Nazis & the Foreskin Front

When I posted on San Francisco's proposed ban on male circumcision, I did so partly in amusement and partly to make a serious point. I understand that there are folks who are passionately opposed to male circumcision but I simply don't believe that there is a compelling case that the procedure constitutes a serious injury. In the absence of such a case, I think such a ban is an unjustified intrusion into the prerogative of parents.

I said nothing regarding the suggestion that the intactivists were motivated in some measure by anti-Semitism mostly because I had seen no evidence of that. Well, I've seen it now. The PJ Tatler links to an online comic book FORESKIN MAN. Here is the cover of issue #2.

Now that is anti-Semitism of the purest sort. That is the blood libel.   FM fills the lower left of the cover, rippling with muscles, blond and square jawed. I refuse to interpret the logo on his chest. In the background we see Jews fresh out of the Fuehrer's fevered dreams. In case the Hebrew letters on the book and the ritual objects don't convince you, here is panel from the comic. Meet "Monster Mohel".

To say that this is textbook anti-Semitism would be misleading. The Nazis were never this clever. Hamas has not half the imagination. This is not merely evil, it's evil refined and focused.

Now I do not know who the authors of this vicious document really are. I do not know whether or to what extent they are representative of the intactivist movement. The PJ Tatler describes the comic as campaign brochure for the San Francisco ban. It doesn't look like a campaign brochure.

The FM website identifies the authors of the work as Matthew Hess, Gledson Barreto, and Ian Sokoliwski. Congratulations and Heil Hitler, Mr Hess, Barreto, and Sokoliwski; you've outed yourselves as new and improved Nazis.

Hess (I am not making any of this up!) is identified as the President of MGMbill.org, an organization promoting state and federal bans on "Male Genital Mutilation". I do not know how important this organization is in the larger intactivist movement. I do know this: if Foreskin Man is what the intactivist movement is about, that tells us sane and decent people all we need to know about it. If not, then the rest of you intactivists had better denounce and disown this scurrilous business right away. To be associated with proto-Nazi propaganda is not an advantage in American politics, I am happy to say.

I'll leave it to the psychologists to discuss the link between penile anxieties and Nazi proclivities. I'll say that anti-Semitism is an evil that is persistent, a worm that infests the heart of modern civilization. The internet allows the monsters to form a network, and that's bad. It also invites the monsters to reveal themselves, and that can be good if only the good take notice.

Comments

[James Loewen]

This reminds me of the widely circulated image of a stained glass window of a young boy on his knees fellating a priest, not in "good taste" but if the shoe fits ...

Forced genital cutting of children is a severe form of child abuse. Every year children die and loose far more than their foreskins to botched circumcisions. Mohel and rabbi Yitzchok Fischer with herpes performing metzitzah b'peh, mouth to wounded infants genitals suction infecting several baby boys with herpes, killing one. That is the reality of circumcision that makes this silly comic book pale by comparison.

The Mogen Clamp Company is now out of business after several multi million dollar lawsuits from parents of boys severely damaged by that circumcision tool.

Its time for this insanity to come to an end.

[Rev. Daniel W. Blair]

To ban one of the commandments of God is one more step in total rebellion against God, which is a pre-cursor of the Great Tribulation and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Posted by Rev. Daniel W. Blair, author of Final Warning http://www.revelation-truth.org

[Heli]

Rev. Blair should visit Catholics against Circumcision,
Jews against Circumcision, etc

[Bill Fleming]

Oh, brother...

[Moishe Pippick]

"The Mogen Clamp Company is now out of business after several multi million dollar lawsuits from parents of boys severely damaged by that circumcision tool."

This is how the issue should be handled, by making the argument based on evidence and facts. Can't you see that relying on hyperbole and employing caricature that evokes up the most ugly ideas in western civilization discredits your whole movement?

In all the coverage of this no one seems to mention that Muslims ritually circumcise their children too (but unfortunately we see so much anti-Muslim caricature in the USA over the last decade, it sadly wouldn't be so shocking to see a Foreskinman #3 in which he goes after the evil Imam, although such a tactic might give them some support from the far right).

[Miranda]

I'm not sure who we're supposed to like in this strip. Foreskin Man looks as unpleasant as circumcision man. It also looks like Foreskin Man has brought a pokeball to a gun fight.

I understand the argument of the anti-circumcision crowd to some degree. I remember the tragic tale of the fellow whose parents tried to turn him into a girl after he'd had a "botched circumcision." Not a happy story.

As a new mother, I was reluctant to subject my son to anything painful. But after my Mom reminded me that our former neighbor's sons had had to be circumcised at age nine, due to an infection, and my husband's sister-in-law (a practicing nurse) mentioned the role of circumcision in preventing infections and certain STDs, my husband and I thought it was best to have it done. Still, I will confess that by the time we got to the doctor's office, I was in tears. As it turned out, the tears were needless. Our son slept through the whole thing. There's a tough guy for you.

[Ken Blanchard]

Miranda: I can understand that some people are opposed to male circumcision and think that it's bad idea. The intensity of the intactivists seems to be all out of proportion to the gravity of the issue and, as I said, I see nothing that would justify interfering with your rights as a parent to make the decision.

I am certainly with you on Foreskin Man. That eight ball doesn't look like a very potent weapon against machine guns. But maybe his foreskin is like Sampson's hair: it gives him magical powers.

[Miranda]

Dr. Blanchard: I agree with you. If you're right about the Sampson magic, I suppose this Sampson might be better about not mentioning the fact to Delilah.

[Jordan681]

I think it's funny how in the US, we paint circumcisers of baby girls and their parents as monsters. We feel free to criticize any other religion; oh but don't touch the Jews.

The fact that they have to use this comic book tells me that circumcision advocates are running out of ideas. Can't they stick to the issues and questions at hand?

Why is it OK to cut off part of your male child's pen!s, but it makes you a criminal to bring a knife anywhere near your daughter's vlva? There are many kinds of female circumcision, and in this country, even the most minimal is banned, even under "religious" premises. For better or for worse, a ban on all female genital cutting is an infringement on "religious freedom" and "parental rights." But nobody seems to bat an eye.

This tells me that "religious freedom" and "parental choice" actually only works for that which we are culturally accustomed to. You will notice that in the recent past a law against injecting botox into your daughters was passed in New Jersey. In Oregon, you can no longer deny your children needed medicine, not even in the name of "religion." How's that for an "infringement of rights" for you?

Miranda's statement is proof of how ignorant we are in this country regarding sex and normal genital development. How is circumcision even relevant to STDs? How many readers know that circumcision is so ineffective at STD prevention, that even the authors of the latest "studies" cannot stress the use of condoms enough? How is STD prevention even relevant in healthy newborns who aren't even having sex? And when they grow up, they'd be smart enough to learn how to use a condom? WHY did a 9-yo get infections? Do we know the whole story? Are you aware that in this country, doctors mistakenly tell parents that don't circumcise their sons that they have to forcefully pull back the foreskin to "clean under it?" That 9yo was probably suffering an iatrogenically caused problem, and he didn't even need to get circumcised.

Miranda, are you aware that in countries where circumcision is not a custom, "infections" aren't a problem?

Parents make all decisions for their parents, nobody is questioning this. Miranda, you did what you thought was best. But here's the bottom line question:

If there isn't a medical or clinical necessity, can doctors even be performing surgery in healthy, non-consenting children? Much less be stoking a parents' sense of entitlement?

If there are better, less invasive treatments and forms of disease prevention, aren't doctors obliged to learn about these and tell you, the American parent about them?

If he is keeping this information from you in lieu of charging your insurance company for unneeded surgery, isn't that medical fraud?

Please, people. The rest of the world does not circumcise. They aren't suffering any problems.

Actually, we, here in the US, where 80% of the men are circumcised, have higher STD rates than in Europe, where most men are intact. Could someone please point me to a "scientific study" that explains this?

Yeah, Foreskin Man was tasteless. But let's get back to the issues.

[Miranda]

Jordan: I am a little skeptical about your claims. First, because circumcision is not exclusive to America. It also appears to be practiced in places like Uganda. And according to this study (among others)(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1127372/) it has protected some men against aids. If you have some evidence that refutes the conclusions here, I would be happy to look at it.

[larry kurtz]

"Some," Ms. Flint, not all: http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/06/06/Circumcision_Battle_Takes_Odd_Turn/

[Jimi]

"Much less be stoking a parents' sense of entitlement?"

Good Lord! It's only matter of time before these idiots will be telling us that "The State" is the real Parent.

Anybody ever read Mein Kampf?

[Stan Gibilisco]

"Foreskin man" is the sickest publication I've ever seen.

[Dave]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law ... I don't think I need to say anything else.... ...

[Jimi]

Dave,

Seriously......Think before you speak!

"In Nazi Germany, a man’s circumcision status often determined
whether he was deported to a concentration camp or not."

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/pihhr/files/resources_and_publications/journal_series/RHM/RHM29-Aggleton.pdf

“The Ten Commandments have lost their validity. Conscience is a Jewish invention, it is a blemish like circumcision.”-Adolf Hitler

[Lonnie]

Hamas is not anti-Semitic. I question your integrity because of your ignorance.

[Tanvir]

Seriously? You think it's okay to cut off part of someone else's gltniaes without their consent? Please, make me an argument other than people have been doing it for thousands of years. When can you cut off a healthy part of someone's gltniaes without their permission? How could that possibly be okay? And for every reason you give for doing it to a boy, try to imagine some equivalent procedure on a girl, and tell me if you think that would be okay. Good luck justifying that.