Since I instituted the new comment policy a couple of months ago, trolls are blocked more efficiently and mostly automatically. I still get to see what they write, of course. But you don’t.

I don’t usually feature any of these comments, and don’t plan to do so in the future. But this one struck me as being emblematic of what’s out there, so here it is:

The greater of two evils is you disgusting Zionist scum who want to support Israel and my not voting made you lose. Hopefully Israel is destroyed so nobody can ever argue we must support it again. That money sink that steals all our tax money deserves to be nuked. And hopefully it will be.

It’s kind of a garden-variety sentiment these days, of the type you see online quite constantly if you do much online reading. Lies about Israel, plus vicious gleeful murderous intent.

The most interesting thing about it is who is spreading this sort of thing. There are so many possibilities. That particular comment has designators that place it as coming from the US, but of course people can cloak their locations in various ways so you can’t rely on that. Here are some of the possibilities for motive (whether the source is local or abroad; paid, a bot, or a volunteer):

(1) Some Israel-hating Arab country, or Iran.
(2) Russia or China, in order to further bitter infighting on the US right.
(3) Home-grown (US) radical Muslims, or foreign ones.
(4) Leftists, home or abroad.
(5) But more likely (IMHO) it might originate with someone on the Tuckeresque right – again either at home or abroad. The Tuckeresque right is more numerous than neo-Nazis these days, although the latter is a possibility as well.

A related thought – I was listening to the following video last night. It’s a highly informative discussion of all the forces that for decades have been spreading the “anti-Zionist” message worldwide. I speeded it up to listen, as I often do. If you don’t have time to watch the whole thing, just watch however much you can. I really think it’s worth it: