I don't think we're a decadent people so much as an incurious, very checked-out people ...reinforcing your point that the opposite of love is indifference. Which frankly serves the current purposes of most institutions (including government and academia), and allows this culture of extremes to thrive.
Antisemitism is unquestionably on the rise, and the roots absolutely go back for millenia. Also on the rise are Islamophobia and all forms of racism, though. Frankly it was tough in a 2 hour conversation to hear zero acknowledgement that Palestinian students are also facing the same hate and fear on their campuses. Verbal swastikas and chalking are awful, but Palestinian American students have been shot/paralyzed (Burlington) and actually sprayed with chemical weapons (Columbia). Along with a basic clamp down on student groups.
It was important to hear the rabbi say he opposes the indiscriminate bombing of Palestinians. But again, to talk at some length about the absolutely unquestioned horror of October 7, without acknowledging once the 75 years of Israeli occupation, nor the ongoing horror of 30,000 civilians dead, thousands of orphaned children, injury, trauma, massive famine & displacement, leaves a big gaping hole in his plea that we should all please dialogue more civilly.
Despite our country's longtime, outsized military support of Israel, Americans are not schooled in the history of the region, so it is easy for us to swallow the "it's complicated" line. Which makes people more susceptible to conspiracies or blindly accepting popular talking points. I found Rashid Khalidi's 2020 book, The Hundred Years' War on Palestine, a good primer for some basic context.
I really hope you will also invite a Palestinian Christian pastor or a local iman with connections to the Palestinian American community to continue this conversation with you on the need for interfaith dialogue and activism to end this genocide. Wish all peace!
Thank you for this very, very respectful but necessary push back. I want to engage more in the responses to these conversations but don’t have time/energy to listen to them thoroughly enough to speak fairly to whatever nuances the conversation takes. What I DO know is that, having listened to one speech of Dana Horn’s, I think she makes some important points while deeply missing the critical threads of what is truly happening in the world beyond her own personal fears and beyond the specificity of a particular group identity that she holds. Speaking of conspiracy theories, if a conspiracy theory is essentially a paranoia that can’t look at facts and realities at their face value and insists that there is always more ill-intent underlying particular events, then this is exactly what I heard from her in her speech.
In reality, truth is found somewhere in a balance between the extremes of naïveté that wishes people, institutions and social energies were more “good” than they are, and the opposite extreme that takes on hyper-vigilance as a perpetual cloak that can never be shed and can never trust that things which appear benign or at least not a real threat are, indeed, not a real threat.
I’m not even sure what conspiracy theories are being referenced here - I trust it’s an accurate characterization of some particular destructive/harmful narratives, but I also think the term “conspiracy theories” has become truly weaponized such that it is one of those terms that completely shuts down dialogue because of the imagery of foolishness that it conjures.
For my taste, it’s better to avoid the label “conspiracy theory” as much as possible because I could absolutely use the term to describe her views while making no real progress or connection. What we should do is recognize the potential for the two extremes of naïveté versus paranoia and dialogue about where the truth lies on any given point. The balance between those two extremes is complex.
I’ve always felt that a major cause of modern antisemitism is that Jews are overrepresented and positions of power responsibility, but the Jewish community doesn’t allow any discussion on the topic. This leads people down the path to conspiracy theories. An honest dialogue on the topic, such as what Nathan Cofnas does, would probably get rid of most anti-Semitism.
I don't think we're a decadent people so much as an incurious, very checked-out people ...reinforcing your point that the opposite of love is indifference. Which frankly serves the current purposes of most institutions (including government and academia), and allows this culture of extremes to thrive.
Antisemitism is unquestionably on the rise, and the roots absolutely go back for millenia. Also on the rise are Islamophobia and all forms of racism, though. Frankly it was tough in a 2 hour conversation to hear zero acknowledgement that Palestinian students are also facing the same hate and fear on their campuses. Verbal swastikas and chalking are awful, but Palestinian American students have been shot/paralyzed (Burlington) and actually sprayed with chemical weapons (Columbia). Along with a basic clamp down on student groups.
It was important to hear the rabbi say he opposes the indiscriminate bombing of Palestinians. But again, to talk at some length about the absolutely unquestioned horror of October 7, without acknowledging once the 75 years of Israeli occupation, nor the ongoing horror of 30,000 civilians dead, thousands of orphaned children, injury, trauma, massive famine & displacement, leaves a big gaping hole in his plea that we should all please dialogue more civilly.
Despite our country's longtime, outsized military support of Israel, Americans are not schooled in the history of the region, so it is easy for us to swallow the "it's complicated" line. Which makes people more susceptible to conspiracies or blindly accepting popular talking points. I found Rashid Khalidi's 2020 book, The Hundred Years' War on Palestine, a good primer for some basic context.
I really hope you will also invite a Palestinian Christian pastor or a local iman with connections to the Palestinian American community to continue this conversation with you on the need for interfaith dialogue and activism to end this genocide. Wish all peace!
I
Thank you for this very, very respectful but necessary push back. I want to engage more in the responses to these conversations but don’t have time/energy to listen to them thoroughly enough to speak fairly to whatever nuances the conversation takes. What I DO know is that, having listened to one speech of Dana Horn’s, I think she makes some important points while deeply missing the critical threads of what is truly happening in the world beyond her own personal fears and beyond the specificity of a particular group identity that she holds. Speaking of conspiracy theories, if a conspiracy theory is essentially a paranoia that can’t look at facts and realities at their face value and insists that there is always more ill-intent underlying particular events, then this is exactly what I heard from her in her speech.
In reality, truth is found somewhere in a balance between the extremes of naïveté that wishes people, institutions and social energies were more “good” than they are, and the opposite extreme that takes on hyper-vigilance as a perpetual cloak that can never be shed and can never trust that things which appear benign or at least not a real threat are, indeed, not a real threat.
I’m not even sure what conspiracy theories are being referenced here - I trust it’s an accurate characterization of some particular destructive/harmful narratives, but I also think the term “conspiracy theories” has become truly weaponized such that it is one of those terms that completely shuts down dialogue because of the imagery of foolishness that it conjures.
For my taste, it’s better to avoid the label “conspiracy theory” as much as possible because I could absolutely use the term to describe her views while making no real progress or connection. What we should do is recognize the potential for the two extremes of naïveté versus paranoia and dialogue about where the truth lies on any given point. The balance between those two extremes is complex.
I’ve always felt that a major cause of modern antisemitism is that Jews are overrepresented and positions of power responsibility, but the Jewish community doesn’t allow any discussion on the topic. This leads people down the path to conspiracy theories. An honest dialogue on the topic, such as what Nathan Cofnas does, would probably get rid of most anti-Semitism.
Thank you, Rabbi Joseph and Jason, for another rich and important conversation.