naraburns nihil supernum
1yr ago
(text post)
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Israel-Gaza Megathread #3
This is a refreshed megathread for any posts on the conflict between (so far, and so far as I know) Hamas and the Israeli government, as well as related geopolitics. Culture War thread rules apply.
It's not about giving credit, it's about understanding and engaging with what people actually believe.
If they believe in the "one non-Jewish state where Jews will not be persecuted" thing, they are incorrigibly naive and not worth engaging with. If, as is more likely, they realize their desired policies will lead to expulsion or killing of the Israeli Jews and they use the impossible position as a way of avoiding responsibility for advocating that, then they don't believe what they say.
Take Thomas Jefferson's reasons for calling for slaves to emancipated but also deported:
I believe the past few years have demonstrated he was more than half right. The whites may have (mostly) dropped their prejudices, but blacks have retained the recollections of the injuries and there indeed have been "new provocations". Certainly the convulsions have not ended, though extermination seems at least far away.
I believe the past few years have demonstrated he was more than half right.
Yes, I remembered that passage because it seemed prophetic. But of course both denying citizenship based on race and his later discussion of the black-white intelligence gap are now outside the mainstream overton window, something to be cited as proof of generic racism and justification for tearing down statues but not actually engaged with. Including by those who simultaneously find it obvious that Israel can't give palestinians citizenship. The point is that resorting to the "obvious" lets incongruous views pass by completely unexamined. The intent of anti-zionists in comparing Israel to other ethno-nationalist projects is that Israel should be opposed, but other outcomes of taking that idea seriously would include becoming more sympathetic to ethno-nationalism in general or thinking more rigorously about what you think separates Israel from the others. It's not that those views can't be reconciled, it's that people should have to at least realize they're doing so. And perhaps become more understanding of the views that they currently view as cartoon villainy, whether those views are "racism" or the people who think there is a moral mandate for Israel to give up on being a jewish state and give citizenship to the palestinians in the hope that this will result in living together in peace.
It was funny citing TJ as if he was wrong. I would think both the whites and blacks would’ve been better off with a clean divorce (with blacks provided sufficient supplies etc to survive for a number of years until they could be fully established).
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Notes -
If they believe in the "one non-Jewish state where Jews will not be persecuted" thing, they are incorrigibly naive and not worth engaging with. If, as is more likely, they realize their desired policies will lead to expulsion or killing of the Israeli Jews and they use the impossible position as a way of avoiding responsibility for advocating that, then they don't believe what they say.
I believe the past few years have demonstrated he was more than half right. The whites may have (mostly) dropped their prejudices, but blacks have retained the recollections of the injuries and there indeed have been "new provocations". Certainly the convulsions have not ended, though extermination seems at least far away.
Yes, I remembered that passage because it seemed prophetic. But of course both denying citizenship based on race and his later discussion of the black-white intelligence gap are now outside the mainstream overton window, something to be cited as proof of generic racism and justification for tearing down statues but not actually engaged with. Including by those who simultaneously find it obvious that Israel can't give palestinians citizenship. The point is that resorting to the "obvious" lets incongruous views pass by completely unexamined. The intent of anti-zionists in comparing Israel to other ethno-nationalist projects is that Israel should be opposed, but other outcomes of taking that idea seriously would include becoming more sympathetic to ethno-nationalism in general or thinking more rigorously about what you think separates Israel from the others. It's not that those views can't be reconciled, it's that people should have to at least realize they're doing so. And perhaps become more understanding of the views that they currently view as cartoon villainy, whether those views are "racism" or the people who think there is a moral mandate for Israel to give up on being a jewish state and give citizenship to the palestinians in the hope that this will result in living together in peace.
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It was funny citing TJ as if he was wrong. I would think both the whites and blacks would’ve been better off with a clean divorce (with blacks provided sufficient supplies etc to survive for a number of years until they could be fully established).
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More options
Context Copy link