party may form a coalition with another party to the disgust of their respective voters.а Alternatively, a member of one party may join a rival party when he fails to have a Уsafe placeФ on his original partyТs list.а

Socrates would expose the dishonorable character of such parties and show that they are more concerned about dividing the national treasury than serving the national good.а He would also question the justice of endowing the loyal and the disloyal with equal political rights, to the extent of having seats in the Knesset.а What would be done to silence this gadfly?

 

In Athens, Socrates was silenced by real democrats.а Here, in Israel, he would be silenced by pseudo-democrats.а But how do pseudo-democrats silence and rid themselves of their opponents?аа Of course none would accuse Socrates of being an atheist when atheism is rampant among IsraelТs political and intellectual elites.а Today a much more effective term of obloquy is УracismФ!

 

But what sort of racism would Socrates be accused of by IsraelТs truth-haters?а Surely it would be anti-Arab racism.а After all, Socrates would easily show that the Arabs are committed to IsraelТs dismemberment.а He would point out that the Islamic religion urges Moslems to kill УinfidelsФ in general, and Jews in particular Ц which Arabs do in Israel with impunity.

 

Socrates would expose the moral cowardice of IsraelТs political leaders.а He would show how they are responsible for the murder and mutilation of Jewish men, women, and children; how, by their weakness, they incite Arabs to despise, stone, and butcher Jews.

 

Socrates would also reveal the stupidity and lack of honor prevailing among IsraelТs intellectual and political elites who would make their Arab executioners their equals in the name of Уdemocracy.Ф

 

All this would get Socrates in trouble with the truth-haters that control Israel.а How they would resent this gadfly!а Needless to say, these shameless pseudo-democrats would severely restrict SocratesТ freedom of speech Ц of course in the name of democracy!а Indeed, they would enact a law making it a crime to tell the truth about IsraelТs Arab enemies!

 

Socrates, however, would not remain silent.а The unexamined life is not worth living.а Nevertheless, IsraelТs truth-hating intellectuals would bar him from speaking at universities, fearing he would undermine their standing with students.а They would conceal their fear of Socrates by calling him a УracistФ and even a Уfascist.Фа

 

Socrates would also be denied access to the media where he might answer his calumniators Ц who would justify this censorship, again in the name of democracy.а Under no circumstances must Socrates have the opportunity to corrupt the youth!

 

And were he to form a party Ц admittedly, not his way Ц it would certainly be banned from the Knesset with the connivance of IsraelТs High Court of Justice.а No УracistФ (and undemocratic)а party must be permitted to sully the dignity of an assembly that boasts of such patriotic parties as the United Arab List, Balad, and the Hadash Communists!

 

Socrates could not survive very long in УdemocraticФ Israel.а No, its ruling elites will not poison this truth-seeker with hemlock.а Instead, they will simply defame him while poisoning Israelis with lies.аа

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