I read this twice. Thanks for the article, your deep pain is evident here. There is much to criticize in the world and I do think people analyze and appraise what governments do in a great many nations, not just Israel. Believe it or not we criticize ourselves heavily here in the U.S. I understand some of the history of antisemitism and this article adds some nuances that help me understand even more. The first shock of the atrocities of Oct. 7th was something difficult to grapple with and hold. What possible action could be taken to gain any kind of justice? We held our breath. What has shaken people to their core, I believe, is seeing the revenge and response up close in real time on TikTok and Facebook. Not blurry videos in black and white like the Vietnam war, not images of bright light trails falling from the sky and landing on a remote bit of land like we saw during the US invasion of Iraq. These are videos of civilians buried under cement buildings, children with bones poking through their skin, mothers and fathers running with broken bodies in their arms. I think for many people it’s the amount of military response and the continuation of it that is outrageous.
A few things, Karen. TikTok isn't exactly a reliable source, though like all social media, it can be used effectively to provoke outrage. The images you're mentioning are out of context. You have no way of knowing what you're seeing or who's responsible. Many of the scenes you have witnessed were caused by Hamas, but you have decided without any actual evidence that this is "revenge." That's quite the indictment from your comfy armchair where you get to sit and pass judgement. What many who have never been in a war do not understand is that there is no way to tell what's going on. That's the nature of war. It takes a long time to sort out what happens in a war. What you're seeing are simply images of war. Often times in these conflicts they're not even of the present conflict. They're part of the propaganda war. One question I would pose, is why on earth are you watching gruesome videos? Do you get some sort of prurient kick out of it? And how have you decided that Israel is killing people out of revenge? Are you aware that Hamas aims to maximise its civilian casualty rate? That's unlike any other sort of warfare conducted anywhere. Are you aware that Israel does its best to keep that casualty rate as low as it possibly can? That's not revenge. Are you aware that Israel keeps sending in tons of food and medical supplies that Hamas blocks and destroys to make the situation worse? I think you should stop indulging your love of gruesome videos and start reading and listening to what the Israelis have to say because it's very clear to me that you've been getting your information from antisemitic sources. Meanwhile, Israel is trying to get its hostages back... how is that revenge? Your message is another perfect example of a demented inversion that comes from some deep seated antisemitism.
Asa…I hope you didn’t miss my statement that there needed to be a response to the barbaric actions of October 7th. My question is when is the response enough? Your comments to me seem like a personal attack rather than a thoughtful reply. People from all around the world are crying out for a cease fire that applies to both sides, but the amount of weaponry on the side of the nation of Israel is superior and vaster than their opponent and the asymmetry of things is tough to accept. The military and the Israeli government also control the roads and the situation as far as getting medical supplies, food, everything needed for life into Gaza. Since there are gangs interfering with the delivery of these supplies, it is up to the military to fight them and get those trucks where they need to be, not simply say it can’t be done. Even the ICJ has come out with statements against what has gone on and you must also be aware of the protests in the US and in Israel itself against the civilian slaughter. Yes, I am troubled by how these two sides could not come to an agreement months ago to stop this and Hamas has much to answer for. My main point is that what is currently happening should not be normalized. I agree with you it is tough to know completely what is going on without journalists on the ground and news sources report that their presence has been severely restricted. The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that 113 journalists have been killed, (108 Palestinian, two Israeli, three Lebanese), and 32 injured, two missing, 52 arrested. What other “conflict” has had that happen in a matter of months? None. CNN and others report that “craters near 11 of the hospitals were consistent with those left by 2,000 pound bombs,” and that the range is within the “lethal fragmentation radius.” Those have been dropped by the Israeli military and many come from the US. I think people are finding this hard to justify, though news sources early on did show one video of a few guns in one hospital and reported there are tunnels everywhere than need to be destroyed. This is where people on the ground with their cell phone cameras have become the reporters. They are not making this up. They are not manipulating these images with CGI. I was only trying to explain why there is so much furor. I do not think it is increased hatred against the Jewish people, (though some antisemitic incidents have occurred) it is anger about the decisions of the Netanyahu government and horror at the scale of the damage. By the way our PBS news also shows much of the carnage, as well as reports on the hostages. I don’t “seek it out” in some grisly fashion, but I do keep myself informed. This is a tough issue to discuss/write about and I only seek to understand fully. Again, I appreciate your journal and your thoughts.
Karen. Forgive me if any of this sounds like a personal attack, but you are one of these antisemites who requires a 90-hour course that I am not able to provide here. You are launching a flotilla of canards my way that I just can't address. Israel could have blanket bombed the whole Gaza strip. Instead soldiers (in uniform, not pretending to be civilians) are dying because of this conflict. Israel isn't launching missiles willy-nilly into Gaza. Those "journalists" are terrorists, but how would you know that? You have numbers. Wow! Does that make it scientific? You literally have no idea what you're saying. You're regurgitating antisemitic media at me, and then dismissing my thoughtful reply as a personal attack. For one, I don't have to reply at all. Moreover, you are fitting the bill exactly: you are one of these antisemitic friends that I'm not allowed to criticise. You believe you know everything about this situation, indeed more than I know, it would seem, and yet you're clueless. You do not keep yourself informed at all. You keep yourself deeply misinformed in a one-sided media narrative and you very clearly do no cross referencing by going to Israeli sources. You clearly haven't read a single book on the subject. Meanwhile, you ignore and miss everything essential that I have put forward. You're not addressing my article. You clearly have a libtard agenda and you suffer from a social media disorder that makes you react out of outrage instead of out of thoughtful consideration. You are literally rationalising antisemitism and minimising it! You'll have to forgive me for shutting this down. Unless you have anything to say about the article I wrote specifically, or any direct response to the arguments I made in response to your first comment, I'm not wasting any further time on this. I don't need someone here repeating media lies and Hamas propaganda. We're all well aware of the BS you're dumping here. I honestly have no idea what prompted you to think I was uninformed and needed this input. It is literally ubiquitous.
Asa, The name calling is out of bounds, as is the idea that any country could/should carpet bomb another. As a poet and author, I hope you can hold onto your humanity when responding to any future “ignorant” comments a reader might make. By the way you have no idea what I have or haven’t read. I’m really stunned by the tone of your replies to my comments. My goal is broader understanding of issues and that is why I’ve supported your work in the past. You are correct, we have no more to add here that could be constructive.
I've often wondered if simple resentment at Jewish priority--being first, set apart--plays a large role in hatred of Jews and of Israel. Your point about anti-Zionism is astute. What other states are told they must disappear because of their alleged wrongdoing? Imagine if the entirety of the Middle East was populated by Jewish states, many large and populous, and there was one tiny Muslim state that was continually warred upon by all the surrounding Jewish states, which had previously kicked out all their Muslim inhabitants and made it clear that Muslims were worthy of murder as a religious duty. Then imagine all the progressivists and enlightened thinkers pointing the finger at the tiny, beleaguered Muslim state, demanding that it exercise restraint in its response to atrocities, and that other states not befriend it.
I'm guessing that by "priority," you mean since the Holocaust. No doubt, that's a part of it. David mentions this in The Big Lie... can't remember who's credited with it, but the gist is that Europe will never forgive the Jews for what they did to Europe, making them all look so bad. So if it can be argued that the Jews are just as bad as the Nazis, Europe (along with the rest of the world) is off the hook.
But I feel it's worth pointing out that Jews haven't been a "priority" since the late 1980s, when rhetoric and news reporting started to turn against them. Now, by an amazing sleight of hand, they are the white supremacist oppressors.
No, I didn't mean priority in that sense. I meant it in the sense of being prior, being the receivers / founders of the Law, developing the first moral code, etc. I was really just repeating a point I thought you made.
I confess to not being keen to commenting on this piece, but this is solely because it's a powder-keg issue and I try to dampen the explosions. I do think this is the most insightful essay I've ever read on this topic. So much that it written on this issue is utterly dreadful.
However, at the same time, I believe the entire category 'anti-semitism' has become disastrous. I watched as the dark prince of realpolitik, Sir Keir Starmer, weaponised 'anti-semitism' to execute a Labour party putsch in the UK that exiled literally everyone in their circles who supported the working class, leaving them free to pursue global technocracy with the naïve support of their middle class zealots. At the same time, I have also watched as the UN has scolded Israel repeatedly for doing things the United States or China pursues with impunity. This is, as you outline here, a much more complex nest of issues than is typically recognised.
You mention a key issue here, which as William Shatner expressed via David E. Kelly's show Boston Legal is that 'the politics of Israel go to survival'. Unless one counts the anarchists, who would disestablish every nation, Israel is in the unique and peculiar position of being told that it doesn't have a right to exist. Doubly strange. Nobody to my knowledge suggests non-Native American citizens should be forcibly emigrated from the United States, a nation which is only fractionally older than the contemporary state of Israel when their national ages are compared to, say, Egypt or China...
The Lithuanian Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas dedicated his 1978 book Otherwise Than Being as follows:
"To the memory of those who were closest among the six million assassinated by the National Socialists, and of the millions on millions of all confessions and all nations, victims of the same hatred of the other man, the same anti-semitism."
Reading this helped made me realise the danger of having a conceptual term that allows nefarious people (like Darth Starmer) to suggest that the hatred, murder, or the denial of humanity of certain classes of people can be ranked and ordered. As such, I have personally ceased using this word. I prefer 'bigotry' in most situations. I would never tell others what words they must use, that is their own business, my point is rather that I have become exceptionally wary of how this particular word is being used these days, and it makes me nervous about speaking it at all. (This is not a criticism of this essay, which could not be written otherwise than to use the word itself, for obvious reasons.)
Finally, I do not understand how everyone could stand by silently while the United States exterminated a great many innocent brown people with murderous drone technology outside of a declared state of war and THIS was somehow acceptable (because the innocents who died were 'collateral damage') and did not produce the sudden wave of condemnation that we have recently witnessed. Actually, I do: the legacy media distort every issue.
It is my principled position on warfare, such as it is, to stand for peace and the diplomacy required to attain that peace. I no longer criticise specific nations for the ugly business of warfare as such: I constrain myself to principled objections to the means pursued, irrespective of whomever deploys them. 'The means is the end' Ivan Illich suggested. I believe there is great wisdom in this phrase.
I pray for the return of every hostage such that a meaningful ceasefire might be permanently enacted, and a lasting peace we cannot imagine but can still hope for lies ahead in the unimagined times to come.
Thanks Chris. The interesting thing with antisemitism is that it isn't bigotry. It can include bigotry, but it can also exclude that quality. That's among the things that makes the subject so confusing. This is probably one of the reasons I can't criticise an antisemite: they're upset by the idea that they're being called a bigot. At the same time, the vile expressions of utter hate toward "Zionists" that I've come across since October 7th is like nothing I've seen before. These are the same folks who place "Hate has no home here" signs on their lawns and in their windows. The social media pogroms have also been sickening. And yes, the media is bewildering. Media sources will put a dozen reporters on the Israel subject, while they put one on the Ukraine for instance, and reporters are directed to skew the subject, or reporters with a certain bias are specifically chosen to cover the topic. There was an excellent article on this probably 4 months ago.
Thanks RDM. Trying to keep it real. That's why I waited so long before addressing this. Hopefully some sardonic humour helps in the midst of the madness.
Good to hear some optimism. Thanks for weighing in. Your point about general self loathing fits well with my assessment. It's not just the Jew who hates himself but the West in general that hates itself. In that context, Israel becomes the avatar of the West... the symbol of western culture. Meanwhile, Israel isn't that at all, which is why all the ironies abound and the whole thing is so irrational and inverted.
I think that your model of the underlying psychology of antisemitism outlined in this essay accounts for the surface expression of national self-loathing among Western nations today. For instance, the cultural gatekeepers of pro-Palestinian anti-Zionists in my globalist fiefdom formerly known as a country called Canada, believe that the entire civilization of which we're a part is illegitimate and in need of purging. So to annihilate the West once for all, it must be torn up at its root. Which is the Jew. Our civilization is Judeo-Christian, after all. Our myths, stories, customs, traditions, beliefs, you name it, began with Judaism. The Hebrew Bible is a magnificent work of art and thought and history, and you don't have to be Jewish or even religious to understand that it forms the basis of Western culture. I find it unfortunate that we're deliberately denied the opportunity to learn this bit of fundamental knowledge by the education system through which the state and its globalist masters program us to hate the Jew. But I suspect their power over us is eroding, and at an ever-quickening pace. I'm not convinced that the West is in irreversible decline. I do hope that gentiles like myself, religious and secular alike, will find a way to relearn our Judaic heritage. It's essential that we do so for our own regeneration.
Sensational essay. I can't wait to reread it. First time through I kept running into reactions and ideas that I have had myself about this baffling problem that one runs into so often. Israeli exceptionalism, that's what we seem to have on our hands, as well as people who know no history and no geography.
Good to hear, Allen. It's not only ignorance but a kind of momentary amnesia that occludes basic knowledge that folks do in fact possess. How does one suddenly forget the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter? It's absurd to me. One terrorises a population for the power to oppress and the other fights a military (or militia) to liberate from oppression. It's like common sense goes out the window when it comes to all things Israel.
Terrorist vs. freedom fighter is a distinction the woke like to erase. They think terrorists ARE freedom fighters, after all. But they have a way of reversing terms: the Israelis are the terrorists, and Hamas the freedom fighters. If they make a distinction, that is the one they make. Compare woke alarm about hunters' guns, which to be insufficiently regulated, and complete woke silence about gang guns. Chicago supposedly has tough gun control, but there are gang shooting deaths there every week. The woke don't see those guns, just police guns and the guns of hunters. Chicago's mayor says gangs use guns because they don't have enough recreational equipment. More swing sets and see-saws and peace would descend in gangland. That's what he thinks.
I read this twice. Thanks for the article, your deep pain is evident here. There is much to criticize in the world and I do think people analyze and appraise what governments do in a great many nations, not just Israel. Believe it or not we criticize ourselves heavily here in the U.S. I understand some of the history of antisemitism and this article adds some nuances that help me understand even more. The first shock of the atrocities of Oct. 7th was something difficult to grapple with and hold. What possible action could be taken to gain any kind of justice? We held our breath. What has shaken people to their core, I believe, is seeing the revenge and response up close in real time on TikTok and Facebook. Not blurry videos in black and white like the Vietnam war, not images of bright light trails falling from the sky and landing on a remote bit of land like we saw during the US invasion of Iraq. These are videos of civilians buried under cement buildings, children with bones poking through their skin, mothers and fathers running with broken bodies in their arms. I think for many people it’s the amount of military response and the continuation of it that is outrageous.
A few things, Karen. TikTok isn't exactly a reliable source, though like all social media, it can be used effectively to provoke outrage. The images you're mentioning are out of context. You have no way of knowing what you're seeing or who's responsible. Many of the scenes you have witnessed were caused by Hamas, but you have decided without any actual evidence that this is "revenge." That's quite the indictment from your comfy armchair where you get to sit and pass judgement. What many who have never been in a war do not understand is that there is no way to tell what's going on. That's the nature of war. It takes a long time to sort out what happens in a war. What you're seeing are simply images of war. Often times in these conflicts they're not even of the present conflict. They're part of the propaganda war. One question I would pose, is why on earth are you watching gruesome videos? Do you get some sort of prurient kick out of it? And how have you decided that Israel is killing people out of revenge? Are you aware that Hamas aims to maximise its civilian casualty rate? That's unlike any other sort of warfare conducted anywhere. Are you aware that Israel does its best to keep that casualty rate as low as it possibly can? That's not revenge. Are you aware that Israel keeps sending in tons of food and medical supplies that Hamas blocks and destroys to make the situation worse? I think you should stop indulging your love of gruesome videos and start reading and listening to what the Israelis have to say because it's very clear to me that you've been getting your information from antisemitic sources. Meanwhile, Israel is trying to get its hostages back... how is that revenge? Your message is another perfect example of a demented inversion that comes from some deep seated antisemitism.
Asa…I hope you didn’t miss my statement that there needed to be a response to the barbaric actions of October 7th. My question is when is the response enough? Your comments to me seem like a personal attack rather than a thoughtful reply. People from all around the world are crying out for a cease fire that applies to both sides, but the amount of weaponry on the side of the nation of Israel is superior and vaster than their opponent and the asymmetry of things is tough to accept. The military and the Israeli government also control the roads and the situation as far as getting medical supplies, food, everything needed for life into Gaza. Since there are gangs interfering with the delivery of these supplies, it is up to the military to fight them and get those trucks where they need to be, not simply say it can’t be done. Even the ICJ has come out with statements against what has gone on and you must also be aware of the protests in the US and in Israel itself against the civilian slaughter. Yes, I am troubled by how these two sides could not come to an agreement months ago to stop this and Hamas has much to answer for. My main point is that what is currently happening should not be normalized. I agree with you it is tough to know completely what is going on without journalists on the ground and news sources report that their presence has been severely restricted. The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that 113 journalists have been killed, (108 Palestinian, two Israeli, three Lebanese), and 32 injured, two missing, 52 arrested. What other “conflict” has had that happen in a matter of months? None. CNN and others report that “craters near 11 of the hospitals were consistent with those left by 2,000 pound bombs,” and that the range is within the “lethal fragmentation radius.” Those have been dropped by the Israeli military and many come from the US. I think people are finding this hard to justify, though news sources early on did show one video of a few guns in one hospital and reported there are tunnels everywhere than need to be destroyed. This is where people on the ground with their cell phone cameras have become the reporters. They are not making this up. They are not manipulating these images with CGI. I was only trying to explain why there is so much furor. I do not think it is increased hatred against the Jewish people, (though some antisemitic incidents have occurred) it is anger about the decisions of the Netanyahu government and horror at the scale of the damage. By the way our PBS news also shows much of the carnage, as well as reports on the hostages. I don’t “seek it out” in some grisly fashion, but I do keep myself informed. This is a tough issue to discuss/write about and I only seek to understand fully. Again, I appreciate your journal and your thoughts.
Karen. Forgive me if any of this sounds like a personal attack, but you are one of these antisemites who requires a 90-hour course that I am not able to provide here. You are launching a flotilla of canards my way that I just can't address. Israel could have blanket bombed the whole Gaza strip. Instead soldiers (in uniform, not pretending to be civilians) are dying because of this conflict. Israel isn't launching missiles willy-nilly into Gaza. Those "journalists" are terrorists, but how would you know that? You have numbers. Wow! Does that make it scientific? You literally have no idea what you're saying. You're regurgitating antisemitic media at me, and then dismissing my thoughtful reply as a personal attack. For one, I don't have to reply at all. Moreover, you are fitting the bill exactly: you are one of these antisemitic friends that I'm not allowed to criticise. You believe you know everything about this situation, indeed more than I know, it would seem, and yet you're clueless. You do not keep yourself informed at all. You keep yourself deeply misinformed in a one-sided media narrative and you very clearly do no cross referencing by going to Israeli sources. You clearly haven't read a single book on the subject. Meanwhile, you ignore and miss everything essential that I have put forward. You're not addressing my article. You clearly have a libtard agenda and you suffer from a social media disorder that makes you react out of outrage instead of out of thoughtful consideration. You are literally rationalising antisemitism and minimising it! You'll have to forgive me for shutting this down. Unless you have anything to say about the article I wrote specifically, or any direct response to the arguments I made in response to your first comment, I'm not wasting any further time on this. I don't need someone here repeating media lies and Hamas propaganda. We're all well aware of the BS you're dumping here. I honestly have no idea what prompted you to think I was uninformed and needed this input. It is literally ubiquitous.
Asa, The name calling is out of bounds, as is the idea that any country could/should carpet bomb another. As a poet and author, I hope you can hold onto your humanity when responding to any future “ignorant” comments a reader might make. By the way you have no idea what I have or haven’t read. I’m really stunned by the tone of your replies to my comments. My goal is broader understanding of issues and that is why I’ve supported your work in the past. You are correct, we have no more to add here that could be constructive.
I've often wondered if simple resentment at Jewish priority--being first, set apart--plays a large role in hatred of Jews and of Israel. Your point about anti-Zionism is astute. What other states are told they must disappear because of their alleged wrongdoing? Imagine if the entirety of the Middle East was populated by Jewish states, many large and populous, and there was one tiny Muslim state that was continually warred upon by all the surrounding Jewish states, which had previously kicked out all their Muslim inhabitants and made it clear that Muslims were worthy of murder as a religious duty. Then imagine all the progressivists and enlightened thinkers pointing the finger at the tiny, beleaguered Muslim state, demanding that it exercise restraint in its response to atrocities, and that other states not befriend it.
I'm guessing that by "priority," you mean since the Holocaust. No doubt, that's a part of it. David mentions this in The Big Lie... can't remember who's credited with it, but the gist is that Europe will never forgive the Jews for what they did to Europe, making them all look so bad. So if it can be argued that the Jews are just as bad as the Nazis, Europe (along with the rest of the world) is off the hook.
But I feel it's worth pointing out that Jews haven't been a "priority" since the late 1980s, when rhetoric and news reporting started to turn against them. Now, by an amazing sleight of hand, they are the white supremacist oppressors.
No, I didn't mean priority in that sense. I meant it in the sense of being prior, being the receivers / founders of the Law, developing the first moral code, etc. I was really just repeating a point I thought you made.
Oh. I see! Right. I keep rethinking it, trying to account for both collective and individual expressions of antisemitism. It's a slippery subject.
Forgot to thank you for the article!
Thanks for stopping by and weighing in on this one, Janice.
Dear Asa,
I confess to not being keen to commenting on this piece, but this is solely because it's a powder-keg issue and I try to dampen the explosions. I do think this is the most insightful essay I've ever read on this topic. So much that it written on this issue is utterly dreadful.
However, at the same time, I believe the entire category 'anti-semitism' has become disastrous. I watched as the dark prince of realpolitik, Sir Keir Starmer, weaponised 'anti-semitism' to execute a Labour party putsch in the UK that exiled literally everyone in their circles who supported the working class, leaving them free to pursue global technocracy with the naïve support of their middle class zealots. At the same time, I have also watched as the UN has scolded Israel repeatedly for doing things the United States or China pursues with impunity. This is, as you outline here, a much more complex nest of issues than is typically recognised.
You mention a key issue here, which as William Shatner expressed via David E. Kelly's show Boston Legal is that 'the politics of Israel go to survival'. Unless one counts the anarchists, who would disestablish every nation, Israel is in the unique and peculiar position of being told that it doesn't have a right to exist. Doubly strange. Nobody to my knowledge suggests non-Native American citizens should be forcibly emigrated from the United States, a nation which is only fractionally older than the contemporary state of Israel when their national ages are compared to, say, Egypt or China...
The Lithuanian Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas dedicated his 1978 book Otherwise Than Being as follows:
"To the memory of those who were closest among the six million assassinated by the National Socialists, and of the millions on millions of all confessions and all nations, victims of the same hatred of the other man, the same anti-semitism."
Reading this helped made me realise the danger of having a conceptual term that allows nefarious people (like Darth Starmer) to suggest that the hatred, murder, or the denial of humanity of certain classes of people can be ranked and ordered. As such, I have personally ceased using this word. I prefer 'bigotry' in most situations. I would never tell others what words they must use, that is their own business, my point is rather that I have become exceptionally wary of how this particular word is being used these days, and it makes me nervous about speaking it at all. (This is not a criticism of this essay, which could not be written otherwise than to use the word itself, for obvious reasons.)
Finally, I do not understand how everyone could stand by silently while the United States exterminated a great many innocent brown people with murderous drone technology outside of a declared state of war and THIS was somehow acceptable (because the innocents who died were 'collateral damage') and did not produce the sudden wave of condemnation that we have recently witnessed. Actually, I do: the legacy media distort every issue.
It is my principled position on warfare, such as it is, to stand for peace and the diplomacy required to attain that peace. I no longer criticise specific nations for the ugly business of warfare as such: I constrain myself to principled objections to the means pursued, irrespective of whomever deploys them. 'The means is the end' Ivan Illich suggested. I believe there is great wisdom in this phrase.
I pray for the return of every hostage such that a meaningful ceasefire might be permanently enacted, and a lasting peace we cannot imagine but can still hope for lies ahead in the unimagined times to come.
With unlimited love,
Chris,
Thanks Chris. The interesting thing with antisemitism is that it isn't bigotry. It can include bigotry, but it can also exclude that quality. That's among the things that makes the subject so confusing. This is probably one of the reasons I can't criticise an antisemite: they're upset by the idea that they're being called a bigot. At the same time, the vile expressions of utter hate toward "Zionists" that I've come across since October 7th is like nothing I've seen before. These are the same folks who place "Hate has no home here" signs on their lawns and in their windows. The social media pogroms have also been sickening. And yes, the media is bewildering. Media sources will put a dozen reporters on the Israel subject, while they put one on the Ukraine for instance, and reporters are directed to skew the subject, or reporters with a certain bias are specifically chosen to cover the topic. There was an excellent article on this probably 4 months ago.
Aye, the psychopathology of 'kind hate' is, itself, a worthy topic for discussion that we are supposedly forbidden to notice...
So good. Filled with facts and heart and genuine thoughtfulness, and blissfully absent venom.
Like Allen, can't wait to re-read.
Thanks RDM. Trying to keep it real. That's why I waited so long before addressing this. Hopefully some sardonic humour helps in the midst of the madness.
Good to hear some optimism. Thanks for weighing in. Your point about general self loathing fits well with my assessment. It's not just the Jew who hates himself but the West in general that hates itself. In that context, Israel becomes the avatar of the West... the symbol of western culture. Meanwhile, Israel isn't that at all, which is why all the ironies abound and the whole thing is so irrational and inverted.
I think that your model of the underlying psychology of antisemitism outlined in this essay accounts for the surface expression of national self-loathing among Western nations today. For instance, the cultural gatekeepers of pro-Palestinian anti-Zionists in my globalist fiefdom formerly known as a country called Canada, believe that the entire civilization of which we're a part is illegitimate and in need of purging. So to annihilate the West once for all, it must be torn up at its root. Which is the Jew. Our civilization is Judeo-Christian, after all. Our myths, stories, customs, traditions, beliefs, you name it, began with Judaism. The Hebrew Bible is a magnificent work of art and thought and history, and you don't have to be Jewish or even religious to understand that it forms the basis of Western culture. I find it unfortunate that we're deliberately denied the opportunity to learn this bit of fundamental knowledge by the education system through which the state and its globalist masters program us to hate the Jew. But I suspect their power over us is eroding, and at an ever-quickening pace. I'm not convinced that the West is in irreversible decline. I do hope that gentiles like myself, religious and secular alike, will find a way to relearn our Judaic heritage. It's essential that we do so for our own regeneration.
Sensational essay. I can't wait to reread it. First time through I kept running into reactions and ideas that I have had myself about this baffling problem that one runs into so often. Israeli exceptionalism, that's what we seem to have on our hands, as well as people who know no history and no geography.
Good to hear, Allen. It's not only ignorance but a kind of momentary amnesia that occludes basic knowledge that folks do in fact possess. How does one suddenly forget the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter? It's absurd to me. One terrorises a population for the power to oppress and the other fights a military (or militia) to liberate from oppression. It's like common sense goes out the window when it comes to all things Israel.
Terrorist vs. freedom fighter is a distinction the woke like to erase. They think terrorists ARE freedom fighters, after all. But they have a way of reversing terms: the Israelis are the terrorists, and Hamas the freedom fighters. If they make a distinction, that is the one they make. Compare woke alarm about hunters' guns, which to be insufficiently regulated, and complete woke silence about gang guns. Chicago supposedly has tough gun control, but there are gang shooting deaths there every week. The woke don't see those guns, just police guns and the guns of hunters. Chicago's mayor says gangs use guns because they don't have enough recreational equipment. More swing sets and see-saws and peace would descend in gangland. That's what he thinks.
Inversions and ironies are sure signs we're treading water in the medium of the irrational.