If someone breaks into your house, are you churlish for refusing to share? That’s the accusation lodged against Palestinians who never accepted the establishment of the State of Israel on their land in 1947.
Let’s Bond Over Dehumanization
Israel and its supporters blithely state, as if it were plainly obvious, that the only side Hamas in particular and Palestinians writ large will respond to is naked force, i.e., violence. The irony they miss is that their war against Gaza is a response to Hamas’ terrorist attack of October 7th. You can be sure that, when Hamas’ leadership hatched their plans for that attack, they also believed that Israel would never respond to anything other than brute force. Dehumanization is not the kind of common ground needed in the Middle East or anywhere else.
Whoever Said Life Was Cheap?
A 23-year-old man was the latest mass shooter to make the headlines, this time at a bank in Louisville, Kentucky, where he was an employee. As usual, Democrats called for increased gun control. Republicans blamed the mental health crisis. Both parties have a point. But we also shouldn’t ignore something unique to America, a brutal culture of violence that permeates our politics, pop culture and our everyday lives.
So Many Exceptions There Are No Community Standards
The parent company of Facebook and Instagram constantly brags that it does everything that it can in order to reduce violent speech on its platforms. However, it makes exceptions for political hate speech that they happen to agree with. Can you really call them standards if you have exceptions to them?