Stephen Hawking Boycotts Israel

[Django]

[Marbles]

Good one, professor. We like it.

[Wind Chimes]

Stephen Hawking always reminds me of Sheldon Cooper :D

[Marbles]

Stephen Hawking always reminds me of Sheldon Cooper :D

Who is that?

[Wind Chimes]

Have you not seen "The Big Bang Theory"??

[Gypsy]

Who is that?

He's the main character from the sitcom The Big Bang Theory.

[Haji 2003]

Of course if he was a certain kind of Shia, of a sort that we do have on Shiachat, he would have first of all asked himself, "what have Palestinians ever done for me?" and then "lots of suicide bombers tend to be Sunnis and Palestinians are Sunnis, so I won't support them" etc.

Having asked himself these questions, he would then have done nothing.

[Marbles]

He's the main character from the sitcom The Big Bang Theory.

American stuff. I see.

Thanks.

[Thoughtful]

Stephen Hawking always reminds me of Sheldon Cooper :D

But Sheldon is annoying and Hawking is a legend!

[Wind Chimes]

But Sheldon is annoying and Hawking is a legend!

You did not just insult Sheldon Cooper like that. He is an epic genius character.

[Django]

American stuff. I see.

Thanks.

[Marbles]

This is my general reaction to tv programs from the US! "Its American - Im not interested" BUT I recently got into himym and Big Bang Theory and they are so good! Nothing like the the forced humour we see in shows like 2 and half men (gag)

I'm sure it'd be good. I watch some America programs and I enjoy them. That's alright.

[awaiting_for_the.12th]

This is my general reaction to tv programs from the US! "Its American - Im not interested" BUT I recently got into himym and Big Bang Theory and they are so good! Nothing like the the forced humour we see in shows like 2 and half men (gag)

Big Bang Theory is funny. IQ of 280 lol

[liaquat85]

graelty agree with the white chimes .........

and thanks to Professor Stephen Hawking

[Haji 2003]

Wall Street Journal does not like it one bit. It's labelled as an opinion piece, but even so it is very forthright in its criticisms of Hawking:

http://live.wsj.com/video/opinion-hawkings-moral-black-hole/68232728-5555-4C01-8D1B-638131AD75F8.html?mod=WSJ_article_outbrain&obref=obnetwork#!68232728-5555-4C01-8D1B-638131AD75F8

[aliasghark]

Wall Street Journal does not like it one bit. It's labelled as an opinion piece, but even so it is very forthright in its criticisms of Hawking:

http://live.wsj.com/...1B-638131AD75F8

WSJ usually takes the worst right-wing/neocon angle on these kind of things, I wouldn't expect it to be fair at all based on its track record.

[aliasghark]

Also, much of the media has confused the actual conference calling it 'academic'.

From Glenn again: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/09/hawking-israel-manning-transparency-fcc

(1) As the Guardian was the first to report, the physicist Stephen Hawking withdrew from "a conference hosted by Israeli president Shimon Peres in Jerusalem as a protest at Israel's treatment of Palestinians." The resulting attacks on Hawking were instant and predictable.

The Israeli writer Noam Sheizaf has written the best article I've read on the entire matter. He points out that the event from which Hawking withdrew is not really an academic one but rather "an annual celebration of the Israeli business, political and military elites", and he rebuts the principal attacks on Hawking. Juan Cole adds this simple point:

"Israel, which daily steals Palestinian land and resources, is like a wealthy person who insists on burglarizing his neighbor, and naturally after a while the dinner invitations in polite society drop off."

As any writer well knows, nothing guarantees more vicious, personalized, or sustained attacks than criticizing the Israeli government: it's one of the reasons so many people refrain from doing so. Haaretz columnist Bradley Burston this morning references just a few of the despicable attacks on Hawking (he notes that Israeli professor Steven Plaut wrote of the wheelchair-bound physicist: "I suggest that the people of Israel send Hawking for a free trip on the Achille Lauro!!") and calls on everyone to stand up to these sorts of bullying campaigns and smear tactics.