Israel/Palestine
In reply to the discussion: Comparing Nazis to Israelis is unacceptable [View all]Voice for Peace
(13,141 posts)I have no first-person expertise on the subject of
Israel and Palestine I can only speculate about what
might work, what would not work.
I'm not a fan of assigning blame to either side. I think both
sides' stances are leading nowhere.
I'm sad to see so many innocents in the way of all the
insanity, both here, as this morning, and there.
If there could be one inclusive democratic nation that
would be fine with me. If they want to make it two
countries, or ten countries, I don't care. What I care
about most is that people start looking at themselves,
recognizing where the real solutions are, and where
peace can be found.
If we make no effort to understand the other person, &
other points of view, wars and misunderstandings will
continue to flourish.
Something I recognize is that most people have a
unique set of circumstances, programming from early
life, cultural biases, etc. and it is very hard for most of
us to see beyond those things. If we learn from childhood
that Arabs are evil, or that Jews are evil, it's hard
to shake those early life beliefs and fears, they are
close to our bones. But they're not us. These beliefs
and fears are not who we really are.
The scene from Borat is a ridiculous but excellent
analogy, if you saw that film -- when he is taken
in lovingly and with great kindness by the old Jewish
couple. But because of what he was taught as a child,
all he can see is dangerous monsters.
Probably this phenomenon, more than anything,
accounts for these conflicts. Instead of recognizing
what we all have in common, we focus on the
differences, our fears, and our inherited prejudices
-- and create conflicts that don't have to exist.
I recognize that the OP is about an extreme analogy.
It's obvious to me that it's not the same situation.
But all things considered I understand why people
make the analogy. I understand why people defend
both sides with equal passion, and why people may
feel offended.
Yet I benefit more from examining & understanding
why things offend me -- why something is personally
offensive to me, even if it's happening on the other
side of the world, not affecting my life directly --
than from proving someone else is offensive.
Thanks for your openness to the possibility that
you were misunderstanding my post. The only card
I have in the game is this one:
It is not the world that needs peace, it is people.
That's where it begins and ends.