Do you see all the comments the previous post is getting? Nothing regarding my blog of course, but a tangent on Israel and Palestine. Slyvain, My Dad, And Molly are coming to blows on the issue. I consider myself the hypothetical Switzerland of this blogging war. Unbiased in my support for no one but myself. The Israel-Palestine conflict is intense. For some reason, I always seem to fall on the side of the Jews. This has nothing to do with my knowledge of the conflict or some deep seeded anti-Palestinian sentiment; just a gut feeling I have. It is upsetting to me that Hamas can lob missiles into Israel for most of the year, killing civilians, and Israel can never take military action against them without being labeled baby killers. I understand that thousands of innocent Palestinians are being hurt, and that is beyond horrible, but what else is Israel to do? They have already placed every imaginable kind of economic sanction on Palestine with little affect.
But on the flip side, maybe Israel shouldn't be on the offensive. Maybe getting missiles lobbed into your land is the downside of placing your country smack dab in the middle of the Arab world. I know they deserved that land, and it is their holy land, yet shouldn't they expect retaliation? Zionist bastards. Just kidding.
Continuing with this Jewish theme, let me tell you about a Jew that disgusted me. HA. Normaly, I am totally into most Jews. My girlfriend is Jewish. I have many Jewish friends. When I was growing up my family lit the Menorah over the holidays, only to be more worldly. We would also play dradel. Is that weird?
Anyway.... the reason this particular Jew disgusted me is because of what he was doing. He was on a subway, drinking milk from a plastic container. Like a Nalgene bottle. I am very particular about milk. It has to be fresh, and it has to be cold. His plastic container full of milk looked moist with warmth, and the milk was some weird off-colored yellow. It looked hideous. He would sit silently in his seat, only to take long, slow gulps of his milk every 30 seconds. The worst thing about the whole situation was the milk dripped down his chin, running through his beard. Man, just thinking about that incident makes me gag. The story had nothing to do with the fact that he was a Jew, more about his repulsive choice in drink.
And tomorrow's topic- the blacks.
Just kidding.
4 comments:
ugh, i forgot about that milk guy.
that's gross
i deleted my post because i could not word my sentiment accurately.
Since some people are providing opinions and information about Gaza and Israel/Palestine, I decided to join the conversation.
First of all, it is indisputable that American politicians are overwhelmingly (100% of the Senate, all but a handfull of Congresspeople) unquestioning of the Israeli government and military. This is for a variety of complicated reasons, most of them far from what we would think of as innocent. Since it is a reasonable journalistic impulse to turn to government officials for input while covering a foreign conflict, I believe it is important to carry this piece of information with you when looking at coverage of the conflict in the mainstream U.S. press.
But it is equally important to realize that the mainstream U.S. press, including, yes, and perhaps most importantly, the New York Times, is not the only option.
Here are some alternative news sources ranging (in order) from moderate to progressive specifically on the issue of Palestine:
National Public Radio
Ha'aretz (the "Israeli New York Times") www.haaretz.com
The Guardian (a british paper) www.guardian.co.uk
Al Jazeera English www.aljazeera.com
Democracy Now! www.democracynow.org
Within the mainstream U.S. press I know of only 2 stories that I believe treat the conflict at least minimally ethically:
1. A New York Times Op-Ed by an old professor of mine from Columbia, Rashid Khalidi: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/opinion/08khalidi.html
2. A clip from The Daily Show (not the first time Jon Stewart has been miles ahead of those journalists we ought to be able to depend on): http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=213380&title=strip-maul
In the rest of the mainstream U.S. press the coverage is contemptible. The foregone conclusion of unequivocal support of Israel's actions in Gaza is striking. I would like to highlight two (highly important) that have been the subjects of mutually exclusive viewpoints that nonetheless support Israel. Again, the point I wish to make is that support for the "war" is a foregone conclusion, not the result of analysis of the situation.
1A) The vast majority of sources at least nominally lament the death and suffering of innocent civilian Palestinians, while supporting the military maneuvers that cause it.
1B) Thomas Friedman (one of the most prominent journalists of our time, and a supposed expert on the Middle East) actually calls for the targeting of civilians in order to "teach" a lesson, as he believes this is the only way that Israel's actions can have a sustained impact on public opinion in Arab politics.
2A) Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard Law professor and famed defense attorney whose clients have included Klaus Von Bulow, OJ Simpson, and most recently the State of Israel, argued in a piece in the Washington Post (I believe) that Israel's actions in Gaza have been proportional and hence in line with international law.
2B) Michael Bloomberg, the current mayor of New York, has argued that it is ridiculous that Israel should have to react proportionally to the Hamas rockets that Israel claims have caused the attacks.
So we see that it is possible to be "pro-Israel" regardless of whether you believe in condemning civilian suffering, and regardless of whether you support the imperative for proportionality as demanded by international law. As I emphasized before, Israeli support is most often a foregone conclusion.
My apologies for this post. Preachy, socially tasteless, and awkward. Just the same, I couldn't help myself.
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