I am in full agreement with you that Israel is on the wrong side of what is going on.
But it always comes back to the question of: What is to be done? I mean, what am I, personally, supposed to do? I mentioned on one of your previous comment threads that I “wrote to my congressperson.” I feel silly even saying it. They simply do not care what I think about anything. None of our “leaders” do, from the POTUS, to the House and Senate, to their counterparts at the state level, down to county, city, and town councils.
I really do hate to sound like a pathetic BOF about it, and I really am open to suggestions.
As regular people there’s little we can do besides write your politicians and keep spreading the truth. Boycotting Israeli companies is another thing, if you have any connection to school endowments or investment funds urge them to divest their portfolios from any Israeli companies. But most importantly keep spreading the truth.
That's why it's time to really push the idea that voters can "vote outside the box" or dump the duopoly and vote for a third party candidate. If everyone who says they'd consider it actually did... There would be change. (Or we'd really know how rigged the US elections are and overthrow the corrupt government.)
"write your politicians" is a waste of time and to a certain degree legitimizing them through recognition. Better have no *your* politician anywhere in power due to your *not* having voted to begin with.
Better if you are not one of the thousands of Palestinians dying. We owe it to them to try everything no matter how futile it may seem to stop the carnage. Sitting on our asses crying about our broken system is not an option.
"Crying about our broken system" while engaging in legitimizing it makes one feel good about oneself in a woke sense of the word. Do something - yes, but don't do stuff that's expected of you by the system that does atrocity to begin with.
When people are dying you do everything you can. Even if your privilege says not to. You can afford to sit on the sidelines and say 💩 like that because your life is not on the line. I say do everything you can even petitioning the murderers, even if it has little or no chance of working. And to be certain, I am doing other things also. I’m pursuing every avenue that a private citizen can legally do.
You're not getting it. I'll try one more time - there's literally zero chance by your "petitioning the murderers" to stop murdering. There's 100% assurance you're legitimizing their status by doing so. Is it clearer now?
And I'm all for "pursuing every avenue" as long as the avenue is other than acknowledging the system that created the situation.
I don't think you understand that the "ONLY" thing that might be effective requires force.
I note that you criticize russian_bot for sitting it out. I'm with him on the futility of the actions you seem to suggest (I note you haven't actually proposed anything) but, if it make you feel better, sure, do it. I'll not criticize you for taking useless actions. I will call them useless though.
I agree that writing to, calling, donating to, or voting for most politicians is totally useless, but you never know what might do something at a given moment. We got to hear from the heroic Rashida Tlaib because of voting. One size does not fit all.
Write letters. Share on social media. Join Jewish Voice for Peace or similar organisations https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/ Talk about it. Vote. Go to vigils or demos. :-)
And lately I’ve been getting requests from PETA for funds to rescue pets in Gaza. It may seem grotesque to save pets when children go bleeding and starving in the rubble, but somehow PETA works under the radar. And I know I would want my kitty saved if I was under siege. Love is love is love.
I repeat, don’t be such a propaganda fool. Maybe you’d like “tool” better since you are sick of my name calling, Also labeling isn’t really name calling, tho it is annoying, I know. That’s why I’d do it to people who jump on my posts to discredit my statement without having anything useful to offer.
I don't like the judgmental attitude toward people who eat meat. I think it is fine to speak out against eating meat, but I don't think it is fine to insult people who do eat meat. I strongly dislike her use of women's bodies to replace the bodies of animals who are being caged or treated in some way that she sees as wrong. I also do not like the way animals are treated in factory farms etc, but she is verbally abusive and seems to want to impose her thinking rather than convince other to think differently.
Wake up. PETA used to kill the vast majority of the animals it "rescued" because it believed it is "liberating" them from being someone's pet. If they are anything like they used to be , they are using them to bring in $$$$$ but euthanizing most of them. You need to check it out further. They used to fool a lot of people who were under the impression that they were a rescue outfit, but it got exposed that they were exactly the opposite.
Boycott and shun Zionists. Make them feel like the social pariahs they should be for supporting genocide and then smirking about it and trying to lawyer it away.
Lots of people don't pay taxes and are not in jail. But one should be aware that they don't need your taxes, they just print whatever the money they want for themselves and their friends. I would try something else.
In some cases I know about, the people have made their income either invisible or so diminutive it is apparently below notice. Of course many rich people also find ways of disappearing their income by employing skillful tax accountants and lawyers. Needless to say I don't usually pursue questions of tax avoidance and evasion closely, nor do I wish to be overly confessional, although as far as I know I am totally legal and have been for years.
That is not what I asked. I asked whether they actually do not file their tax returns. As that would constitute a "refusal to pay" in terms of protesting, regardless of whether there's any payment or even a refund due.
Well said. Just look at the way our so-called "Progressive" Democratic Party Vermont U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, at an event organized by Jewish Voice for Peace-Vermont and cosponsored by a dozen other organizations to protest against Israel's despicable Gaza Genocide, refused to call for a cease-fire with her weasel words about a "humanitarian pause", dismissing the idea of a cease-fire she said "Hamas would not agree to":
VTDigger November 9, 2023, 11:40 pm By Patrick Crowley
Hundreds of people Thursday night marched from a rally outside Burlington City Hall to a nearby event raising money for U.S. Rep. Becca Balint. They demanded that the first-term representative meet with them in person.
With all due respect to Caitlin, we are NOT talking about "lack of psychological maturity" here; THIS is, at best, herd following COWARDICE, and at worst, MORAL BANKRUPTCY!
For those who wish to learn the unvarnished history of the serial abuse, ethnic cleansing, land stealing and premeditated murder of non-Jewish Palistinians (Christian Arabs INCLUDED!) by Zionists who's "religion" is more "Might equals Right" based Social Darwinism, the ANTITHESIS of what Torah based Judaism teaches (The Golden Rule Jesus voiced is sine qua non to the Jewish Faith AND Christianity!), than the Scripture based Jewish modus operandi/vivendi, watch these videos (and check out all the other episodes too - This EVIL started LONG befor 1948):
"I am in full agreement with [Caitlin] that Israel is on the wrong side of what is going on."
So am I. We, here in this forum, see the Gaza destruction as an atrocity, and one with grave repercussions, as Caitlin eloquently does. But as you well know, others see it very differently -- and they aren't all bluffing. Our *job* is to convince them of this POV. But if we can't do that, we have no business doing it by extra-legal means (read: non- ostensibly democratic means), as our self-righteous opponents often and unfortunately do.
The West is actually in an epistemological crisis on this, and we're barely aware of it. But it's an actually a big part of a *real* "threat to democracy":
"Both sides" is NOT an acknowledgment that "both" (or all) "sides" have "equal merit" -- only majorities of citizens can decide that -- but that *every* POV needs to be allowed airing (and arguably, some kind of minimal "reach"; e.g. shadow banning is the corresponding problem).
Caitlin: "[We need to] figure out which side is more truthful, which side has more merit" Yes, but these things don't actually exist outside the mind. There is no such thing as unimpeachable truth or moral correctness. The judgment of the former, and the very existence of the latter, are solely in heads of human beings. TPTB (not just "Marxists") have grossly abused this very epistemic principle, harnessing superior understanding of psychology. But the sooner we accept there is no accessible truth, there are only beliefs about truths, the sooner we will regain the humility to properly have and conduct democracy again.
"only majorities of citizens can decide that" - well, in the US, the "majority" opposes this war, and they are being shut down and called anti-semites.
I'm not arguing for or against that. I'm only saying that Caitlin's calculus isn't so simple. I'm just as vigorously supportive of her and your point of view, but it's not the only *legitimate* point of view. It never is. It can't be. That's what a democracy entails. Hard nut to swallow.
Maybe my point is really too subtle, but I believe it's critically important today. That is, that there are plenty of things that sane, intelligent people are *absolutely certain* about, but nevertheless still are in opposition. Gaza war is a good example of what kinds of extremes can occur. You can't get around that simply by appealing just to the like-minded. It is *necessary* to make our case (with whatever level of civil disobedience effort we want to apply, marches, boycotts, disruption, etc.), but ultimately accept the outcome. There are many here who do not accept this, and call for violence. I'm not among them, as (in the US at least) the actual machinery of a democratic republic remains intact.
We must respect the *legitimacy* of *all* points of sincere, sane, and intelligent (sufficiently by some measure?) points of view. Otherwise, we can't recognize democracy as a legitimate form of government, as some opinions end up being "more equal than others".
Maybe this point belongs in a different blog, one that talks about how we retain the legitimacy of democracy.
I would hardly call it being "shut down" with huge rallies and multitudes like yourself howling, and clamoring for bloodshed. And it is a very vocal MAJORITY and yes, you are very ANTISEMITIC trying to justify and excuse your hatred: What else would you call it?
"Sticks and Stones".......this anti-semite thing is over. How about being called anti-muslim?....but, that's not a BIG SIN, that's just a MAGA "right" to have an opinion about a population they consider not truly American.
Educate yourself as well as you have the time and the good judgement as to what's worth tuning in to. So far, as those living in democracies, we are entitled to have an opinion and take a side.
Timothy—there’s plenty we can do. Jewish Voices for Peace—join them, or Not In Our Name. Find a rally and go to it. Send money and love to Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian in the House, recently censured by same who gets hate mail all the time. She needs love mail. Ilhan Omar the same. Reward those Congress critters who have stood up to AIPAC and called for a ceasefire, especially Warren who is in a highly AIPAC-ed state. Call the White House and say you’re deciding to not vote for him. They DO a pay attention to that. If you’re afraid of the WH, call the DNC and tell them the same. These may seem like tiny acts and not effective but they work. Plus, they liberate you from your psychological prison and show you that you can live by your conscience not your fear.
This post transports my mind to two sets of images — the first set are images from my first 28 years in NYC, particularly the upper west side of Manhattan, the second set, recent videos of pro-Palestinian Hasidic Jews protesting in NYC for a ceasefire while being chastised/insulted by well-attired local Jewish-Americans. Back then, in my Twenties, I perceived all these folks as a unitary block “on the side” of Israel. Today, the contrast could not be more stark. Those Hasidim clearly represent the peace, love and mutual assistance ethics of Judaism, those clearly well-off Upper West-Siders are steeped in the disgusting macho bellicose ethos of Zionism, apparently needing that association for some corrupted image of self-justification after their families’ Holocaust history. The two sides couldn’t be more obviously divergent. Wake up and use your finely honed reasoning skills, Jewish-Americans: Zionism’s ethos is actually diametrically opposed to Judaism’s — read Miko Peled, listen to Max Blumenthal, Dan Cohen, and other American Jews who have seen the horrors of Palestinians firsthand. There's almost no symmetry between the sides except the "chosen people" argument, which threatens to put you firmly in the camp of the classical Fascist movements.
Yes. there's also a class issue there. As some have pointed out, there are a lot of "recreational" Israeli settlers-- people (from NY mostly) who go there as a sort of second home. Taking land from people who've had it for generations. Class privilege definitely plays a role in that outlook. I don't think it's religious at all.
Yes, and in the West Bank, really “taking” land, marching into homes with AK 47’s supplied to them by their government who in turn got them from US, and simply ordering the owners out. After shooting anything they don’t like and for fun. These are American Jews. It twists my mind with hate. It makes me root for Hezbollah and Iran and China. I need a meeting!
Yes your mind is twisted with hate. But it provides diversion and direction to channel that hate against an entire group that you really know little about beyond what you have heard from other minds just as twisted with hate as yours is. But you know what the commonality is here? It is the sense of justification everyone feels when projecting their hateful insanity onto others. For the noblest of reasons, of course!!
Again, it seems to me that this shows not that the present evil comes from a religious, ethnic, or cultural group, but is simply a consequence of capitalism -- the practice and ideology of those who have money and power using it (the two are one) to steal from, oppress, and kill those of have less power, less stuff, few connections. The ethnic business is camouflage.
"Abolishing private property" sounds like the use of force. I think more cooperative or convivial institutions and relations could be established and developed only on a voluntary basis.
It's none of this. It is the deterioration and corruption of the human being that takes place when they turn their backs on God, the Creator and Sustainer
Well, I agree that "by the consent of the governed" which includes the ability to OPT OUT, is the only just form of government. Let people congregate as they may as long as they do not UNJUSTLY hamper others.
Capitalism, to me, is not free enterprise which I support. Of course this is all within the scope of the natural law.
Neither am I well-studied, but I think I make my thinking clear on this.
I surely do not support what is called "cronycapitalism." I consider this, as practiced in the US today to be thievery of the highest order.
I would call the overall form of the Anglo-American imperium "liberal" and "capitalist". The settlers themselves are not, at present rich, but neither were most of the earlier immigrants to the United States when they got off the boat.
I recall decades back, there was always a small group in Union Square, with the black and white checked scarves. I also recall buying into whatever they were selling and wanting to get a black and white checked scarf. I'm pretty sure it was Freedom for Palestine. I never did. Now, I am considering...if I can find the fabric in one of the Mexican stores. or, order on Amazon... .......Thank you more references.
How long have we hear about the evils of capitalism? Well, this professor above mentioned thinks he has the answer, because the system is already in place, but not serving us; this is how we take democracy back and end all wars.
Have you been over there? You have seen modern Gaza city in the Gaza strip? Or are you just repeating the old shopworn meme of "open air concentration camps?"
If you don't like it, and it's not up to your standards, needs updating, I suggest you speak with the Palestinian Authority or Hamas, that have been administering the place since 2005 when Israel gave it over..
Your compassion and mercy seems strictly one sided
If Israeli citizen soldiers just sat back and let the Hamasniks continue their slaughter and butchering, you would be totally ok with that, amirite? You would be cheering them on? Being a genocidal apologist would take on new meaning then, wouldn't it..
I maintain that there there are no legitimate concepts of “good”and “evil” (those are too goddamned biblical for me to accept) ; but there are, rather, right, and wrong. I think Caitlin is perfectly illustrating that.
Oh, and the four hour a day “humanitarian ceasefire”! Isn’t that just so, so generous of the Zionazis? I can picture a couple of Palestinian kids: “Hey, the bombs have stopped for a little while! Let’s go find something to eat, so later we can die with something in our stomachs!”
Dear Caitlin, writing about this atrocity every day must be taking its toll on your psyche. I know it’s hard enough for the rest of us merely to be aware of it. But please know that your heroic efforts are not in vain; to know there are voices of sanity out there is what gives your readers a glimmer of hope.
No concepts of good and evil you say. Right and wrong instead.
OK, so when a child does something wrong it may be because it doesn't know what's right. It's shown, taught, and it does right from then on. Hopefully.
When an adult - or a bunch of them - does wrong and keeps doing it, being fully aware of the intention and consequences, what is that called? Where does it come from? How is he to be righted?
If that's your way to right the wrongs for those types - I'd only suggest not playing a Russian roulette. Make sure the cartridge is fully loaded. And plenty of spares at hand.
Excellent article. Soren Kierkegaard has went on at lengh about becoming an authentic human being, which begins by engaging what he calls the second stage of life, the ethical. Unfortunatly, most people stay in the first stage, what he called the aesthetic. In this stage, people often find themselves experiencing acedia , which can foment apathy towards things around you. Most people have become so "busy" with life, running the race of late stage capitalism in a global rat utiopia to spare a glance in the way of actual injustice. They acquire "knowledge" of the world in 30 second sound bites crafted by the narrative managers of power. They are captured by apathy.
In this case, as you mentioned, "someone working hard and raising children", might not have time to grapple foreign policy... but isnt that what they have desired? Develop mass society to become immune to its own effects? Occupy the minds of citizens with busyiness and fluff and leave the thinking for the others? Being such a person, who works hard, raises and homeschools my children, I find those who are in similar situations claiming they do not have "time" to look at foreign policy as making excuses and being mentally slothful. When people are being murdered in your name, excuses become more than excuses, more than apathy. Excuses become consent, and in such a horrific event such as what we are all witnesssing in Gaza, excuses make one complicit.
Consequentialism is a cancer, some things are wrong no matter the context. Killing children by the thousands is worth wiping off the apathy from our eyes and our hearts, it is worth taking a stand and drawing a line, coming down off the fence. Our backgrounds many vary to the wildest degree, but on this account we should all find agreement. If not, perhaps as a whole,the human race is indeed not worth saving. Understanding both sides does not have to mean we have to apply excuses for either. Two wrongs do not make a right. Let us set higher ethical standards for our ancestrors, at the least, let them hear our resistance vibrate through the ages after we are gone from this life.
I agree about both-sidesing an issue but neither-sidesing an issue is not ignorance.
I think it's enough to say that murder is bad no matter who's doing it.
If someone is going down in quicksand it doesn't do one teeny-weeny bit of good to jump into the quicksand with them. It's not my fight, and when two dogs are fighting you don't place yourself between them.
You tell them to stop, yank the chain to separate them. But if you think you can right and wrong either of them, you'll be seriously disappointed when they fight next time.
Who's right and who's wrong is a fool's errand when it's not your gig.
We can dislike murder - we can adhere to our own guidelines regarding ourselves.
But we don't and never will make other people's choices.
And they may choose to continue fighting, regardless of our best influence.
NOW, if one's government is supporting either side with our tax dollars, that is another matter altogether. And that is what we need to address to.
I think you should add ‘the financial safety’ to grapple with this issue. The security state has made it risky to speak out, even if it’s just on your personal FB / Twitter accounts - the gig economy has made people utterly reliant on social media accounts to feed their family. Losing your accounts, or being banned on socials can mean the difference between paying or not paying rent. Even in the regular economy, school teachers, nurses, doctors, academics have lost their jobs by posting even the mildest disagreement with the popular narrative, (even as it turned out that they were RIGHT in their objections.) Honestly, I speak with my friends. I block any “I stand with...” flags. I share articles with people I trust. I’ll even go to marches if I can find out about them in time (funny, but notices of marches are spookily absent on my social media feeds) - but speaking out has become dangerous.
I hear you on that “I stand with” nonsense. I mean, WTF does that even mean? The other day, someone posted one on FB. At the time, this person was ON A CRUISE SHIP! I thought, “dude, seriously, get a rifle and get over there if you feel that way!” As for sharing articles, etc., I have tried that too, but mostly they just seem to fall into some black hole.
I agree. It is so easy for the saber rattling computer warriors to posture as being all big and bad haters while safely ensconced behind their computers on the other side of the world.
Issue a challenge for.these big talkers to do what you suggest and put some skin in the game if they are really serious, and your post gets removed......
S. L. And yet we do it, any way we can. Good for you for finding a way. No one has to be a shero/hero—Caitlin is already taking that risk. We can take courage from her and find a way to throw sand in the gears.
Yes. I’m serious. Gig worrkers doing admin, coding, digital work of any sort need social profiles. I suppose if you donuber and door dash, it’s different.
History is the great whistleblower, few know it and fewer want to know, especially despots who slander it out of existence.
The US has just announced its biggest nastiest nuclear sub carrying 144 cruise missiles has moved into the Red Sea so it looks like a regional war where Israel with Uncle Sam's backing is going to gobble more real estate.
Israel has always felt its allotted land mass was not enough for a viable state so now it is going to gobble up its neighbors and establish the "Greater Israel" planned since the 1980's.
The US never intended there to be a cease fire, Gaza is stage one in a larger annexation.
The empire has voracious appetites, first Ukraine, then Gaza, .... and the band plays on
But these cruise missiles can also carry nuclear war heads. And the aircraft carries most certainly are nuclear armen.
Like I said, this is the state of western civilization in 2023. they are willing to wage nuclear war in order to carry on colonizing and oppreising people. It’s just hi-tech savagery.
So you are saying the US is going nuclear sooner than later, very doubtful as this would trigger an instant response from China and Russia and its game over; that said we are about to see how crazy Washington is.
“So you are saying…” as a preface to misparaphrasing and building your own straw man, is a very bad debate tactic.
I said the U.S. is clearly waving nuclear threat.
And the U.S. is waving that nuclear threat at parties who would come to the defence of people being subjected to genocide by a US armed and US funded proxy.
So the state of the art of western “civilisation” is utilising nuclear threats to ENSURE oppression, apartheid and genocide.
Both-sidesing is a way of avoiding conflict, and some of us have plenty of it. But as soon as you meet the victims and learn what the cost was for them, you are devastated, and understand that choosing their side is nothing in comparison.
That is true. But 'picking a side' when neither side is an honest moral agent escalates the harm to innocents as the few (hamas/israel leaders and their zealots) sacrifice the many, everyday joes that simply want to live their lives and happen to be stuck in their, now, hellholes.
Well, the Nazi philosopher Carl Schmitt, or my semi-fascist stepmother, would tell you: "Forget all this Kantian lawyering and posturing. Pick a side and fight it out. Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." I know they were just trying to give me good advice, and point to a basic, ground, home truth I find, for instance, in descriptions of American prison life, or the innumerable wars generated by our Anglo-American ruling classes, like the present one(s) in Gaza. Often, you don't even have to pick a side, it's done for you: White-Black-Brown, etc. etc. etc.
My problem is that I'm sort of a Groucho Marxian: I wouldn't want to be in any club that would have me, and on top of that, the feeling is mutual: I am woefully anticharismatic. People tend to mystically dislike and distrust me, regardless of my manifest talents, my virtues and my benevolence. So the option of picking a side is out. I don't mean I'm too good for any side, I mean I'm too bad. I don't understand it either, but there it is.
I do have the social media, where people can't easily punch me in the face, so sometimes I can get away with saying things or jeering from the sidelines of the muck. I'm sure no one cares anyway.
I can tell you this: violence, whether practiced by Hamas or Israel or the Anglo-American imperium, or Capital, or all you Kantian moral lawyers: violence begets more violence. Since most people seem to prefer violence to life, they should be happy, at least until they lose at the end. Violence against violence, but the violent enjoy themselves, and, as the Evangelist Matthew says [11:12] "From the days of John the Baptist until now (that is, forever) , the kingdom of heaven (that is, consciousness) suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away.” Pick a side and fight it out. And if, like me, you are by chance washed ashore on the sideliness, you are there to bear witness to the unbearable.
After chewing on this for a while, what I'd like to add is that equivocating on a fight between others is not always worse than picking a side and entering the fray and expanding a destructive mess into a more destructive mess.
There is no gray area regarding this Gaza massacre, in any case. Satan at play.
I grapple with the argument that many people are too busy with their lives, their children, their work and don't have the time to engage. I'm sorry but I don't agree. Virtually everyone has a few moments, or minutes or an hour per day to step away from the distractions of life, especially our tech devices and make a difference. Not to is, IMHO abdicating your responsibility as a citizen of the world. And....you don't have the right, I believe to enjoy the bounty of your life without reflecting and engaging in how you're privileged to have these things partially because others are suffering.
And your consumer choices are also a way of exercising your power as well. That does not take any extra time or effort.
I have a friend who works 14 hour days as an administrator in a school. She barely hears the distorted news let alone the premium news we here can find. Also, her stress levels are so high, she lost both breasts to cancer. Yet she is a committed humanitarian and devoted to kids. Wanna judge her?
Does she want to be treated any different than anyone else? Is she trying to win the victim Olympics? Does her cancer-survivor status make her more or less ethical? Screw that BS, if she has an opinion, let's debate it on its merits (OMFG, not merit) and not some spectre of victimhood-trumps-all nonsense (of course, that is what hamas supporters want, though).
I agree Neill. We all have burdens in our lives. Some of the most involved folks are the ones who work hard and struggle. Invoking victimhood is INDEED what the terrorists use to justify their actions, or in the case of apathy, inaction. Neither is helpful IMHO.
Wow! That's a lot of projection and anger. You could express your thoughts by JUST sharing your friends experiences. I did say "many people" and "virtually everyone". So I didn't say everyone! I even said that many are suffering, like your friend. And it sounds like she IS doing her part by being, as you said "a committed humanitarian and devoted to kids." So maybe you can reconsider your attack on my words. Wanna judge her you asked. That's sure a judgement on your part, dontcha' think?
Personally I feel Americans for too long have not wanted to get involved in political issues, which is why we are here now. You can look up the voting records of Americans going way back. My guess is that they thought the 'dream' would carry on forever so they didn't care. This IS 'sitting on the fence.'
Education was abysmal but people didn't seem to care. I had my daughter in school there for 23yrs and I was truly shocked what she didn't learn. In Art she was told her drawings were not good so she gave up. Me being an artist who had been watching her drawing carefully was truly interested. She did not have the view of others. She lost out.
There was no Geography/World History/Civics etc. Class sizes we huge. Teachers spent more time controlling the classroom and preparing them for endless exams than teaching.
As for trying to talk politics (away from my own friends) it was impossible. People would get bored or agree when they didn't.
When one sees a mass of people like the Palestinians being massacred there is only one truth. It's called genocide!
As you say rightly Caitlin, when you look at Politicians round the World who support these crimes it shows others they too can be the same. NO. Brutality is not OK. All of us should know better.
I should have known by your beautiful soul that you were an artist! I am myself; my mother used to say that I was born with a brush in my hand.
My favorite subjects are my cats, my late mare, and pastorals taken from photos of the Irish countryside. I also love to replicate antique signage; I love painting letters.
Not to brag, but I’m very, very good and cannot recall a time when I wasn’t drawing. But due to certain circumstances in my life, my soul is not near so beautiful as yours.
I was sexually abused as a very young child by a non-family member. When I was in my 20’s I lived with a horribly abusive man for 2 1/2 years. What he did to me was almost unspeakable; choking me to unconsciousness, breaking my bones. ( He was a junkie that I thought I could “help” and had been in Vietnam.)
These experiences made me develop a terrible mean streak. If one is kind to me, I am kind, loving and generous in return. But if one crosses me, they’d better run for their very life!
It would follow that things in - let's take western Europe, or even France in particular since you're there, - are better, or even way better. Let's even assume they are. How does it reflect on the current utterly shameful, toothless and subservient behavior of Europe? Where Naziism is getting reborn just like its parent fascism - and marxism, if we are inclusive - had in their time?
That Caitlin ; all of the above mentioned 100 or so comments, is why I prefer not to bother in reply to the last sentence of your essay. Before this today I was reading about radio galaxies at the edge of the universe, but of course there's no sense in talking about that or even on my own website as it would be just as easily deleted there as here. So, the other day I gave a perfect mathematical description of the impossibility of the existence of a god; the comment on that comment was. "I don't believe in God". Isn't that wonderful? Because that's why I went through all the bother in the first place, was just to get around that type of ignorant reply. For those who have read both the Kabbalah and about radio galaxies, will notice that they are complimentary dialogues. That's my point, if you don't want to do the work then you get what you're served, which as we can see in Gaza, is death, that includes of course Jews as well.
I am in full agreement with you that Israel is on the wrong side of what is going on.
But it always comes back to the question of: What is to be done? I mean, what am I, personally, supposed to do? I mentioned on one of your previous comment threads that I “wrote to my congressperson.” I feel silly even saying it. They simply do not care what I think about anything. None of our “leaders” do, from the POTUS, to the House and Senate, to their counterparts at the state level, down to county, city, and town councils.
I really do hate to sound like a pathetic BOF about it, and I really am open to suggestions.
As regular people there’s little we can do besides write your politicians and keep spreading the truth. Boycotting Israeli companies is another thing, if you have any connection to school endowments or investment funds urge them to divest their portfolios from any Israeli companies. But most importantly keep spreading the truth.
you can also vote in primaries to try to influence the uni-party and get critical thinkers into DC
but most 'mericans can only be bothered to vote in general elections and left with the 'lesser of 2 evils' dillema
it got rid of that orange gameshow host and installed a demented puppet in the oval office the last go-around
i think George Carlan said: Americans deserve the government they get and they are gonna get it good & hard.
link to his 1992 stand up comedy special: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NrnJGFlJBE
Carlan's wisdom is timeless. 30 yrs ago and notice how relevant this entire hour is.
The uni party ad you rightfully call it has rigged the system so that it is almost impossible for a third party candidate to gain traction.
That's why it's time to really push the idea that voters can "vote outside the box" or dump the duopoly and vote for a third party candidate. If everyone who says they'd consider it actually did... There would be change. (Or we'd really know how rigged the US elections are and overthrow the corrupt government.)
"Or we'd really know how rigged the US elections"
You mean you don't already know?
As Catlin said...
"That’s just living the life of a coward."
Telling yourself that you voted so you did your part obviously isn't "enough" in combating a corrupt system. It is "choosing to do nothing".
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://images.slideplayer.com/32/10069366/slides/slide_6.jpg&tbnid=Ch2Dd6m0fipf9M&vet=1&imgrefurl=https://slideplayer.com/slide/10069366/&docid=XXd0vLhrz9ZfdM&w=960&h=720&source=sh/x/im/m5/1&shem=uvafe2
I confess to that choice. After the years of thinking I was "doing something", I finally recognize the hopelessness of the situation and admit it.
"write your politicians" is a waste of time and to a certain degree legitimizing them through recognition. Better have no *your* politician anywhere in power due to your *not* having voted to begin with.
Better if you are not one of the thousands of Palestinians dying. We owe it to them to try everything no matter how futile it may seem to stop the carnage. Sitting on our asses crying about our broken system is not an option.
"Crying about our broken system" while engaging in legitimizing it makes one feel good about oneself in a woke sense of the word. Do something - yes, but don't do stuff that's expected of you by the system that does atrocity to begin with.
When people are dying you do everything you can. Even if your privilege says not to. You can afford to sit on the sidelines and say 💩 like that because your life is not on the line. I say do everything you can even petitioning the murderers, even if it has little or no chance of working. And to be certain, I am doing other things also. I’m pursuing every avenue that a private citizen can legally do.
You're not getting it. I'll try one more time - there's literally zero chance by your "petitioning the murderers" to stop murdering. There's 100% assurance you're legitimizing their status by doing so. Is it clearer now?
And I'm all for "pursuing every avenue" as long as the avenue is other than acknowledging the system that created the situation.
Edward.
I don't think you understand that the "ONLY" thing that might be effective requires force.
I note that you criticize russian_bot for sitting it out. I'm with him on the futility of the actions you seem to suggest (I note you haven't actually proposed anything) but, if it make you feel better, sure, do it. I'll not criticize you for taking useless actions. I will call them useless though.
I agree that writing to, calling, donating to, or voting for most politicians is totally useless, but you never know what might do something at a given moment. We got to hear from the heroic Rashida Tlaib because of voting. One size does not fit all.
Write letters. Share on social media. Join Jewish Voice for Peace or similar organisations https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/ Talk about it. Vote. Go to vigils or demos. :-)
JVP has BLOWN ME AWAY! What a fantastic group of human beings that have risen up against the hijackers of their faith.
Try the organisation I linked to or others mentioned at the end of posts by Joshua Hill e.g. https://www.jphilll.com/p/we-need-to-shut-down-the-war-machine
At least you are doing something. If everyone did what you do things might change. We all have to do something.
Donations for clothes/food etc?
Red Cross here is really doing a mammoth job.
And lately I’ve been getting requests from PETA for funds to rescue pets in Gaza. It may seem grotesque to save pets when children go bleeding and starving in the rubble, but somehow PETA works under the radar. And I know I would want my kitty saved if I was under siege. Love is love is love.
PETA must be trying to clean up their image https://bennorton.com/peta-has-horrible-sexist-racist-politics/
And just who created that “image”. Don’t be such a propaganda fool.
I get a little tired of your name calling sometimes. That article I posted is one of many that discuss PETA's pathetic politics
I repeat, don’t be such a propaganda fool. Maybe you’d like “tool” better since you are sick of my name calling, Also labeling isn’t really name calling, tho it is annoying, I know. That’s why I’d do it to people who jump on my posts to discredit my statement without having anything useful to offer.
New image PETA same as the old PETA? Frankly, I worried about Ingrid Newkirk 's sanity
here are some more articles
https://www.businessinsider.com/15-shocking-sexual-peta-advertisements-2016-4
http://targetofopportunity.com/peta_unethical.htm
https://ethicsalarms.com/2011/08/29/5-things-peta-doesnt-understand-about-ethics/
I don't like the judgmental attitude toward people who eat meat. I think it is fine to speak out against eating meat, but I don't think it is fine to insult people who do eat meat. I strongly dislike her use of women's bodies to replace the bodies of animals who are being caged or treated in some way that she sees as wrong. I also do not like the way animals are treated in factory farms etc, but she is verbally abusive and seems to want to impose her thinking rather than convince other to think differently.
I have friends here in France that adopted a dog from Ukraine. Fabulous dog now called Heidi. My Diego loves her.
Do it if you can.
Wake up. PETA used to kill the vast majority of the animals it "rescued" because it believed it is "liberating" them from being someone's pet. If they are anything like they used to be , they are using them to bring in $$$$$ but euthanizing most of them. You need to check it out further. They used to fool a lot of people who were under the impression that they were a rescue outfit, but it got exposed that they were exactly the opposite.
Yawn
Boycott and shun Zionists. Make them feel like the social pariahs they should be for supporting genocide and then smirking about it and trying to lawyer it away.
Do what you can. Care. Cry. Rage. Pray. Every little bit is better than nothing.
First off stop paying taxes
Have you? Are you writing from prison now?
Lots of people don't pay taxes and are not in jail. But one should be aware that they don't need your taxes, they just print whatever the money they want for themselves and their friends. I would try something else.
They don't need people's taxes, true, but they need the mechanism to have power over people.
I'd like clarification on your first statement, though. Do you mean they refuse to file tax returns?
In some cases I know about, the people have made their income either invisible or so diminutive it is apparently below notice. Of course many rich people also find ways of disappearing their income by employing skillful tax accountants and lawyers. Needless to say I don't usually pursue questions of tax avoidance and evasion closely, nor do I wish to be overly confessional, although as far as I know I am totally legal and have been for years.
That is not what I asked. I asked whether they actually do not file their tax returns. As that would constitute a "refusal to pay" in terms of protesting, regardless of whether there's any payment or even a refund due.
Well said. Just look at the way our so-called "Progressive" Democratic Party Vermont U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, at an event organized by Jewish Voice for Peace-Vermont and cosponsored by a dozen other organizations to protest against Israel's despicable Gaza Genocide, refused to call for a cease-fire with her weasel words about a "humanitarian pause", dismissing the idea of a cease-fire she said "Hamas would not agree to":
VTDigger November 9, 2023, 11:40 pm By Patrick Crowley
https://i0.wp.com/vtdigger.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/DSC_1690-scaled.jpg
Hundreds of people Thursday night marched from a rally outside Burlington City Hall to a nearby event raising money for U.S. Rep. Becca Balint. They demanded that the first-term representative meet with them in person.
Full article:
https://vtdigger.org/2023/11/09/pro-palestinian-protesters-target-balint-fundraiser-in-burlington-calling-for-cease-fire-in-gaza/
With all due respect to Caitlin, we are NOT talking about "lack of psychological maturity" here; THIS is, at best, herd following COWARDICE, and at worst, MORAL BANKRUPTCY!
For those who wish to learn the unvarnished history of the serial abuse, ethnic cleansing, land stealing and premeditated murder of non-Jewish Palistinians (Christian Arabs INCLUDED!) by Zionists who's "religion" is more "Might equals Right" based Social Darwinism, the ANTITHESIS of what Torah based Judaism teaches (The Golden Rule Jesus voiced is sine qua non to the Jewish Faith AND Christianity!), than the Scripture based Jewish modus operandi/vivendi, watch these videos (and check out all the other episodes too - This EVIL started LONG befor 1948):
Al-Nakba: The Palestinian catastrophe - Episode 3
https://youtu.be/5SKECszemmA
Key Moments in Palestine's History ...THAT YOU MAY HAVE NEVER HEARD
https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/geopolitics/key-historical-events-that-you-may-have-never-heard-of/msg1435/#msg1435
You find this youtube video? "Why Palestine Must Pay for Germany's crimes".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_SPPKl7A0o
You can also non violently protest so NPCs can't just avoid the issue, especially if you in an urban area.
"I am in full agreement with [Caitlin] that Israel is on the wrong side of what is going on."
So am I. We, here in this forum, see the Gaza destruction as an atrocity, and one with grave repercussions, as Caitlin eloquently does. But as you well know, others see it very differently -- and they aren't all bluffing. Our *job* is to convince them of this POV. But if we can't do that, we have no business doing it by extra-legal means (read: non- ostensibly democratic means), as our self-righteous opponents often and unfortunately do.
The West is actually in an epistemological crisis on this, and we're barely aware of it. But it's an actually a big part of a *real* "threat to democracy":
"Both sides" is NOT an acknowledgment that "both" (or all) "sides" have "equal merit" -- only majorities of citizens can decide that -- but that *every* POV needs to be allowed airing (and arguably, some kind of minimal "reach"; e.g. shadow banning is the corresponding problem).
Caitlin: "[We need to] figure out which side is more truthful, which side has more merit" Yes, but these things don't actually exist outside the mind. There is no such thing as unimpeachable truth or moral correctness. The judgment of the former, and the very existence of the latter, are solely in heads of human beings. TPTB (not just "Marxists") have grossly abused this very epistemic principle, harnessing superior understanding of psychology. But the sooner we accept there is no accessible truth, there are only beliefs about truths, the sooner we will regain the humility to properly have and conduct democracy again.
"only majorities of citizens can decide that" - well, in the US, the "majority" opposes this war, and they are being shut down and called anti-semites.
I'm not arguing for or against that. I'm only saying that Caitlin's calculus isn't so simple. I'm just as vigorously supportive of her and your point of view, but it's not the only *legitimate* point of view. It never is. It can't be. That's what a democracy entails. Hard nut to swallow.
Maybe my point is really too subtle, but I believe it's critically important today. That is, that there are plenty of things that sane, intelligent people are *absolutely certain* about, but nevertheless still are in opposition. Gaza war is a good example of what kinds of extremes can occur. You can't get around that simply by appealing just to the like-minded. It is *necessary* to make our case (with whatever level of civil disobedience effort we want to apply, marches, boycotts, disruption, etc.), but ultimately accept the outcome. There are many here who do not accept this, and call for violence. I'm not among them, as (in the US at least) the actual machinery of a democratic republic remains intact.
We must respect the *legitimacy* of *all* points of sincere, sane, and intelligent (sufficiently by some measure?) points of view. Otherwise, we can't recognize democracy as a legitimate form of government, as some opinions end up being "more equal than others".
Maybe this point belongs in a different blog, one that talks about how we retain the legitimacy of democracy.
Who determined that the majority opposes it?
I would hardly call it being "shut down" with huge rallies and multitudes like yourself howling, and clamoring for bloodshed. And it is a very vocal MAJORITY and yes, you are very ANTISEMITIC trying to justify and excuse your hatred: What else would you call it?
"Sticks and Stones".......this anti-semite thing is over. How about being called anti-muslim?....but, that's not a BIG SIN, that's just a MAGA "right" to have an opinion about a population they consider not truly American.
Educate yourself as well as you have the time and the good judgement as to what's worth tuning in to. So far, as those living in democracies, we are entitled to have an opinion and take a side.
I’m a student who has recently come back from a solo trip to front line Ukraine. I’ve written about my, frankly surreal, experiences on my new substack below. Please do see what you think. https://irongoose.substack.com/p/how-i-accidentally-plundered-the
Timothy—there’s plenty we can do. Jewish Voices for Peace—join them, or Not In Our Name. Find a rally and go to it. Send money and love to Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian in the House, recently censured by same who gets hate mail all the time. She needs love mail. Ilhan Omar the same. Reward those Congress critters who have stood up to AIPAC and called for a ceasefire, especially Warren who is in a highly AIPAC-ed state. Call the White House and say you’re deciding to not vote for him. They DO a pay attention to that. If you’re afraid of the WH, call the DNC and tell them the same. These may seem like tiny acts and not effective but they work. Plus, they liberate you from your psychological prison and show you that you can live by your conscience not your fear.
This post transports my mind to two sets of images — the first set are images from my first 28 years in NYC, particularly the upper west side of Manhattan, the second set, recent videos of pro-Palestinian Hasidic Jews protesting in NYC for a ceasefire while being chastised/insulted by well-attired local Jewish-Americans. Back then, in my Twenties, I perceived all these folks as a unitary block “on the side” of Israel. Today, the contrast could not be more stark. Those Hasidim clearly represent the peace, love and mutual assistance ethics of Judaism, those clearly well-off Upper West-Siders are steeped in the disgusting macho bellicose ethos of Zionism, apparently needing that association for some corrupted image of self-justification after their families’ Holocaust history. The two sides couldn’t be more obviously divergent. Wake up and use your finely honed reasoning skills, Jewish-Americans: Zionism’s ethos is actually diametrically opposed to Judaism’s — read Miko Peled, listen to Max Blumenthal, Dan Cohen, and other American Jews who have seen the horrors of Palestinians firsthand. There's almost no symmetry between the sides except the "chosen people" argument, which threatens to put you firmly in the camp of the classical Fascist movements.
Great post, Vin.
May I also add the Jewish voices of Phil Weiss, Allison Weir, and Medea Benjamin ( Mondoweiss, IfAmericansKnew, and CODEPINK, respectively.)
Yes. there's also a class issue there. As some have pointed out, there are a lot of "recreational" Israeli settlers-- people (from NY mostly) who go there as a sort of second home. Taking land from people who've had it for generations. Class privilege definitely plays a role in that outlook. I don't think it's religious at all.
Yes, and in the West Bank, really “taking” land, marching into homes with AK 47’s supplied to them by their government who in turn got them from US, and simply ordering the owners out. After shooting anything they don’t like and for fun. These are American Jews. It twists my mind with hate. It makes me root for Hezbollah and Iran and China. I need a meeting!
Yes your mind is twisted with hate. But it provides diversion and direction to channel that hate against an entire group that you really know little about beyond what you have heard from other minds just as twisted with hate as yours is. But you know what the commonality is here? It is the sense of justification everyone feels when projecting their hateful insanity onto others. For the noblest of reasons, of course!!
Again, it seems to me that this shows not that the present evil comes from a religious, ethnic, or cultural group, but is simply a consequence of capitalism -- the practice and ideology of those who have money and power using it (the two are one) to steal from, oppress, and kill those of have less power, less stuff, few connections. The ethnic business is camouflage.
When you decry capitalism, do you mean to abolish private property?
"Abolishing private property" sounds like the use of force. I think more cooperative or convivial institutions and relations could be established and developed only on a voluntary basis.
It's none of this. It is the deterioration and corruption of the human being that takes place when they turn their backs on God, the Creator and Sustainer
Thank you.
Well, I agree that "by the consent of the governed" which includes the ability to OPT OUT, is the only just form of government. Let people congregate as they may as long as they do not UNJUSTLY hamper others.
Capitalism, to me, is not free enterprise which I support. Of course this is all within the scope of the natural law.
Neither am I well-studied, but I think I make my thinking clear on this.
I surely do not support what is called "cronycapitalism." I consider this, as practiced in the US today to be thievery of the highest order.
I would call the overall form of the Anglo-American imperium "liberal" and "capitalist". The settlers themselves are not, at present rich, but neither were most of the earlier immigrants to the United States when they got off the boat.
Excellent, Vin. Thank you.
I recall decades back, there was always a small group in Union Square, with the black and white checked scarves. I also recall buying into whatever they were selling and wanting to get a black and white checked scarf. I'm pretty sure it was Freedom for Palestine. I never did. Now, I am considering...if I can find the fabric in one of the Mexican stores. or, order on Amazon... .......Thank you more references.
https://phys.org/news/2023-11-capitalism-dead-economics-professor.html
How long have we hear about the evils of capitalism? Well, this professor above mentioned thinks he has the answer, because the system is already in place, but not serving us; this is how we take democracy back and end all wars.
There is no such thing as a little genocide or happy smiley open air concentration camps.
Have you been over there? You have seen modern Gaza city in the Gaza strip? Or are you just repeating the old shopworn meme of "open air concentration camps?"
If you don't like it, and it's not up to your standards, needs updating, I suggest you speak with the Palestinian Authority or Hamas, that have been administering the place since 2005 when Israel gave it over..
Your compassion and mercy seems strictly one sided
They livestream, fascism aficionado, and we have eyes. Now go away, I'm not buying the slaughter you're selling.
You are fine with genociding Israel? That is the slaughter you are selling. You are the Fascism afficionado, hypocrite!
🙂🙃😵💫🫣😛
Yes. Channel 4 recently showed images. Gaza city is now a moonscape, you genocidal apologist.
If Israeli citizen soldiers just sat back and let the Hamasniks continue their slaughter and butchering, you would be totally ok with that, amirite? You would be cheering them on? Being a genocidal apologist would take on new meaning then, wouldn't it..
So well-said as always, dear Caitlin!
I maintain that there there are no legitimate concepts of “good”and “evil” (those are too goddamned biblical for me to accept) ; but there are, rather, right, and wrong. I think Caitlin is perfectly illustrating that.
Oh, and the four hour a day “humanitarian ceasefire”! Isn’t that just so, so generous of the Zionazis? I can picture a couple of Palestinian kids: “Hey, the bombs have stopped for a little while! Let’s go find something to eat, so later we can die with something in our stomachs!”
Dear Caitlin, writing about this atrocity every day must be taking its toll on your psyche. I know it’s hard enough for the rest of us merely to be aware of it. But please know that your heroic efforts are not in vain; to know there are voices of sanity out there is what gives your readers a glimmer of hope.
No concepts of good and evil you say. Right and wrong instead.
OK, so when a child does something wrong it may be because it doesn't know what's right. It's shown, taught, and it does right from then on. Hopefully.
When an adult - or a bunch of them - does wrong and keeps doing it, being fully aware of the intention and consequences, what is that called? Where does it come from? How is he to be righted?
Well, RB, I’d suggest using my revolver on ‘em….but hey, that’s just me 😉
If that's your way to right the wrongs for those types - I'd only suggest not playing a Russian roulette. Make sure the cartridge is fully loaded. And plenty of spares at hand.
That’s the best compliment I could ever receive, Che!
"Lies can be dressed up as the truth, but when things get hot, ya gotta get naked."
Dartwill Aquila
Excellent article. Soren Kierkegaard has went on at lengh about becoming an authentic human being, which begins by engaging what he calls the second stage of life, the ethical. Unfortunatly, most people stay in the first stage, what he called the aesthetic. In this stage, people often find themselves experiencing acedia , which can foment apathy towards things around you. Most people have become so "busy" with life, running the race of late stage capitalism in a global rat utiopia to spare a glance in the way of actual injustice. They acquire "knowledge" of the world in 30 second sound bites crafted by the narrative managers of power. They are captured by apathy.
In this case, as you mentioned, "someone working hard and raising children", might not have time to grapple foreign policy... but isnt that what they have desired? Develop mass society to become immune to its own effects? Occupy the minds of citizens with busyiness and fluff and leave the thinking for the others? Being such a person, who works hard, raises and homeschools my children, I find those who are in similar situations claiming they do not have "time" to look at foreign policy as making excuses and being mentally slothful. When people are being murdered in your name, excuses become more than excuses, more than apathy. Excuses become consent, and in such a horrific event such as what we are all witnesssing in Gaza, excuses make one complicit.
Consequentialism is a cancer, some things are wrong no matter the context. Killing children by the thousands is worth wiping off the apathy from our eyes and our hearts, it is worth taking a stand and drawing a line, coming down off the fence. Our backgrounds many vary to the wildest degree, but on this account we should all find agreement. If not, perhaps as a whole,the human race is indeed not worth saving. Understanding both sides does not have to mean we have to apply excuses for either. Two wrongs do not make a right. Let us set higher ethical standards for our ancestrors, at the least, let them hear our resistance vibrate through the ages after we are gone from this life.
I agree about both-sidesing an issue but neither-sidesing an issue is not ignorance.
I think it's enough to say that murder is bad no matter who's doing it.
If someone is going down in quicksand it doesn't do one teeny-weeny bit of good to jump into the quicksand with them. It's not my fight, and when two dogs are fighting you don't place yourself between them.
You tell them to stop, yank the chain to separate them. But if you think you can right and wrong either of them, you'll be seriously disappointed when they fight next time.
Who's right and who's wrong is a fool's errand when it's not your gig.
We can dislike murder - we can adhere to our own guidelines regarding ourselves.
But we don't and never will make other people's choices.
And they may choose to continue fighting, regardless of our best influence.
NOW, if one's government is supporting either side with our tax dollars, that is another matter altogether. And that is what we need to address to.
I think you should add ‘the financial safety’ to grapple with this issue. The security state has made it risky to speak out, even if it’s just on your personal FB / Twitter accounts - the gig economy has made people utterly reliant on social media accounts to feed their family. Losing your accounts, or being banned on socials can mean the difference between paying or not paying rent. Even in the regular economy, school teachers, nurses, doctors, academics have lost their jobs by posting even the mildest disagreement with the popular narrative, (even as it turned out that they were RIGHT in their objections.) Honestly, I speak with my friends. I block any “I stand with...” flags. I share articles with people I trust. I’ll even go to marches if I can find out about them in time (funny, but notices of marches are spookily absent on my social media feeds) - but speaking out has become dangerous.
I hear you on that “I stand with” nonsense. I mean, WTF does that even mean? The other day, someone posted one on FB. At the time, this person was ON A CRUISE SHIP! I thought, “dude, seriously, get a rifle and get over there if you feel that way!” As for sharing articles, etc., I have tried that too, but mostly they just seem to fall into some black hole.
I agree. It is so easy for the saber rattling computer warriors to posture as being all big and bad haters while safely ensconced behind their computers on the other side of the world.
Issue a challenge for.these big talkers to do what you suggest and put some skin in the game if they are really serious, and your post gets removed......
S. L. And yet we do it, any way we can. Good for you for finding a way. No one has to be a shero/hero—Caitlin is already taking that risk. We can take courage from her and find a way to throw sand in the gears.
The only alternative to not speaking out is cowering in silence and acquiescence
" the gig economy has made people utterly reliant on social media accounts to feed their family" - how so? Are you serious?
Yes. I’m serious. Gig worrkers doing admin, coding, digital work of any sort need social profiles. I suppose if you donuber and door dash, it’s different.
Nonsense. Either you don't know what you're talking about or you're knowingly spreading falsehoods here.
Yes!
"As easy as it was to see black from white, it was all that easy to see wrong from right..."
Bob Dylan in in his song, 'Bob Dylan's Dream'.
Luckily we have ROCK GOD Roger Waters on our side, founding member of the greatest band the world has ever known.
Those you mention can’t hold a candle to him.
Roger wasn't a member of the Beatles, was he? ;-)
Ah ha ha ha! The Beatles weren’t “great”. They were just hyped.
Back in that era, the Stones outperformed the “fab four” at every turn.
Yeah, sometimes the words are truer than the man.
Reassuring lies are always the most comforting.
History is the great whistleblower, few know it and fewer want to know, especially despots who slander it out of existence.
The US has just announced its biggest nastiest nuclear sub carrying 144 cruise missiles has moved into the Red Sea so it looks like a regional war where Israel with Uncle Sam's backing is going to gobble more real estate.
Israel has always felt its allotted land mass was not enough for a viable state so now it is going to gobble up its neighbors and establish the "Greater Israel" planned since the 1980's.
The US never intended there to be a cease fire, Gaza is stage one in a larger annexation.
The empire has voracious appetites, first Ukraine, then Gaza, .... and the band plays on
That submarine carries nuclear missiles. As does the aircraft carriers they have there.
That is “western civilazation” in 2023.
This submarine was specifically refitted to carry cruise missiles, for just such occasions as this.
«Cruise missiles»….can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads.
And the conventional warheads, just those alone have more explosive power than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima:
https://www.theguardian.com/newsroom/story/0,,1865423,00.html
But these cruise missiles can also carry nuclear war heads. And the aircraft carries most certainly are nuclear armen.
Like I said, this is the state of western civilization in 2023. they are willing to wage nuclear war in order to carry on colonizing and oppreising people. It’s just hi-tech savagery.
So you are saying the US is going nuclear sooner than later, very doubtful as this would trigger an instant response from China and Russia and its game over; that said we are about to see how crazy Washington is.
“So you are saying…” as a preface to misparaphrasing and building your own straw man, is a very bad debate tactic.
I said the U.S. is clearly waving nuclear threat.
And the U.S. is waving that nuclear threat at parties who would come to the defence of people being subjected to genocide by a US armed and US funded proxy.
So the state of the art of western “civilisation” is utilising nuclear threats to ENSURE oppression, apartheid and genocide.
Bravo everyone. Bravo.
So you're saying that israel gave the greenlight to the us to nuke gaza? Do you understand how nukes work?
The nihilist assholes are in gaza, not israel or the US (outside of Bay Area or libtard campuses).
Except that now the band will be playing with a qanun and a riqq now that Iran and Saudi Arabia have become quietly engaged.
Both-sidesing is a way of avoiding conflict, and some of us have plenty of it. But as soon as you meet the victims and learn what the cost was for them, you are devastated, and understand that choosing their side is nothing in comparison.
That is true. But 'picking a side' when neither side is an honest moral agent escalates the harm to innocents as the few (hamas/israel leaders and their zealots) sacrifice the many, everyday joes that simply want to live their lives and happen to be stuck in their, now, hellholes.
Too often, both sidesing is a way of copping out, of avoiding having to take a stand.
Well, the Nazi philosopher Carl Schmitt, or my semi-fascist stepmother, would tell you: "Forget all this Kantian lawyering and posturing. Pick a side and fight it out. Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." I know they were just trying to give me good advice, and point to a basic, ground, home truth I find, for instance, in descriptions of American prison life, or the innumerable wars generated by our Anglo-American ruling classes, like the present one(s) in Gaza. Often, you don't even have to pick a side, it's done for you: White-Black-Brown, etc. etc. etc.
My problem is that I'm sort of a Groucho Marxian: I wouldn't want to be in any club that would have me, and on top of that, the feeling is mutual: I am woefully anticharismatic. People tend to mystically dislike and distrust me, regardless of my manifest talents, my virtues and my benevolence. So the option of picking a side is out. I don't mean I'm too good for any side, I mean I'm too bad. I don't understand it either, but there it is.
I do have the social media, where people can't easily punch me in the face, so sometimes I can get away with saying things or jeering from the sidelines of the muck. I'm sure no one cares anyway.
I can tell you this: violence, whether practiced by Hamas or Israel or the Anglo-American imperium, or Capital, or all you Kantian moral lawyers: violence begets more violence. Since most people seem to prefer violence to life, they should be happy, at least until they lose at the end. Violence against violence, but the violent enjoy themselves, and, as the Evangelist Matthew says [11:12] "From the days of John the Baptist until now (that is, forever) , the kingdom of heaven (that is, consciousness) suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away.” Pick a side and fight it out. And if, like me, you are by chance washed ashore on the sideliness, you are there to bear witness to the unbearable.
When choosing sides, take care not to choose genocides.
After chewing on this for a while, what I'd like to add is that equivocating on a fight between others is not always worse than picking a side and entering the fray and expanding a destructive mess into a more destructive mess.
There is no gray area regarding this Gaza massacre, in any case. Satan at play.
I grapple with the argument that many people are too busy with their lives, their children, their work and don't have the time to engage. I'm sorry but I don't agree. Virtually everyone has a few moments, or minutes or an hour per day to step away from the distractions of life, especially our tech devices and make a difference. Not to is, IMHO abdicating your responsibility as a citizen of the world. And....you don't have the right, I believe to enjoy the bounty of your life without reflecting and engaging in how you're privileged to have these things partially because others are suffering.
And your consumer choices are also a way of exercising your power as well. That does not take any extra time or effort.
I have a friend who works 14 hour days as an administrator in a school. She barely hears the distorted news let alone the premium news we here can find. Also, her stress levels are so high, she lost both breasts to cancer. Yet she is a committed humanitarian and devoted to kids. Wanna judge her?
Does she want to be treated any different than anyone else? Is she trying to win the victim Olympics? Does her cancer-survivor status make her more or less ethical? Screw that BS, if she has an opinion, let's debate it on its merits (OMFG, not merit) and not some spectre of victimhood-trumps-all nonsense (of course, that is what hamas supporters want, though).
I agree Neill. We all have burdens in our lives. Some of the most involved folks are the ones who work hard and struggle. Invoking victimhood is INDEED what the terrorists use to justify their actions, or in the case of apathy, inaction. Neither is helpful IMHO.
Wow! That's a lot of projection and anger. You could express your thoughts by JUST sharing your friends experiences. I did say "many people" and "virtually everyone". So I didn't say everyone! I even said that many are suffering, like your friend. And it sounds like she IS doing her part by being, as you said "a committed humanitarian and devoted to kids." So maybe you can reconsider your attack on my words. Wanna judge her you asked. That's sure a judgement on your part, dontcha' think?
Personally I feel Americans for too long have not wanted to get involved in political issues, which is why we are here now. You can look up the voting records of Americans going way back. My guess is that they thought the 'dream' would carry on forever so they didn't care. This IS 'sitting on the fence.'
Education was abysmal but people didn't seem to care. I had my daughter in school there for 23yrs and I was truly shocked what she didn't learn. In Art she was told her drawings were not good so she gave up. Me being an artist who had been watching her drawing carefully was truly interested. She did not have the view of others. She lost out.
There was no Geography/World History/Civics etc. Class sizes we huge. Teachers spent more time controlling the classroom and preparing them for endless exams than teaching.
As for trying to talk politics (away from my own friends) it was impossible. People would get bored or agree when they didn't.
When one sees a mass of people like the Palestinians being massacred there is only one truth. It's called genocide!
As you say rightly Caitlin, when you look at Politicians round the World who support these crimes it shows others they too can be the same. NO. Brutality is not OK. All of us should know better.
Thanks for writing the truth.
Hi Jenny
I should have known by your beautiful soul that you were an artist! I am myself; my mother used to say that I was born with a brush in my hand.
My favorite subjects are my cats, my late mare, and pastorals taken from photos of the Irish countryside. I also love to replicate antique signage; I love painting letters.
Not to brag, but I’m very, very good and cannot recall a time when I wasn’t drawing. But due to certain circumstances in my life, my soul is not near so beautiful as yours.
Good to hear from you Gypsy my fellow artist.
I am sure your 'soul' is just as good if not better. We all make mistakes in life as long as we learn from them it's good.
I have Bi-Polar disorder which has caused much friction in my life but I get by on my medication.
Find it difficult to do any art now because I am so exhausted by all this hate and war.
Big hug
Big hugs righ back to you Jenny!
I medicate for depression and anxiety myself.
I was sexually abused as a very young child by a non-family member. When I was in my 20’s I lived with a horribly abusive man for 2 1/2 years. What he did to me was almost unspeakable; choking me to unconsciousness, breaking my bones. ( He was a junkie that I thought I could “help” and had been in Vietnam.)
These experiences made me develop a terrible mean streak. If one is kind to me, I am kind, loving and generous in return. But if one crosses me, they’d better run for their very life!
Poor you.awful.
Just stay strong.
Trying my best Jenny.
Thank you.
Che your relationship with your wife sounds exactly like mine with my husband!
I garden, decorate and create; he pays the bills on time 😉
Bills? Huh?
What are “bills”?
😉
It would follow that things in - let's take western Europe, or even France in particular since you're there, - are better, or even way better. Let's even assume they are. How does it reflect on the current utterly shameful, toothless and subservient behavior of Europe? Where Naziism is getting reborn just like its parent fascism - and marxism, if we are inclusive - had in their time?
That Caitlin ; all of the above mentioned 100 or so comments, is why I prefer not to bother in reply to the last sentence of your essay. Before this today I was reading about radio galaxies at the edge of the universe, but of course there's no sense in talking about that or even on my own website as it would be just as easily deleted there as here. So, the other day I gave a perfect mathematical description of the impossibility of the existence of a god; the comment on that comment was. "I don't believe in God". Isn't that wonderful? Because that's why I went through all the bother in the first place, was just to get around that type of ignorant reply. For those who have read both the Kabbalah and about radio galaxies, will notice that they are complimentary dialogues. That's my point, if you don't want to do the work then you get what you're served, which as we can see in Gaza, is death, that includes of course Jews as well.
"Too much work" for you indeed to find the right "Reply" button to click.
Yup