This twisted thinking is not only happening with voters in the US. I used to have a friend who lives in British Columbia, Canada. First he told me he didn't want to take sides. He didn't respond when I said there are no "sides". There is a genocide happening. Later, he told me he "stands with Israel". I told him he was being a horrible human being. Inhumane. His response: "Oh, nasty. not surprising actually. You're so misguided and single minded in your thinking. Hamas is the enemy and their intent is genocide as is the intent of Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iran, to irradicate Jews from the face of the earth. Zionist indoctrination is nothing compared to the brainwashing of Palestinian kids to hate Jews. You are a raging antisemite. The pro Palestinian protests and encampments are only doing harm. Most of the protestors, including you, have very little knowledge of this conflict. Get a life. Goodbye."
I have known this person for over 40 years. I knew he had some weak political perspectives, but I thought he was a friend. I am wondering how I could have been so blind as to not see this aspect of him. As far as I know, he is not Jewish and he has refused to watch Israelism. I think there are many people like him everywhere. It scares me.
Thanks for sharing this, Susan! It is terrifying how willfully, blindly and stubbornly ignorant a lot of people are about Israel and Hamas (and Ukraine). And what is more dangerous than their ignorance is their absolute refusal to listen to anything other than what they believe to be true, and to consider for a second that someone else might know more than they do and that they might have something to learn. There is nothing wrong with being wrong, or mistaken, or misinformed or confused; one just has to be mature enough to admit it, rethink and re-evaluate. But that appears to be a big problem for a lot of people, and it seems to be getting worse. In "The Trial of Julian Assange", Nils Melzer wrote something I often quote: "The problem is not that we do not know the truth, but that we do not want to know it."
I agree with you to a large extent. But I find it very difficult to understand how, when thousands of people have been killed, including many thousands of children, that anyone could not see how wrong this is. When the holocaust happened, many countries would not allow Jews across their borders. Millions were murdered. Now the same thing is happening again and people are looking the other way again.
I'd like to know how a reputable psychiatrist would diagnose the origins of this current psychosis. What I see is how unevolved and savage humankind really is beneath the thin veneer of its technological prowess.
I think it starts when people are traumatized and, for whatever reason, are unable to deal properly with that trauma so they express their fear and rage on someone else and start the cycle anew.
I kept an interesting article in Der Spiegel, (2016) about the legacy of emotional trauma, in which one psychologist explained how successive generations are born into an already established world that exerts an influence on children even before they are aware of or able to accept their emotional legacy. She compared this phenomenon to a plugged toilet. You can flush and flush and flush, but the shit still backs up. And as Dr. Gabor Maté points out in "The 7 Impacts of Trauma", untreated trauma leads not only to "a constriction, a narrowing, a diminishment of emotional and psychological functioning" but also addiction and physical illness, including chronic disease. Victims of unresolved trauma remain stuck in the past. I can't imagine, however, that every Israeli who supports genocide is a direct or indirect victim of the Holocaust or antisemitic persecution. What the most influential Zionists have learned all too well from the past is not to heal and forgive and grow, but to capitalize on and weaponize both real and imagined trauma. They have also learned that most of the world lets them get away with murder, so why stop now?
As for those people, like your "friend" who flatly refuse to consider any opposing facts or arguments, the problem probably isn't unresolved trauma, but more likely the shame that we learn at an early age to feel if we make a mistake, do something wrong, fail or think differently. Part of this comes from our guilt-ridden Christian religion, but mostly from education and socialization which, I suppose, are linked. To be strong and worthy and successful, you must be right all the time, and if worse comes to worse, you lie to cover up your mistakes, or you vilify and censor those who contradict you. This troublesome reality shows to me, as I said above, how primitive, savage and unevolved humankind is.
I've just finished reading C.G. Jung's "The Undiscovered Self", and he writes: ... the spiritual transformation of mankind follows the slow tread of the centuries and cannot be hurried or held up by any rational process of reflection, let alone brought to fruition in one generation. What does lie within our reach, however, is the change in individuals who have, or create for themselves, an opportunity to influence others of like mind."
Unfortunately, there are people, we just can't talk to about issues like genocide. I know this from experience! Though there's comfort and confirmation in talking to those of like mind, we must be careful not to become close-minded, self-righteous, tribalistic, hard-hearted ourselves. It's not easy, but we have to keep our doors open.
My mother grew up traumatized all her life. She grew up poor and "illegitmate" in London England. At 14 she joined the military in England because she lied about her age and they didn't check. So she was further traumatized by all the bombs dropping around her. She got pregnant with me just after the bombing stopped and everything was rationed, destroyed and people were trying to get back to "normal". I was, no doubt, subjected to some of that stress too. Throughout her entire life my mother never realized that her behaviour was problematic. She also didn't realize that her experiences were problematic or wrong or traumatic or anything like that. I think that all the people who talk about trauma have something to add to the whole narrative, but I think it is a big narrative that is difficult to take in in its entirety.
I'm afraid to even broach the subject with my lifelong, probably best friend, more than 60 years that's survived bi-coastal physical separation, totally different lifestyles and life choices, etc. I KNOW the friendship would not survive this.
I believe, based on extensive reading, that the Israel Zionists have intentionally committed genocide on Palestinians in Gaza because their South Africa Apartheid strategy was failing. So they moved from Apartheid strategy to Genocide strategy. In essence they have and will continue to kill every Palestinian in Gaza or make the few survivors emigrate. Forced emigration is not all that different than what the Brits did to the Irish 200 years ago.
Speaking of Irish, I am Irish-American Catholic and a US military veteran; I am increasingly ashamed of my Catholic community, our relatively quiet Pope, my membership in Irish American clans (eg AOH) and veteran groups (eg American Legion) for their silence in the face of genocide that America directly sponsored this year.
How people can see many tens of thousands of children being killed and having pathetic retorts like “those numbers aren’t accurate” or “but they started it” is beyond me. Everyone of those retorts reminds me of the examples used when blaming the Germans for not doing enough to stop the Holocaust. Israel has already committed a Holocaust on Palestinians this year and with US money, weapons and some kind of blessing that is wholly not Christian in nature.
Gaza has destroyed whatever moral superiority the collective West might thought it have enjoyed. Was reading this morning the speech given by Khameni at the Friday prayers in Tehran and he talked about the importance of solidarity, why they must stand with the Lebanese and the Palestinians in their hour of need. One does not need to be a Muslim or the adherent of any particular faith to appreciate that Iran is a society guided by a moral compass and an ethical worldview. Perhaps we in the West did once as well, but our collective indifference to the ongoing genocide in occupied Palestine puts paid to that notion, definitively.
The true terrorists are the USA and its lackies. In the forefront, the British and the Zionist butchers of Israel. As long as they keep on playing their dirty tricks, we are in for ever danger which will lead us down a path of destruction, which none of us should want!
This twisted thinking is not only happening with voters in the US. I used to have a friend who lives in British Columbia, Canada. First he told me he didn't want to take sides. He didn't respond when I said there are no "sides". There is a genocide happening. Later, he told me he "stands with Israel". I told him he was being a horrible human being. Inhumane. His response: "Oh, nasty. not surprising actually. You're so misguided and single minded in your thinking. Hamas is the enemy and their intent is genocide as is the intent of Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iran, to irradicate Jews from the face of the earth. Zionist indoctrination is nothing compared to the brainwashing of Palestinian kids to hate Jews. You are a raging antisemite. The pro Palestinian protests and encampments are only doing harm. Most of the protestors, including you, have very little knowledge of this conflict. Get a life. Goodbye."
I have known this person for over 40 years. I knew he had some weak political perspectives, but I thought he was a friend. I am wondering how I could have been so blind as to not see this aspect of him. As far as I know, he is not Jewish and he has refused to watch Israelism. I think there are many people like him everywhere. It scares me.
Thanks for sharing this, Susan! It is terrifying how willfully, blindly and stubbornly ignorant a lot of people are about Israel and Hamas (and Ukraine). And what is more dangerous than their ignorance is their absolute refusal to listen to anything other than what they believe to be true, and to consider for a second that someone else might know more than they do and that they might have something to learn. There is nothing wrong with being wrong, or mistaken, or misinformed or confused; one just has to be mature enough to admit it, rethink and re-evaluate. But that appears to be a big problem for a lot of people, and it seems to be getting worse. In "The Trial of Julian Assange", Nils Melzer wrote something I often quote: "The problem is not that we do not know the truth, but that we do not want to know it."
I agree with you to a large extent. But I find it very difficult to understand how, when thousands of people have been killed, including many thousands of children, that anyone could not see how wrong this is. When the holocaust happened, many countries would not allow Jews across their borders. Millions were murdered. Now the same thing is happening again and people are looking the other way again.
I'd like to know how a reputable psychiatrist would diagnose the origins of this current psychosis. What I see is how unevolved and savage humankind really is beneath the thin veneer of its technological prowess.
I think it starts when people are traumatized and, for whatever reason, are unable to deal properly with that trauma so they express their fear and rage on someone else and start the cycle anew.
I kept an interesting article in Der Spiegel, (2016) about the legacy of emotional trauma, in which one psychologist explained how successive generations are born into an already established world that exerts an influence on children even before they are aware of or able to accept their emotional legacy. She compared this phenomenon to a plugged toilet. You can flush and flush and flush, but the shit still backs up. And as Dr. Gabor Maté points out in "The 7 Impacts of Trauma", untreated trauma leads not only to "a constriction, a narrowing, a diminishment of emotional and psychological functioning" but also addiction and physical illness, including chronic disease. Victims of unresolved trauma remain stuck in the past. I can't imagine, however, that every Israeli who supports genocide is a direct or indirect victim of the Holocaust or antisemitic persecution. What the most influential Zionists have learned all too well from the past is not to heal and forgive and grow, but to capitalize on and weaponize both real and imagined trauma. They have also learned that most of the world lets them get away with murder, so why stop now?
As for those people, like your "friend" who flatly refuse to consider any opposing facts or arguments, the problem probably isn't unresolved trauma, but more likely the shame that we learn at an early age to feel if we make a mistake, do something wrong, fail or think differently. Part of this comes from our guilt-ridden Christian religion, but mostly from education and socialization which, I suppose, are linked. To be strong and worthy and successful, you must be right all the time, and if worse comes to worse, you lie to cover up your mistakes, or you vilify and censor those who contradict you. This troublesome reality shows to me, as I said above, how primitive, savage and unevolved humankind is.
I've just finished reading C.G. Jung's "The Undiscovered Self", and he writes: ... the spiritual transformation of mankind follows the slow tread of the centuries and cannot be hurried or held up by any rational process of reflection, let alone brought to fruition in one generation. What does lie within our reach, however, is the change in individuals who have, or create for themselves, an opportunity to influence others of like mind."
Unfortunately, there are people, we just can't talk to about issues like genocide. I know this from experience! Though there's comfort and confirmation in talking to those of like mind, we must be careful not to become close-minded, self-righteous, tribalistic, hard-hearted ourselves. It's not easy, but we have to keep our doors open.
My mother grew up traumatized all her life. She grew up poor and "illegitmate" in London England. At 14 she joined the military in England because she lied about her age and they didn't check. So she was further traumatized by all the bombs dropping around her. She got pregnant with me just after the bombing stopped and everything was rationed, destroyed and people were trying to get back to "normal". I was, no doubt, subjected to some of that stress too. Throughout her entire life my mother never realized that her behaviour was problematic. She also didn't realize that her experiences were problematic or wrong or traumatic or anything like that. I think that all the people who talk about trauma have something to add to the whole narrative, but I think it is a big narrative that is difficult to take in in its entirety.
Unfortunately there are😞 They scare me too. Now we all know exactly how Hitler did.
I'm afraid to even broach the subject with my lifelong, probably best friend, more than 60 years that's survived bi-coastal physical separation, totally different lifestyles and life choices, etc. I KNOW the friendship would not survive this.
Unfortunately, your situation is not uncommon.
I believe, based on extensive reading, that the Israel Zionists have intentionally committed genocide on Palestinians in Gaza because their South Africa Apartheid strategy was failing. So they moved from Apartheid strategy to Genocide strategy. In essence they have and will continue to kill every Palestinian in Gaza or make the few survivors emigrate. Forced emigration is not all that different than what the Brits did to the Irish 200 years ago.
Speaking of Irish, I am Irish-American Catholic and a US military veteran; I am increasingly ashamed of my Catholic community, our relatively quiet Pope, my membership in Irish American clans (eg AOH) and veteran groups (eg American Legion) for their silence in the face of genocide that America directly sponsored this year.
How people can see many tens of thousands of children being killed and having pathetic retorts like “those numbers aren’t accurate” or “but they started it” is beyond me. Everyone of those retorts reminds me of the examples used when blaming the Germans for not doing enough to stop the Holocaust. Israel has already committed a Holocaust on Palestinians this year and with US money, weapons and some kind of blessing that is wholly not Christian in nature.
I’ve opened my mouth about the Israeli genocide against the Palestinians.
Nobody much wants to listen.
I think that it would go much better if I had someone like you there with me.
I might not get so angry when I notice no one’s listening, and it might not seem so lonely.
Good piece, Diane.
I'm not sure I'd be much help in person. It's easier to be calm and rational when I'm sitting at a laptop.
Strength, stamina, support in numbers.
Keep on keepin’ on with the keyboard.
Thanks, Mike! And keep on opening your mouth!
Very well said !
Not voting for U.S. president will be one little act of affirmation for me.
Gaza has destroyed whatever moral superiority the collective West might thought it have enjoyed. Was reading this morning the speech given by Khameni at the Friday prayers in Tehran and he talked about the importance of solidarity, why they must stand with the Lebanese and the Palestinians in their hour of need. One does not need to be a Muslim or the adherent of any particular faith to appreciate that Iran is a society guided by a moral compass and an ethical worldview. Perhaps we in the West did once as well, but our collective indifference to the ongoing genocide in occupied Palestine puts paid to that notion, definitively.
Morality in the West isn't even on life support! It's in its final death throes!
If anyone here is interested in reading Khameni's speech in full in English, here ya go: https://karlof1.substack.com/p/sunday-sermon-khameneis-friday-speech
Intelligent, thoughtful speech. Meaning polar opposite from anything from the mouths of "presidential" candidates here.
The true terrorists are the USA and its lackies. In the forefront, the British and the Zionist butchers of Israel. As long as they keep on playing their dirty tricks, we are in for ever danger which will lead us down a path of destruction, which none of us should want!