Quite simply, Israeli slaughter of Gaza is too bloody to whitewash, and propaganda gives way to brute force.
For nationalist followers of Trump it's also an excuse to normalize the fascist processes. Textbook consolidation of power.
For US Democrats at the national level, it's mostly just cowardice. Many of them I don't think were even actual Israel ideologues. Merely shameful hypocrites who prioritize going along to get along. Foolish rationale. Their own power can quite easily be stripped in turn, once the consolidation-of-power phase is complete. That too is a textbook sequence of events in the fascist pattern. All the more after Dem leadership tried and failed to use the national security apparatus against Trump - a political choice they thought in 2016 would help take the minds of their foolish voters off troublesome but popular ideas like Medicare for All.
I think it's a bit of both. There are rabid ideologues like Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Fetterman, and Schumer and then there are nakedly cynical people like Torres and Jeffries who are just there for the paycheck. Ultimately it probably doesn't matter much which category they fall into, however I will note that some of the worst votes seem to be from the cohort that's in it for the love of the game and not the paycheck.
I feel like I keep saying this, but it's genuinely hard at times to find the right words to describe what bearing witness to a literal live-streamed genocide has been like. There are so many layers of disappointment and disgust that make it feel like a never-ending silo of depravity - doomed to repeat the same horrifying mistakes over and over again until there's truly nothing left that can be saved or salvaged. I really resonated with what felt like part of the core of this piece, where you say that "these “sometimes fascists” won’t save you. They loaded the gun and they’re relieved that someone is finally firing it." Whether it's Democrats or Republicans, we can't rely on either of them to safeguard humanity and dispense proper justice - not when they themselves are complicit in these atrocities. "The Israel question is the moral question of our time and the tip of the spear of fascism coming home," yet the ruling class never acts like it - because they're the ones ensuring it's arrival by setting the terms and conditions of the game we're all forced to play.
Rosa Luxemburg famously said back in 1916: "Bourgeois society stands at the crossroads, either transition to Socialism or regression into Barbarism." That regression into barbarism is goose-stepping at a rapid pace before our very eyes (thanks to both Democrats and Republicans), and the erosion of our civil liberties and freedoms in order to protect a settler-colonial apartheid state that's committing a genocide sadly feels all too fitting for the American State Department and ruling class. "On this issue we must never compromise." I couldn't agree more because as you say, this is the moral issue of our time. There's no compromise to be made with anyone who thinks this is even the slightest bit permissible. A better world isn't possible when we continue to collaborate with those who forced the world down into the muck to begin with (and would prefer that it stays this way). What we need are those who can help the world return to the surface and breathe once more - not condemn it to further generations wasted away in a never-ending darkness.
We aren't seeing an opposition party go "all hands on deck" in order to fight back and obstruct the current fascist administration from carrying out its agenda and until we figure who those fighters/leaders will be, the current stagnation will continue to yield the erosion of all we hold dear. Working people from this country and beyond are risking everything to fight for every person's right to live - time for the ruling class to do the same. It's truly "socialism or barbarism" at this point.
Great piece once again Scarlet and as always, thank you for yet another fantastic read!
If the US doesn't end its disastrous alliance with Israel, Americans will wake up one day soon to find that their right to speak their minds freely has been destroyed.
I agree with the core message of this piece. What Israel represents is in direct conflict with humanity, justice, and life itself. They fully embody the greatest evil I can imagine. The terrible truth is it isn’t just the state acting with an ignorant public, but an entire society that has lost their collective humanity. They are a threat to us all. Zionism should be synonymous with nazism. Hopefully someday it is.
However, I cannot agree with the idea that we should be cutting people off from our lives, shaming them, and viewing them with a level of contempt that comes from the same place as the hatred zionists have. I have felt the anger. The overpowering righteous fury that I imagine you, and many others have. The mere sight of an Israeli flag gives rise to anger in me. If I saw an Israeli I would have to restrain myself from punching them in the face.
But I have to ask myself, is there a limit to redemption? Once you pass a certain threshold, are you just an irredeemable monster who deserves nothing but hatred and scorn? If the answer is yes, then that sounds to me an awful lot like how Zionists justify their actions against Palestinians. I’m not saying you or anyone else who is anti-Israel is anywhere even remotely close to a Zionist’s hatred or actions. But I think it’s important to recognize that it ultimately comes from the same place. That it has the potential to be dangerous.
These are still people at the end of the day. They may be twisted, grotesque, and abhorrent, but they are still human beings. I still think the average western Israel supporter is worthy of redemption. I like to think that behind all that propaganda and learned hatred is a person capable of love and compassion.
It’s true that we individually can’t force people to change. But we can be a catalyst to have them make that change. If we deride them as monsters, then we abandon them to the darkness. There may never be a spark that causes that change.
I know it’s difficult work to deal with people who believe in something so grotesque. It’s definitely unfair, but it’s also unfair that an innocent child who knows nothing of Israel or Palestine is born into a genocidal, Jewish supremacist society that practically guarantees their humanity will be destroyed.
I do think there has to be a social cost, but I don't really subscribe to the idea that people are irredeemable. Maybe on an individual basis but not writ large. I think that if there is a social cost, people are much more motivated to change their behaviors. You don't see anyone running around proudly supporting South African apartheid anymore, because that position is now widely seen as morally repugnant. We must put the same stink on Israel supporters in the hopes that it causes enough shame for a shift.
I don’t disagree with people paying social costs for their beliefs. Journalists losing all credibility for their complicity in the genocide is perfectly acceptable. Well, at least until they openly apologize, denounce Israel for what it is, and focus on the struggle for Palestinian liberation.
People who actually have some degree of power and influence over the narrative, or what is being done, need to be held to a higher standard. Something about Spider-Man, power, and responsibility.
I’m just not sure if it’s fair to use such strong language against the average Joe. We all know western governments don’t give a single iota of a shit about what we want. Especially not when it comes to empire. We also know they use immense resources to manufacture consent. The power most of us have is pretty insignificant. I’m not going to argue people aren’t complicit, but to what degree are they? How much responsibility do they bear?
Our goal is to exert enough pressure to force the gears of empire to grind to a halt. To make the politically impossible the politically inevitable. Our greatest resource is one another and I’m not sure demonizing others is really an effective strategy.
Perhaps we don’t need them. There certainly is an abundance of people who don’t support what Israel is doing. They’re definitely more open to being radicalized further than an Israel supporter. However, it just doesn’t sit well with me to hold these people in such contempt.
Hatred begets hatred. I kill your child and you get revenge by killing mine. I respond by killing your brother and then you kill my sister. Where does it end? No one is right at this point. We’re both just revenge driven maniacs who are more divided than ever. It only ends when one of us chooses to let go of their hatred.
I see the way liberals laugh at trump voters whose family members get deported. Who revel in a conservative getting laid off from their job. Their empathy is completely turned off for these people. Rights aren’t conditional based on your ideology. I worry this kind of rhetoric will harbor that contempt in us and that frightens me.
That’s not to say I think that you’re promoting hatred. I have respect for you and your work. I’m just giving my perspective. Perhaps I’m wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time.
Fire article! We do need to set a clear lone bc supremacists' fictitious narratives will be the destruction of humanity. Our narratives are our greatest strength and our unfortunately most dangerous weakness.
I agree, however I believe the abolition of our civil rights and the general movement towards fascism has been a long time in the making and didn't spontaneously happen after October 7th and is not dictated purely by the Zionist cause. "Disinformation" and "hate speech" and Russiagate for instance were also employed as tools to curb our ability to engage in open discourse, make our own decisions, and freely explore ideas. There are a lot of other powerful interests aside from Zionists that would, for their own reasons, like to shut us up and control us.
I'm not arguing it began on October 7th, but I am arguing that this is now the tip of the spear of fascism in the US and its implementation will be largely done at the behest of Zionism.
It's just supremacist ideology. It's the narrative attached to whatever story you have for justifying your inhumanity. Fascists do it, oligarchs, racists, etc.
Quite simply, Israeli slaughter of Gaza is too bloody to whitewash, and propaganda gives way to brute force.
For nationalist followers of Trump it's also an excuse to normalize the fascist processes. Textbook consolidation of power.
For US Democrats at the national level, it's mostly just cowardice. Many of them I don't think were even actual Israel ideologues. Merely shameful hypocrites who prioritize going along to get along. Foolish rationale. Their own power can quite easily be stripped in turn, once the consolidation-of-power phase is complete. That too is a textbook sequence of events in the fascist pattern. All the more after Dem leadership tried and failed to use the national security apparatus against Trump - a political choice they thought in 2016 would help take the minds of their foolish voters off troublesome but popular ideas like Medicare for All.
I think it's a bit of both. There are rabid ideologues like Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Fetterman, and Schumer and then there are nakedly cynical people like Torres and Jeffries who are just there for the paycheck. Ultimately it probably doesn't matter much which category they fall into, however I will note that some of the worst votes seem to be from the cohort that's in it for the love of the game and not the paycheck.
I feel like I keep saying this, but it's genuinely hard at times to find the right words to describe what bearing witness to a literal live-streamed genocide has been like. There are so many layers of disappointment and disgust that make it feel like a never-ending silo of depravity - doomed to repeat the same horrifying mistakes over and over again until there's truly nothing left that can be saved or salvaged. I really resonated with what felt like part of the core of this piece, where you say that "these “sometimes fascists” won’t save you. They loaded the gun and they’re relieved that someone is finally firing it." Whether it's Democrats or Republicans, we can't rely on either of them to safeguard humanity and dispense proper justice - not when they themselves are complicit in these atrocities. "The Israel question is the moral question of our time and the tip of the spear of fascism coming home," yet the ruling class never acts like it - because they're the ones ensuring it's arrival by setting the terms and conditions of the game we're all forced to play.
Rosa Luxemburg famously said back in 1916: "Bourgeois society stands at the crossroads, either transition to Socialism or regression into Barbarism." That regression into barbarism is goose-stepping at a rapid pace before our very eyes (thanks to both Democrats and Republicans), and the erosion of our civil liberties and freedoms in order to protect a settler-colonial apartheid state that's committing a genocide sadly feels all too fitting for the American State Department and ruling class. "On this issue we must never compromise." I couldn't agree more because as you say, this is the moral issue of our time. There's no compromise to be made with anyone who thinks this is even the slightest bit permissible. A better world isn't possible when we continue to collaborate with those who forced the world down into the muck to begin with (and would prefer that it stays this way). What we need are those who can help the world return to the surface and breathe once more - not condemn it to further generations wasted away in a never-ending darkness.
We aren't seeing an opposition party go "all hands on deck" in order to fight back and obstruct the current fascist administration from carrying out its agenda and until we figure who those fighters/leaders will be, the current stagnation will continue to yield the erosion of all we hold dear. Working people from this country and beyond are risking everything to fight for every person's right to live - time for the ruling class to do the same. It's truly "socialism or barbarism" at this point.
Great piece once again Scarlet and as always, thank you for yet another fantastic read!
If the US doesn't end its disastrous alliance with Israel, Americans will wake up one day soon to find that their right to speak their minds freely has been destroyed.
I agree with the core message of this piece. What Israel represents is in direct conflict with humanity, justice, and life itself. They fully embody the greatest evil I can imagine. The terrible truth is it isn’t just the state acting with an ignorant public, but an entire society that has lost their collective humanity. They are a threat to us all. Zionism should be synonymous with nazism. Hopefully someday it is.
However, I cannot agree with the idea that we should be cutting people off from our lives, shaming them, and viewing them with a level of contempt that comes from the same place as the hatred zionists have. I have felt the anger. The overpowering righteous fury that I imagine you, and many others have. The mere sight of an Israeli flag gives rise to anger in me. If I saw an Israeli I would have to restrain myself from punching them in the face.
But I have to ask myself, is there a limit to redemption? Once you pass a certain threshold, are you just an irredeemable monster who deserves nothing but hatred and scorn? If the answer is yes, then that sounds to me an awful lot like how Zionists justify their actions against Palestinians. I’m not saying you or anyone else who is anti-Israel is anywhere even remotely close to a Zionist’s hatred or actions. But I think it’s important to recognize that it ultimately comes from the same place. That it has the potential to be dangerous.
These are still people at the end of the day. They may be twisted, grotesque, and abhorrent, but they are still human beings. I still think the average western Israel supporter is worthy of redemption. I like to think that behind all that propaganda and learned hatred is a person capable of love and compassion.
It’s true that we individually can’t force people to change. But we can be a catalyst to have them make that change. If we deride them as monsters, then we abandon them to the darkness. There may never be a spark that causes that change.
I know it’s difficult work to deal with people who believe in something so grotesque. It’s definitely unfair, but it’s also unfair that an innocent child who knows nothing of Israel or Palestine is born into a genocidal, Jewish supremacist society that practically guarantees their humanity will be destroyed.
I do think there has to be a social cost, but I don't really subscribe to the idea that people are irredeemable. Maybe on an individual basis but not writ large. I think that if there is a social cost, people are much more motivated to change their behaviors. You don't see anyone running around proudly supporting South African apartheid anymore, because that position is now widely seen as morally repugnant. We must put the same stink on Israel supporters in the hopes that it causes enough shame for a shift.
I don’t disagree with people paying social costs for their beliefs. Journalists losing all credibility for their complicity in the genocide is perfectly acceptable. Well, at least until they openly apologize, denounce Israel for what it is, and focus on the struggle for Palestinian liberation.
People who actually have some degree of power and influence over the narrative, or what is being done, need to be held to a higher standard. Something about Spider-Man, power, and responsibility.
I’m just not sure if it’s fair to use such strong language against the average Joe. We all know western governments don’t give a single iota of a shit about what we want. Especially not when it comes to empire. We also know they use immense resources to manufacture consent. The power most of us have is pretty insignificant. I’m not going to argue people aren’t complicit, but to what degree are they? How much responsibility do they bear?
Our goal is to exert enough pressure to force the gears of empire to grind to a halt. To make the politically impossible the politically inevitable. Our greatest resource is one another and I’m not sure demonizing others is really an effective strategy.
Perhaps we don’t need them. There certainly is an abundance of people who don’t support what Israel is doing. They’re definitely more open to being radicalized further than an Israel supporter. However, it just doesn’t sit well with me to hold these people in such contempt.
Hatred begets hatred. I kill your child and you get revenge by killing mine. I respond by killing your brother and then you kill my sister. Where does it end? No one is right at this point. We’re both just revenge driven maniacs who are more divided than ever. It only ends when one of us chooses to let go of their hatred.
I see the way liberals laugh at trump voters whose family members get deported. Who revel in a conservative getting laid off from their job. Their empathy is completely turned off for these people. Rights aren’t conditional based on your ideology. I worry this kind of rhetoric will harbor that contempt in us and that frightens me.
That’s not to say I think that you’re promoting hatred. I have respect for you and your work. I’m just giving my perspective. Perhaps I’m wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time.
Fire article! We do need to set a clear lone bc supremacists' fictitious narratives will be the destruction of humanity. Our narratives are our greatest strength and our unfortunately most dangerous weakness.
I agree, however I believe the abolition of our civil rights and the general movement towards fascism has been a long time in the making and didn't spontaneously happen after October 7th and is not dictated purely by the Zionist cause. "Disinformation" and "hate speech" and Russiagate for instance were also employed as tools to curb our ability to engage in open discourse, make our own decisions, and freely explore ideas. There are a lot of other powerful interests aside from Zionists that would, for their own reasons, like to shut us up and control us.
I'm not arguing it began on October 7th, but I am arguing that this is now the tip of the spear of fascism in the US and its implementation will be largely done at the behest of Zionism.
It's just supremacist ideology. It's the narrative attached to whatever story you have for justifying your inhumanity. Fascists do it, oligarchs, racists, etc.
The Haavara Agreement in 1933 between Zionists & Nazis (two sides of the same coin)
Please read up on it
It’s a a great reference on how Zionists Nazis & the British Empire colloborated on the further colonization of Palestine 🇵🇸
Palestinians have been occupied ever since
To view them as anything but a resistance is like viewing Nelson Mandela as a terrorist