I Oppose Israel's Atrocities In Gaza Because I'm Not A Psychopath
Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix
Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):
I don’t oppose the butchery in Gaza because I love Hamas or hate Jews or love Islam or hate America.
I don’t oppose the butchery in Gaza because I’m a lefty or a commie or an anarchist or an anti-imperialist.
I oppose the butchery in Gaza because I’m not a fucking psychopath.
Opposing Israel’s butchery in Gaza is so obvious, so common sense, such a bare-minimum, fundamental-level, Being Human 101 position that if it isn’t immediately self-evident to you after learning the basic facts, your problem is much, much deeper than whatever ideology or bias or prejudice you might happen to have. There’s something wrong with you as a person.
If you support Israel’s butchery in Gaza, you’ve got much bigger problems than merely not having the correct ist or ism belief system. You’re just all fucked up inside. Your conditioning has made you into a generally shitty human being. You have deep and immensely consequential flaws in your character, and you won’t mature as a person until you heal and transcend them.
Opposing Israel’s atrocities in Gaza doesn’t make you a good person, it just makes you a normal person — and supporting Israel’s atrocities in Gaza makes you a bad person. Nobody gets any points for opposing an active genocide; that’s just the basic, bare-minimum requirement for a normal human being with a functioning empathy center in their brain. If you can’t meet that basic, bare-minimum standard, you deserve to be viewed with suspicion and disdain, and anyone in your personal life who cares about truth, morality and humanity should seriously reassess their relationship with you.
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One reason the empire is losing young people is because the imperial status quo has given them no investment in it. They’ll never own property. They can’t support a family or retire. They’ve been given no reason not to want to rock the political boat. So they’re rocking it.
The only vested interest young people have left is an interest in breathable air and a livable planet, and the possibility of a future that isn’t intolerably dystopian. All of which are diametrically opposed to the interests and trajectory of the status quo politics of the western empire.
So they’re going for it. They’re beginning to see that there’s no reason for them not to plunge headlong into a push for real change, in direct opposition to the mainstream politics of our time. Like Bob Dylan said, when you got nothing you got nothing to lose.
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One of the many things that’s beautiful about this particular protest movement is that these young people aren’t protesting a war that they could get drafted in or could harm their personal interests in any way. They’re opposing something cruel and evil solely out of compassion.
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One Palestinian life is worth more than every college campus window in the world.
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If you’re wondering why you’re suddenly seeing the word “radicalizing” a lot in mainstream politics and media, it’s because that’s the big scary boogieman the empire plans on using to justify stomping out the burgeoning antiwar movement it created with its atrocities in Gaza.
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Israeli police raided Al Jazeera’s office after the Israeli cabinet voted to shut down the broadcasts of the Qatari media outlet on Sunday. The west is protecting freedom and democracy by stomping out its own freedom and democracy to assist the genocidal atrocities of a nation that is also stomping out freedom and democracy.
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Trump supporters are such foam-brained bootlickers that they’re now united in shitting on protests against a genocidal mass atrocity that’s being pushed by neocons, the Biden administration, and every other warmongering establishment swamp monster they claim to oppose.
Trump supporters: fighting the Deep State by siding with every intelligence agency, weapons contractor, mainstream media outlet and professional war whore in America.
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Republicans pretend to fiercely oppose Biden, but when it comes to issues that really matter like the president encouraging violent police crackdowns against people protesting his actions they’re in furious agreement, even saying he didn’t go far enough. They’re on the same side.
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Young people are being incredibly brave and honest by organizing all these encampments. I oppose the butchery in Gaza because it makes me feel sick and heartbroken to see people losing their children. It makes me feel furious when I hear that Netanyahu does not want to declare a ceasefire because then Hamas will "continue" their attacks. I feel like throwing things at my computer when I hear that humanitarian aid is stopping again. I feel flummoxed that more people do not see that this is even worse in many respects than what the Nazis did to Jews and other people in those 1940's concentration camps. I am glad whenever I see people with gray hair like me supporting the people in the encampments and in the protest marches. I feel that the governments of our world are not making any sense at all. Neither is mainstream media most of the time. I have been listening to Farenheit 451. It has that same sense of insanity and nothing making sense as our world does right now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG5QixsoPok
Thank you Caitlin for expressing so eloquently everything that is on our minds right now (and stating observations that should be clear to see for any moral, thinking person but unfortunately aren't).
The two-party system in the US (Democrats and Republicans) are 2 sides of the same neo-liberal, capitalistic, and imperialistic coin with superficial differences (IMHO). They (the power elite) make us fight amongst ourselves (instead of fighting power) and distract us with their smoke-and-mirror tricks while they erode rights, freedoms, & true democracy (while simultaneously enabling a genocide). They do this one small piece at a time so that it goes unnoticed (for the most part).
And that is one reason (of many) why I appreciate your articles so much, as you shine light on the shadows and expose (in your own way) and call attention to the important things we should be focusing on in order to challenge power.