Politics of Our Time

I considered not writing this blog post out of fear of political repercussion. That's a crazy thing to say right? But still, it's something I felt like I needed to address before writing anything else. The modern political climate right now is extremely tense, accusatory, and volatile, and that goes for both sides of the political spectrum.

Usually I'd stay out of these sorts of political debates and situations because I really loathe attaching my name to movements or groups that I don't have control over, I don't want to associate my name and reputation with any group of people that may eventually betray my trust/interests. I had thought about writing a blog post on my thoughts about performative politics/activism, but didn't really want to insert myself in the current Palestine/Israel conversation. But just for the books, I consider myself pro-Palestine.

So what did compel me to make a post? Well, this morning I was scrolling through my Twitter timeline, as I usually do on lazy mornings (or every morning). The news had been recently covering some college protests that were going on at Columbia University and other universities. But as I scrolled through the tweets about arrested student protesters, one face and name caught my eye. I don't want to use the actual name, but I had recognized an old friend of mine from way back in my stage tech days.

I was not in any way expecting to recognize a face amid these arrest reports. Even less so was I ready to see the mugshot of a girl I used to be friends with years ago. But my emotional reaction to those paled in comparison to the drop I felt in my chest when I saw the comments of these tweets. The entire comment section was filled with Israel flags and stars in usernames, and these people were commenting insults, death threats, and doxing this one girl I knew.

For almost half an hour I scrolled through every single comment, in sheer shock that so much vitriol and toxicity was being targeted towards a person I know. Whenever Twitter goes nuts on someone online, I feel a little bad but don't give it much thought. Seeing these threats hit so close to home really startled me, it awoke within me a really powerful empathetic feeling.

The conflict really frustrates me. Obviously because of the genocide and the US government's funding of Israel's crimes against the Palestinian people, but just at how people on both "sides" took it. I don't think I have seen a single Pro-Palestine protest go without its accusations of "antisemitism", which is frankly a weak attempt at silencing the protests. 

I guess it just really annoys me how so many Jewish Americans have been acting victimized by this sudden wave of "antisemitism". I think it's just abhorrent how so many (but not all, very important distinction) of them have blindly sided with the state of Israel simply because it "represents" their religion. As an outsider, I feel as if the Israeli government has simply co-opted the Jewish faith as a sort of criticism shield, which have led many to conflate criticism towards the Israeli government as criticism towards all Jewish people, which is simply not true.

However, because of this mix-up, along with many bad actors on both sides that simply wish to hate on either group of people, the political debate surrounding this issue is poisoned with accusations of anti-Semitism or fascism for people that are simply exercising their right to protest, as well as people who are simply Jewish. I suppose it was inevitable that this would happen, given that it seems that this social issue is tainted by American partisanship, making being Pro-Palestine a Democrat thing, and being pro-Israel a Republican thing. I wouldn't have thought that the party with so many neo-Nazis would be the defense of Israel, but I guess life is full of surprises.

I recognize that I really have no dog in this fight. I simply empathize more with the struggle of the Palestinian people (Not HAMAS, which is another important distinction) than that of the Israeli government, which benefits from being US-funded. I can't understand how most people simply can't recognize that the Palestinians are victims, and that the Israeli government is clearly carrying out acts against humanity, while ALSO condemning the acts of the terrorist group HAMAS, and recognizing that the Jewish people aren't the ones personally carrying out the genocide.

It's just sad that modern politics involves such a black and white lens on these issues- not all Palestinians are HAMAS terrorists, just as not all Jewish people are supporting the acts of the Israeli government. This should be much simpler than it is, but due to both sides "othering" each other into Palestine vs. Jews, the entire political debate around this is fraught with tension, hostility, and an absence of reason.