This post is NOT about choosing “sides” in the latest social contagion
I do my best to not allocate time and energy to diatribes and virtue signaling about topics over which I (and you) have little or no control.
This is especially true for everything going on with Israel and Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023. For nearly seven months, frenzied exhibitionists have been making the George Floyd Cult™ of 2020 look like moderates.
It should be quite obvious that I’m not condoning the behavior of Israel or Hamas. I’ve written volumes on that topic in my life — including in my books — and spoiler alert: You and I have zero effect on the behavior of either group anyway.
So, before any confusion happens in the comments, I’ll explain yet again: This post is not about choosing “sides” in the latest social contagion. As is my ongoing mission, it’s meant to encourage readers to interrogate their thought patterns and behaviors.
Are they really “your” thought patterns and behaviors? If not, can you instead choose a path that leads to greater intellectual and spiritual autonomy?
Also, I will once again declare that I sincerely mourn and pray for all the innocents being bombed and the innocents being held hostage.
I also weep for the woke and the awake who are such easy prey to narrative spinners.
Now that this boatload of context and caveats is over, please allow me to introduce some evidence.
From 1860 to 2024, the total number of deaths in wars between Jews/Israelis and Arabs is 149,531.
This includes Jews/Israelis, Jordanians, Egyptians, Palestinians/PLO/Hamas, Yemenis, Lebanese/Hezbollah, Iraqis, Saudis, Algerians, Moroccans, Kuwaitis, and more.
For comparison: From just 2011 to 2024, on all sides of the ongoing civil war in Syria, a total of 340,674 have been killed. (This doesn’t even include 162,390 dead civilians.)
That’s more than twice as many dead in just 13 years than the amount killed in 164 years of the Arab-Israeli conflict. At such a rate, the Syrian war would result in about 43 million deaths in 164 years.
Make no mistake, all the numbers above are intolerable and inexcusable. But only one group of numbers generates worldwide interest and outrage.
Thus, I must ask: Where are the (impotent) protests, hashtags, boycotts, college “encampments,” and self-immolations?
Virtually no one mentions Syria these days (or could probably find it on a map). Meanwhile, as I walk through my neighborhood, I see the homes of white people adorned with Palestinian flags.
These flags are sometimes side by side with LGBTQ flags — without a hint of irony or self-awareness.
Thus, I write posts like this to offer some context to help assess which deaths matter to “activists” — and why.
Please read this older post of mine…
…and then ask yourself why Israel elicits a far more vitriolic, exhibitionist response than all the other world crises combined. I suggest you think mindfully about your answer.
You can rant, rave, and share inaccurate memes 24/7, but none of it is more than a skewed and selective social media performance. The Powers That Shouldn’t Be™ openly manipulate us through algorithms and fear tactics. They thrive on us being divided and distracted.
Therefore, why not aim to control what you can control? Why not look inward and start creating change right there? Why not stop choosing to see evil only in “the other”?
We become true free thinkers and effective agents of positive change when we reject the latest narratives and instead evolve toward holistic discernment.
Coda: I could show you hundreds of photos and videos from Zuccotti Park in the early days of Occupy Wall Street. It looked, felt, and sounded much like the videos I see now of “college encampments.”
In a world teeming with parasites, it can be irresistibly intoxicating to imagine you’re at the vanguard of a long-awaited revolution. Still, it’s the same failed template with most of the same chants, songs, and signs.
I keep issuing warnings because I learned firsthand that…
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I've seen the same basic patterns in my city's problems. There's an enormous performative aspect, and precious little contact with the underlying realities. Those realities are stark. They call the existing order into question all on their own; no spin needed. The "acceptable" responses have proved useless at best. The activist LARPing is painfully ridiculous and in many case actively contributes to making the stark realities much, much worse. Community level answers to this can be found, I believe, in E.F. Schumacher's work. But whatever people choose, it's important to step away from the mindfuck of the Current Thing.
I pray for peace, then try to live the peace I wish to see. ❤️ I’m not always successful, but I keep trying.