Summary

The article discusses the polarized and often hateful discourse surrounding Jewish identity, Israeli-Palestinian relations, and the role of Western education in shaping these views.

Abstract

The author of the article expresses deep concern over the current state of civil discourse, particularly in relation to Jewish identity and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They argue that society has become increasingly divisive, with individuals often only caring about issues that directly affect them. The article highlights the manipulation of media, misinformation, and the influence of extremist ideologies on university campuses, which contribute to the spread of antisemitism and a lack of historical understanding. The author calls for a return to critical thinking, compassion, and a balanced approach to complex issues, emphasizing the shared humanity and indigenous rights of both Israelis and Palestinians.

Opinions

The author feels that society has largely abandoned civil discourse, mutual respect, and active listening, with adults and moderates seemingly absent from the conversation.
There is a perception that people only care about contentious issues, such as gun laws or immigration, when they are personally impacted.
The media and social justice movements are seen as driving public opinion rather than allowing individuals to form their own views based on critical thinking.
The author believes that both the political right and left have failed to address the nuanced complexities of Jewish identity and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, often falling into extremist positions.
The article suggests that university students are particularly susceptible to misinformation and biased narratives, which can lead to public displays of antisemitism and a lack of empathy for Jewish and Israeli perspectives.
There is a critique of the education system for failing to support critical thinking, instead allowing students to be indoctrinated by ideologies that are anti-Western and anti-Israel.
The author points out that the historical facts about Jewish indigeneity in the land are often ignored or denied, contributing to the dehumanization of Jews.
The author expresses a sense of betrayal by both the conservative pro-Israel stance and the far-left anti-Israel stance, leaving liberals like the author feeling politically homeless.
The article calls attention to the global protests for Palestinian freedom while questioning why these movements often coincide with the dehumanization of Jews and a lack of concern for Jewish safety.
The author is critical of the influence of Middle Eastern regimes on university campuses, suggesting that these sponsorships propagate anti-Israel sentiments and undermine Western democracy.
Despite the prevailing atmosphere of hate and division, the author maintains that it is possible to stand with one's ancestral people while also caring for others, advocating for compassion, self-care, and mindfulness as antidotes to anger and fear.

Living in the Era of the Unthinkable

The Adults Have Left the Building

What happened to civil discourse? What happened to mutual respect? Where is the active listening?

The adults have left the building.

I can’t believe I’m about to admit this: I’ve been dozing at the wheel.

I have been aware of the manipulation of the media and the misinformation. My critical thinking time has been spent on issues that affect me directly, relationships, mental health, personal growth, wellness, and spirituality.

The truth is, no one cares unless it impacts them directly.

The media and “social justice warriors” tell us when to be offended, who to stand up for, and who the “underdog” is, believing that all people are inherently bad.

No one cares about gun laws unless they know someone who was murdered.
No one cares about the mentally ill living on the street unless they know someone or are confronted on the way to their car.
No one cares about people living in poverty who are working 2–3 jobs and living in their car unless it’s you.
No one cares if immigration laws are weak unless illegal immigrants are taking your jobs by charging a lower fee bidding you out of work.
No one cares about the GOP, so they are now a party of fundamentalist Christians working hard, chipping away at Democracy. (church-and-state government)
No one cares about the Dems so they are now a party of far-left liberals who think they are for the “underdog” when they are just as bad as their far-right counterparts.

And you know what? No one cares about Jews unless they are a Jew.

Or maybe if they grew up with Jews or know some that are close friends. And there are some outliers of Jews who hate Jews too — they are the far left. These outlier Jews pander to their constituents, instead of being “that” Jew who dares to speak the truth. (Jewish Voice for Peace, Noam Chomsky, Gabor Mate)

Ben M. Freeman — Reclaiming Our Story: The Pursuit of Jewish Pride

I have many non-Jewish friends whom I align with and with me. For that I am deeply grateful, you know who you are.

Where are the moderates? Many are dead or are canceled like Bill Maher.

I am endlessly shocked at how today’s college students and young people are captivated by misinformation, biased reporting, and engaging in a discourse all on social media where they can bully and intimidate. Oh, they are so very brave behind the screen and now are emboldened to continue in public spouting antisemitic rants, ripping down posters of hostages as if they weren’t real humans, showcasing an image of Hitler at a football game, and tearing down hostage as if they don’t matter which also leads to the 1400+ Israeli lives murdered which ended the cease-fire.

I am infuriated at the university students across the country choosing sides with what they believe to be true when they never cared before and they are blind to their hatred, fueling the fire for terrorists. They are pawns, leaving equality out of it, casting aside their Jewish peers like stray dogs for hate and the “underdog.”

Where were they when Iran was chemically killing their own people?
Where have they been while the Armenian community is being pushed out of their country?
Where were they when the Palestinians were peacefully protesting?
Where are they while the Uighurs are suffering?

Everyone loves to hate the Jews.

Where has all this hate on university campuses come from?

Where did all of this hatred come from is a question worth pondering. As Rachel Fish and others have documented, for several decades a toxic worldview — morally relativist, anti-Israel, and anti-American — has been incubating in “area studies” departments and social theory programs at elite universities. Whole narratives have been constructed to dehumanize Israelis and brand Israel as a “white, colonial project” to be “resisted.” The students you see in the videos circulating online have been marinating in this ideology, which can be defined best by what it’s against: everything Western. — Bari Weiss

Will the initial excitement of these global protests to free the Palestinians fade once all the Jews are thrown into the sea?

Will they ever realize that the message should be to free Palestinians from Hamas?

When will it click that Palestinians are captive to a terrorist organization, Hamas, that will come for all the LGBTQ+, Asian, Hispanic, and Christian people too?

Will they realize that Hamas is proudly an organization of martyrs, with one of their primary goals being to rid the world of Jews? (Or is that the subconscious goal all around?)

How about Myanmar’s atrocities against the Myanmar’s Rohingya minority?

Where were the demonstrators in the streets against Bashar al-Assad’s government shooting and gassing anti-government protests in 2011?

The protestors have done what the White Supremacists could not do, spawned a hate so deep and so global of Jews. Mark my words, they are coming up to fan these flames soon.

The adults have left the building.

Do these students know that Israelis have been protesting their own government peacefully for months?

Our education system seems to no longer support critical thinking. They are like sheep eating endless alfalfa waiting to be slaughtered.

Free Israel from Netanyahu.

It’s the norm now for people to deny historical facts. People are now not believing historically-based facts because they simply don’t suit them when the British divided the land they named Palestine it was for both the Jordanians and the Israelis. The Arab nations (governments) didn’t accept it then and they don’t now. Jews are indigenous to the land as much as(the) Palestinians (are).

Jews are indigenous to the land as much as Palestinians.

A recent essay in The Guardian, “People have no problem with the weak Jew who is slaughtered in a Holocaust, but a big one with the powerful Jew protecting its population from destruction.”

The adults have left the building.

The conservatives are pro-Israel and the far-left liberals are anti-Israel. Where does that leave a liberal like me?

Betrayal on the left, betrayal on the right.

I am now watching people like Piers Morgan, whom I know is a sexist bully and yet I agree and appreciate his line of questioning on his show. I’m watching Fox News and saying, thank you. It’s a mind fuck I tell you.

Betrayal on the left, betrayal on the right.

The adults have left the building.

The Right in America is betraying us inch by inch by taking away women’s rights, gay rights, and voting rights. Watch them continue to chip away at our Democracy and merge their fundamentalist righteousness into the thread of America just like Netanyahu.

Why are those committed to liberating Palestine also committed to the dehumanization of the Jews as a people?

The hostages are still held captive — children, women, men, and the elderly. It appears to be a nonissue for these protestors.

I believe that there are those who want to live in peace, dignity, and freedom alongside the Israelis, but where are they? Are they in fear because they know Hamas is explicit in its intention to murder the Jewish population of Israel and enslave any survivors?

Back to these college students who I want to shake until they understand that they are fueling hate. They have been indoctrinated into a narrative directly from the Middle East which wants to dismantle Western Democracy. That will come back to hurt all Americans and our very freedoms.

…Middle Eastern regimes are sponsoring professorships held by, or programs run by, professors or administrators who hold anti-Israel views and use their platform to spread them. This fact, itself, wouldn’t be news.

They do not know what they do not understand. OK, maybe they do understand that but they simply don’t care, many have declared their outright antisemitism that might have not been there before. My heart aches.

Sigh.

A few things I know for certain:

Anger can be useful and anger is fear with love that has no place to go.

I will always stand with my ancestral people AND care for others.

I can grieve AND have compassion for others.

Self-care, joy, and happiness are our birthright.

Hate and righteousness are too heavy of burdens to bear.

Mindfulness meditation is like a salve.

Practice makes progress. Practice makes progress. Practice makes progress.

Thank you for reading to the very end, and being compassionate and open-hearted.

May you be safe in mind and body.

Writer, meditation teacher, and mental health advocate. “Meditations and Musings” to bring presence and compassion to each space to create vulnerability, and invitation to open hearts and reduce stigma.

Please also join me on Substack for the weekly “Meditations & Musings” — https://substack.com/@shelleydurgakarpaty?utm_source=user-menu

Sources:

Humanity’s Greatest Failure — The Guardian

Savage Nihilism — Tablet Magazine

Why Do People Hate Jews — Kabbalah

The Free Press

Ben M Freeman — Jewish Pride