You're right that this is complicated and that we need peace. There's so much history and pseudo history at play. So much blind tribalism. So much cynical manipulation of smaller governments, pawns in a larger geopolitical war.
Beyond the wanton and unnecessary violence, death, and destruction on all sides, I'm deeply bothered by the Western cultural strictures that have been placed on what is the "appropriate" way to criticize Israel. Namely, there is apparently NO WAY to appropriately make such criticisms--you're an anti-semite if you do, from what I've observed. It makes it even more difficult to arrive at any kind of compromise if you can't be honest about your own shortcomings.
I wonder why we are like that now, when we didn't use to be. How was Reagan able to threaten to withhold arms to Israel in the 80s to force them to stop a war (yes, Reagan, and yes, it worked)? If Biden did that today, he'd be roundly condemned as a Jew hater.
So what has changed?
Is it just another symptom of our society becoming dangerously bipolar, devoid of critical thinking with no interest in the valuable and practical truths of history?
I don't know.
I know many on the left would blame money in politics. There may something to that. I'm reticent, though, to propound this idea further, due to the aforementioned cultural "antisemitism" hair trigger. I have a career and a family so I can't afford to be cancelled.
America never was very big on honesty but we have strayed quite far from the days when truth in the public sphere at least FELT obtainable. It feels more like we're all just talking past each other, so convinced of our correctness and so fervent in the righteousness of our own chosen belief systems that we know for sure that the other side is 100% wrong and has NOTHING worthwhile to say, offer, or do.
I'm not sure if good and evil exists, but I do think it's dangerous to describe your enemy as "evil" because you can more easily justify the righteousness of your own barbarity in response to their barbarity, and before you know it we're all slaughtering innocents indiscriminately. We're all terrorists.
I am emphatically opposed to labelling any policy or action "Jew hatred" if it is defensible or reasonable. For example, I do not think it makes sense to cut off shipments of war material to Israel to thwart Netanyahu, as much as he deserves to be thwarted--because I think Israel and her citizens are under serious existential threat. But I don't think those who disagree with me are Jew haters unless they add hateful and incendiary rhetoric to their support for an arms embargo. And I don't think critics who want Israel to try some other way(s) to stop Hamas than horrible destruction of Gaza and slaughtering Palestinians are Jew haters--but I do think they have a duty to at least discuss how else Israel can defend herself and her citizens against 7 October style murderous attacks.
No Nazi ever murdered Jews with more sadistic glee than the Hamas terrorists displayed one year ago today. It was inhuman, rabid, demonic. What if a Mexican cartel had done the same thing to the residents of Eagle Pass, Texas? Our response would have made Netanyahu's look moderate. OF COURSE the planners of the attack knew that Israel would strike back in Gaza and that many innocent civilians would be killed. OF COURSE that was their plan all along. With utter cynicism, they were happy to sacrifice their fellow Palestinians, knowing that the world, which has always displayed extreme hypocrisy towards Israel, would blame Israel 100% for the innocent Palestinians killed and blame the terrorist instigators 0%. That way mad dog terrorists could pose as the victims. What utter, complete absurdity.
Yes, Hamas (and Hezbollah and Houthi) is the rabid dog and Iran is the master letting them off their leash.
Do you think that Iran is satisfied so far in achieving their objectives for this conflict?
I used to think that Iran must be regretful, seeing Oct 7 as a miscalculation due to the overwhelming Israeli response, but now I'm not so sure. Israel is a proxy for and symbol of the West, and as the only such symbol in the Levant, Iran gets loads of credit in the Islamic / Arabic / anti-colonial / anti-Western world for punching Israel (the West) in the nose -- they are seen as the little guy standing up to the bully.
And I think Iran is happy currently, and will remain so even if they get attacked soon, suffering thousands of innocent deaths on their own homeland. They are willing to bear that cost. Just as the imperial USA has covertly planned and executed hundreds of similar "terrorist" attacks in foreign (and domestic, to be frank) territories with minimal domestic reprisals, so too will Iran continue to use proxies to advance its global interests. That is, the degradation of the West.
I do hope, though, that Iran will learn to be more cautious the next time they consider such extreme attacks. Just as I believe the USA finally learned to be more cautious after experiencing 9/11 and the subsequent decades of innocent blood spilled in Iraq and Afghanistan and other foreign conflicts, with little gained and too many lives lost.
For Iran to learn that lesson, though, I fear that they must be taught it. Teaching by diplomacy is ideal, but with this scenario it will likely have to be diplomacy at the tip of a spear. And, if the USA case is illustrative, then it may require a massive Iranian 9/11 (or October 7) followed by decades of losing, before Iran learns to be more cautious -- less bellicose and more diplomatic.
You're right that this is complicated and that we need peace. There's so much history and pseudo history at play. So much blind tribalism. So much cynical manipulation of smaller governments, pawns in a larger geopolitical war.
Beyond the wanton and unnecessary violence, death, and destruction on all sides, I'm deeply bothered by the Western cultural strictures that have been placed on what is the "appropriate" way to criticize Israel. Namely, there is apparently NO WAY to appropriately make such criticisms--you're an anti-semite if you do, from what I've observed. It makes it even more difficult to arrive at any kind of compromise if you can't be honest about your own shortcomings.
I wonder why we are like that now, when we didn't use to be. How was Reagan able to threaten to withhold arms to Israel in the 80s to force them to stop a war (yes, Reagan, and yes, it worked)? If Biden did that today, he'd be roundly condemned as a Jew hater.
So what has changed?
Is it just another symptom of our society becoming dangerously bipolar, devoid of critical thinking with no interest in the valuable and practical truths of history?
I don't know.
I know many on the left would blame money in politics. There may something to that. I'm reticent, though, to propound this idea further, due to the aforementioned cultural "antisemitism" hair trigger. I have a career and a family so I can't afford to be cancelled.
America never was very big on honesty but we have strayed quite far from the days when truth in the public sphere at least FELT obtainable. It feels more like we're all just talking past each other, so convinced of our correctness and so fervent in the righteousness of our own chosen belief systems that we know for sure that the other side is 100% wrong and has NOTHING worthwhile to say, offer, or do.
I'm not sure if good and evil exists, but I do think it's dangerous to describe your enemy as "evil" because you can more easily justify the righteousness of your own barbarity in response to their barbarity, and before you know it we're all slaughtering innocents indiscriminately. We're all terrorists.
I am emphatically opposed to labelling any policy or action "Jew hatred" if it is defensible or reasonable. For example, I do not think it makes sense to cut off shipments of war material to Israel to thwart Netanyahu, as much as he deserves to be thwarted--because I think Israel and her citizens are under serious existential threat. But I don't think those who disagree with me are Jew haters unless they add hateful and incendiary rhetoric to their support for an arms embargo. And I don't think critics who want Israel to try some other way(s) to stop Hamas than horrible destruction of Gaza and slaughtering Palestinians are Jew haters--but I do think they have a duty to at least discuss how else Israel can defend herself and her citizens against 7 October style murderous attacks.
Right on!
Thanks, Ed, for consistently being a voice of reason on this explosive issue.
No Nazi ever murdered Jews with more sadistic glee than the Hamas terrorists displayed one year ago today. It was inhuman, rabid, demonic. What if a Mexican cartel had done the same thing to the residents of Eagle Pass, Texas? Our response would have made Netanyahu's look moderate. OF COURSE the planners of the attack knew that Israel would strike back in Gaza and that many innocent civilians would be killed. OF COURSE that was their plan all along. With utter cynicism, they were happy to sacrifice their fellow Palestinians, knowing that the world, which has always displayed extreme hypocrisy towards Israel, would blame Israel 100% for the innocent Palestinians killed and blame the terrorist instigators 0%. That way mad dog terrorists could pose as the victims. What utter, complete absurdity.
Yes, Hamas (and Hezbollah and Houthi) is the rabid dog and Iran is the master letting them off their leash.
Do you think that Iran is satisfied so far in achieving their objectives for this conflict?
I used to think that Iran must be regretful, seeing Oct 7 as a miscalculation due to the overwhelming Israeli response, but now I'm not so sure. Israel is a proxy for and symbol of the West, and as the only such symbol in the Levant, Iran gets loads of credit in the Islamic / Arabic / anti-colonial / anti-Western world for punching Israel (the West) in the nose -- they are seen as the little guy standing up to the bully.
And I think Iran is happy currently, and will remain so even if they get attacked soon, suffering thousands of innocent deaths on their own homeland. They are willing to bear that cost. Just as the imperial USA has covertly planned and executed hundreds of similar "terrorist" attacks in foreign (and domestic, to be frank) territories with minimal domestic reprisals, so too will Iran continue to use proxies to advance its global interests. That is, the degradation of the West.
I do hope, though, that Iran will learn to be more cautious the next time they consider such extreme attacks. Just as I believe the USA finally learned to be more cautious after experiencing 9/11 and the subsequent decades of innocent blood spilled in Iraq and Afghanistan and other foreign conflicts, with little gained and too many lives lost.
For Iran to learn that lesson, though, I fear that they must be taught it. Teaching by diplomacy is ideal, but with this scenario it will likely have to be diplomacy at the tip of a spear. And, if the USA case is illustrative, then it may require a massive Iranian 9/11 (or October 7) followed by decades of losing, before Iran learns to be more cautious -- less bellicose and more diplomatic.
I hope that they are faster learners than us.