The performative aspect of nominal activism tends to badly compromise or overwhelm every possible positive aspect. There's also a ton of careerist parasitism, crackpot hijacking/entryism, straight up grifting—both long and short cons, and irresponsibly indulged mental illness. Was it always this way? It afflicts all efforts across the ideological spectrum.
One of my most insightful friends made a good case that part of the solution, perhaps the largest, rests in attending to the pre-political. We need a base of understanding—internalised values—that can successfully fend off the negative manifestations. There's no way to organically rule out human failing, but we could at least have some healthy folkways to deal with it.
I love this, James! Indeed, if we worked on building deep connections outside of any idealogical or political realm, that foundation of trust would make it far less likely that folks would reflexively abandon and condemn anyone who expresses a counter-opinion. A great start for sure!
I've been a collector of quotations for several decades now. Yesterday I was reminded of this one. “Everyone sees what they want to see in your mom, everyone gets to be offended in their own special way. Your mother’s story allows people of any political stripe to say ‘Shame on you,’ which is just delicious these days. It’s no secret that the great American pastime is no longer baseball. Now it’s sanctimony.” – character in the amazing novel 'The Nix' (2016), by Nathan Hill (reviewed here https://www.npr.org/2016/08/31/490101821/the-nix-is-a-vicious-sprawling-satire-with-a-very-human-heart )
“We are spirits in a material world” has never had more meaning to me than now. Sting’s lyrics carry through the years, most all of his work has a message trying to open people’s eyes to what is going on in this world. John Lennon was taken out because his message of Love was growing in popularity. Maybe someday the world will listen.
Christopher Hitchens videos are being pedaled all over YouTube on the Palestine/Israel question. I have great respect for his intellect, even if his hatred for God and religion consumes him at times. Here’s what he conveniently leaves out though. I’m just giving facts here, not exonerating Israel, don’t shoot the messenger:
There have been five occasions where land has been negotiated with far more favorable conditions to the Palestinians. The Israelis said yes all five times. All five times the Arabs rejected any offer. Probably due to this statement from all the Arab states in 1967 in Egypt:
“Khartoum Resolution known as "The Three No's"; No peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with Israel.[1] The summit also resolved that the "oil-rich Arab states" give financial aid to the states who lost the war and to "help them rebuild their military forces."[2] The final communique of the meeting "underscored the Palestinians' right to regain the whole of Palestine—that is, to destroy the State of Israel."[3] The outcome of this summit influenced Israeli foreign policy for decades.[4]”
So No three times to any notion of peace or resolution. The Arab states don’t want Jews. Period. It’s hard to deny after 10/7/23.
Ariel Sharon, 1956: "I vow that if I was just an Israeli civilian and I met a Palestinian I would burn him and I would make him suffer before killing him. With one hit I've killed 750 Palestinians (in Rafah in 1956). I wanted to encourage my soldiers by raping Arabic girls as the Palestinian women is a slave for Jews, and we do whatever we want to her and nobody tells us what we shall do but we tell others what they shall do." Ariel Sharon, In an interview with General Ouze Merham, 1956.
Some more Sharon: "I don't know something called International Principles. I vow that I'll burn every Palestinian child (that) will be born in this area. The Palestinian woman and child is more dangerous than the man, because the Palestinian child’s existence infers that generations will go on, but the man causes limited danger." Ariel Sharon, In an interview with General Ouze Merham, 1956.
Moshe Sharett, 1948: “The most spectacular event in the contemporary history of Palestine - more spectacular in a sense than the creation of the Jewish state - is the wholesale evacuation of its Arab population which has swept with it also thousands of Arabs from areas threatened and/or occupied by us outside our boundaries.” Moshe Sharett -latter Israeli Foreign Minister - in a letter to Goldmann, 15 June 1948.
And two from the founding father. 1938: “Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves…politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves… The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them their country.” Speech by David Ben-Gurion, 1938, quoted in Zionism and the Palestinians by Simha Flapan, 1979.
"If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal; we have taken their country. It is true God promised it to us, but how could that interest them? Our God is not theirs. There has been Anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They see but one thing: we have come and we have stolen their country. Why would they accept that?" David Ben-Gurion - Quoted by Nahum Goldmann in Le Paraddoxe Juif (The Jewish Paradox), pp121.
There is no argument to be had that there have been atrocities committed on both sides at times. Many egregious acts and hate filled statements have also been made by both sides in the past. Are we supposed to be shocked by this? The fact is there are demons and saints in Botha sides. But are we supposed to make that a reason to give moral equivalence to each side today? I don’t think so.
Because when it comes to negotiations for peace, or a desire to achieve it, there is no equivalence, as I and many others more qualified than me, have said. As Golda Meir stated 49 years ago, “If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel.”
Also it has to be said, there is in these days no moral equivalence in terms of the treatment of women and Gays. Palestine is a misogynistic, homophobic society, Israel with all its flaws, is not.
So if you want to do a back and forth about what threats and horrors have been actually carried out not just spoken about in threatening ways, then the Arabs will outdo the Israelis every time I’d hazard a guess. Even to the point of terrorizing their own people such that they fled Palestine. Read about it, the historian Karen Armstrong addresses it. And here’s a quick excerpt from Schechtman on Wikipedia:
“Schechtman, argues in his book The Arab Refugee Problem that a large part of the exodus was caused by Arab fear of attack, reprisal, and the other stresses of war. Schechtman himself attributes this purely to the perspective of the refugees. He expounds this theory as follows:
Arab warfare against the Jews in Palestine ... had always been marked by indiscriminate killing, mutilating, raping, looting and pillaging. This 1947–48 attack on the Jewish community was more savage than ever. Until the Arab armies invaded Israel on the very day of its birth, May 15, 1948, no quarter whatsoever had ever been given to a Jew who fell into Arab hands. Wounded and dead alike were mutilated. Every member of the Jewish community was regarded as an enemy to be mercilessly destroyed....
[T]he Arab population of Palestine anticipated nothing less than massacres in retaliation if the Jews were victorious. Measuring the Jewish reaction by their own standards, they simply could not imagine that the Jews would not reply in kind what they had suffered at Arab hands. And this fear played a significant role in the Arab flight.[114]
Schechtman also cites evidence that the Arab leaders spread rumors of atrocities that did not actually occur, which only added to the Palestinian Arabs' fears.[115]”
Another somewhat relevant quotation harvested from a novel I read several years ago: “He smiled tolerantly. To survive, everyone needs a viewpoint from which they can look down on everyone else, thought Hadda. With some it’s intellect, with some it’s beauty, with some it’s religion.” – from the novel 'The Woodcutter,' by Reginald Hill Sigh. Human ego...
Yeah. I'm curious about how far back this impulse in us goes - 'cos it seems to be rather deeply rooted, I think. Oh well. There are other things to ponder these daze...
Good example.
The performative aspect of nominal activism tends to badly compromise or overwhelm every possible positive aspect. There's also a ton of careerist parasitism, crackpot hijacking/entryism, straight up grifting—both long and short cons, and irresponsibly indulged mental illness. Was it always this way? It afflicts all efforts across the ideological spectrum.
One of my most insightful friends made a good case that part of the solution, perhaps the largest, rests in attending to the pre-political. We need a base of understanding—internalised values—that can successfully fend off the negative manifestations. There's no way to organically rule out human failing, but we could at least have some healthy folkways to deal with it.
I love this, James! Indeed, if we worked on building deep connections outside of any idealogical or political realm, that foundation of trust would make it far less likely that folks would reflexively abandon and condemn anyone who expresses a counter-opinion. A great start for sure!
I've been a collector of quotations for several decades now. Yesterday I was reminded of this one. “Everyone sees what they want to see in your mom, everyone gets to be offended in their own special way. Your mother’s story allows people of any political stripe to say ‘Shame on you,’ which is just delicious these days. It’s no secret that the great American pastime is no longer baseball. Now it’s sanctimony.” – character in the amazing novel 'The Nix' (2016), by Nathan Hill (reviewed here https://www.npr.org/2016/08/31/490101821/the-nix-is-a-vicious-sprawling-satire-with-a-very-human-heart )
👏 👏 👏 👏
“We are spirits in a material world” has never had more meaning to me than now. Sting’s lyrics carry through the years, most all of his work has a message trying to open people’s eyes to what is going on in this world. John Lennon was taken out because his message of Love was growing in popularity. Maybe someday the world will listen.
Amen, Mary. A spiritual war is being waged in plain sight but the diabolical have us more concerned about they/them, etc.
Let's make the world listen.
Christopher Hitchens videos are being pedaled all over YouTube on the Palestine/Israel question. I have great respect for his intellect, even if his hatred for God and religion consumes him at times. Here’s what he conveniently leaves out though. I’m just giving facts here, not exonerating Israel, don’t shoot the messenger:
There have been five occasions where land has been negotiated with far more favorable conditions to the Palestinians. The Israelis said yes all five times. All five times the Arabs rejected any offer. Probably due to this statement from all the Arab states in 1967 in Egypt:
“Khartoum Resolution known as "The Three No's"; No peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with Israel.[1] The summit also resolved that the "oil-rich Arab states" give financial aid to the states who lost the war and to "help them rebuild their military forces."[2] The final communique of the meeting "underscored the Palestinians' right to regain the whole of Palestine—that is, to destroy the State of Israel."[3] The outcome of this summit influenced Israeli foreign policy for decades.[4]”
So No three times to any notion of peace or resolution. The Arab states don’t want Jews. Period. It’s hard to deny after 10/7/23.
Here's to you and Christopher Hitchens:
Ariel Sharon, 1956: "I vow that if I was just an Israeli civilian and I met a Palestinian I would burn him and I would make him suffer before killing him. With one hit I've killed 750 Palestinians (in Rafah in 1956). I wanted to encourage my soldiers by raping Arabic girls as the Palestinian women is a slave for Jews, and we do whatever we want to her and nobody tells us what we shall do but we tell others what they shall do." Ariel Sharon, In an interview with General Ouze Merham, 1956.
Some more Sharon: "I don't know something called International Principles. I vow that I'll burn every Palestinian child (that) will be born in this area. The Palestinian woman and child is more dangerous than the man, because the Palestinian child’s existence infers that generations will go on, but the man causes limited danger." Ariel Sharon, In an interview with General Ouze Merham, 1956.
Moshe Sharett, 1948: “The most spectacular event in the contemporary history of Palestine - more spectacular in a sense than the creation of the Jewish state - is the wholesale evacuation of its Arab population which has swept with it also thousands of Arabs from areas threatened and/or occupied by us outside our boundaries.” Moshe Sharett -latter Israeli Foreign Minister - in a letter to Goldmann, 15 June 1948.
And two from the founding father. 1938: “Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves…politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves… The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them their country.” Speech by David Ben-Gurion, 1938, quoted in Zionism and the Palestinians by Simha Flapan, 1979.
"If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal; we have taken their country. It is true God promised it to us, but how could that interest them? Our God is not theirs. There has been Anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They see but one thing: we have come and we have stolen their country. Why would they accept that?" David Ben-Gurion - Quoted by Nahum Goldmann in Le Paraddoxe Juif (The Jewish Paradox), pp121.
There is no argument to be had that there have been atrocities committed on both sides at times. Many egregious acts and hate filled statements have also been made by both sides in the past. Are we supposed to be shocked by this? The fact is there are demons and saints in Botha sides. But are we supposed to make that a reason to give moral equivalence to each side today? I don’t think so.
Because when it comes to negotiations for peace, or a desire to achieve it, there is no equivalence, as I and many others more qualified than me, have said. As Golda Meir stated 49 years ago, “If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel.”
Also it has to be said, there is in these days no moral equivalence in terms of the treatment of women and Gays. Palestine is a misogynistic, homophobic society, Israel with all its flaws, is not.
So if you want to do a back and forth about what threats and horrors have been actually carried out not just spoken about in threatening ways, then the Arabs will outdo the Israelis every time I’d hazard a guess. Even to the point of terrorizing their own people such that they fled Palestine. Read about it, the historian Karen Armstrong addresses it. And here’s a quick excerpt from Schechtman on Wikipedia:
“Schechtman, argues in his book The Arab Refugee Problem that a large part of the exodus was caused by Arab fear of attack, reprisal, and the other stresses of war. Schechtman himself attributes this purely to the perspective of the refugees. He expounds this theory as follows:
Arab warfare against the Jews in Palestine ... had always been marked by indiscriminate killing, mutilating, raping, looting and pillaging. This 1947–48 attack on the Jewish community was more savage than ever. Until the Arab armies invaded Israel on the very day of its birth, May 15, 1948, no quarter whatsoever had ever been given to a Jew who fell into Arab hands. Wounded and dead alike were mutilated. Every member of the Jewish community was regarded as an enemy to be mercilessly destroyed....
[T]he Arab population of Palestine anticipated nothing less than massacres in retaliation if the Jews were victorious. Measuring the Jewish reaction by their own standards, they simply could not imagine that the Jews would not reply in kind what they had suffered at Arab hands. And this fear played a significant role in the Arab flight.[114]
Schechtman also cites evidence that the Arab leaders spread rumors of atrocities that did not actually occur, which only added to the Palestinian Arabs' fears.[115]”
Another somewhat relevant quotation harvested from a novel I read several years ago: “He smiled tolerantly. To survive, everyone needs a viewpoint from which they can look down on everyone else, thought Hadda. With some it’s intellect, with some it’s beauty, with some it’s religion.” – from the novel 'The Woodcutter,' by Reginald Hill Sigh. Human ego...
Isn't it sad how easily the parasitic types can convince us to believe we need to look down on others in order to "survive"?
Yeah. I'm curious about how far back this impulse in us goes - 'cos it seems to be rather deeply rooted, I think. Oh well. There are other things to ponder these daze...