If you are a hammer, all you see is nails. If you are conditioned to believe the world is made up of colonizers and colonized, of oppressors and the oppressed, then this is what happens. It's absolutely shameful & abhorrent. Terrorists are being celebrated by the progressive left.
Thank you for this well considered and finely written piece. It's some small but real relief to me and I think likely to others to read a sane, reasoned, and human response to the latest horror in the unending cycle of Israeli and Palestinian brutality. I too am always alarmed by the antisemitic acts which make the news in America and the far more well reported ones in Europe. I admit though, that these do not alarm me as much as the ongoing climate in America and throughout much of the world for right, law, and humanity. I see a marked similarity in the events and the direction of American politics the kind of chaos which will move any government, however liberal, toward a police state to quell violence. The events we are seeing daily in the news for several years are highly reminiscent of 1932 Germany. On the bright side are two things. (1) Jews are not the primary target here. Rather that is foreigners, immigrants, and African-Americans. (2) Most Americans have far more to lose than the people of Germany had in 1932. This is a stabilizing influence in that it moderates the reactions of the radicalized. All that said, there are plenty of people in America who live with the desparation of inescapable poverty and plenty more who are profoundly deluded by their faith and whatever other dogma they have surrendered to.
I don't have answers to any of it but for some odd unknown reason, I have some hope -- how strange. I know that your article makes a difference.
Thanks by the way for mentioning the movie, "Mother Night." I was unaware of it although I read the book and then read everything else I could find of Vonnegut's because of it, though none of them, in my opinion, measured up.
I will take all the hope you have to give! Oddly, I have bouts of optimism too, that the carnage in the Middle East will force meaningful, democratic change, such as a change of government in Israel and a real path towards a two-state solution.
Hi everyone - I see that there are several grammatical and other errors in my post. I will fix them if I can figure out how to edit it or delete and replace it.
the quote at end of film clip voiced by the Nolte character one assumes was pulled verbatim from the Vonnegut book and is truly a gift in and of itself thank you
the links to the Talib rebuttal so necessary as well the resonance with Nazi nightmare continues to demand attention and comparison to avoid compounding the limits, obstacles of human beings to finding the least harmful solutions to getting along, to seek the mutual tolerance and peace we all crave
If you are a hammer, all you see is nails. If you are conditioned to believe the world is made up of colonizers and colonized, of oppressors and the oppressed, then this is what happens. It's absolutely shameful & abhorrent. Terrorists are being celebrated by the progressive left.
Great analogy
Dear Leah,
Thank you for this well considered and finely written piece. It's some small but real relief to me and I think likely to others to read a sane, reasoned, and human response to the latest horror in the unending cycle of Israeli and Palestinian brutality. I too am always alarmed by the antisemitic acts which make the news in America and the far more well reported ones in Europe. I admit though, that these do not alarm me as much as the ongoing climate in America and throughout much of the world for right, law, and humanity. I see a marked similarity in the events and the direction of American politics the kind of chaos which will move any government, however liberal, toward a police state to quell violence. The events we are seeing daily in the news for several years are highly reminiscent of 1932 Germany. On the bright side are two things. (1) Jews are not the primary target here. Rather that is foreigners, immigrants, and African-Americans. (2) Most Americans have far more to lose than the people of Germany had in 1932. This is a stabilizing influence in that it moderates the reactions of the radicalized. All that said, there are plenty of people in America who live with the desparation of inescapable poverty and plenty more who are profoundly deluded by their faith and whatever other dogma they have surrendered to.
I don't have answers to any of it but for some odd unknown reason, I have some hope -- how strange. I know that your article makes a difference.
Thanks by the way for mentioning the movie, "Mother Night." I was unaware of it although I read the book and then read everything else I could find of Vonnegut's because of it, though none of them, in my opinion, measured up.
All my best - Don
I will take all the hope you have to give! Oddly, I have bouts of optimism too, that the carnage in the Middle East will force meaningful, democratic change, such as a change of government in Israel and a real path towards a two-state solution.
Hi everyone - I see that there are several grammatical and other errors in my post. I will fix them if I can figure out how to edit it or delete and replace it.
AWESOME column!!
the quote at end of film clip voiced by the Nolte character one assumes was pulled verbatim from the Vonnegut book and is truly a gift in and of itself thank you
the links to the Talib rebuttal so necessary as well the resonance with Nazi nightmare continues to demand attention and comparison to avoid compounding the limits, obstacles of human beings to finding the least harmful solutions to getting along, to seek the mutual tolerance and peace we all crave