Just for a second, I’m going to pretend that I’m a political/news blogger…
This story is CNN covering Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s remarks about the Holocaust being a “myth” as part of his argument for the elimination of Israel and the reinstall of a Palestinian state. Now, these comments are absolutely deplorable, unacceptable, and evil. The Holocaust was not a fucking myth, and “[a]ll responsible leaders in the international community” agree, so I’m not worried about this idea spreading and being generally accepted.
I’m not an expert in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and I sure as fuck have never expressed my opinions/views/limited-understandings of it online before, and I also don’t have any actual personal ties to it other than the fact that a few generations ago, my ancestors came to the US from Lebanon. (and I still have a lot to learn.) Even though I truly believe that the Israelis rightly deserve a home-country, my gut instinct is also to be sympathetic to Palestine, which I also know isn’t too unreasonable of a position; most educated people realize that there is no way to truly “take sides” because the history (like all history) of the conflict is complicated and both the “west” and the “mid-east” parties involved have blood on their hands. Maybe it’s naive to “just want to have peace” or to have a place where both Israeli and Palestine can exist together without neighboring countries and western powers trying to tie each other’s hands behind their backs. No, not “maybe.” It’s totally naive. It’s a sentiment that’s expressed to death in fairy tales and “can’t we all just get along” hippy sentiments.
The world is Fucked Up. (Notice how that’s also a sentiment that’s expressed to death.)
But this also highlights and deepens my understanding of how mid-east leaders must feel like they, and their nations, are being patronized by western national leaders. They’re not allowed to develop nuclear programs, and their peoples are often met with suspicion and hate from our peoples. Terrorism/freedom-fighting is the result of not having any peaceful or recognized avenues of getting their point across to a network of world powers who probably wouldn’t take them seriously anyway, because we’re so invested in Israel (for example), dependent on oil (for example) and in keeping our own version of history popular so that the western population doesn’t start blaming itself and sympathizing with the “other side.”
Statements like this, that the Holocaust is a Myth, is like rhetorical “terrorism” in that he is desperate to support a position that has no legitimate or recognized avenue of expression. Like terrorism, he’s using a tool that is the closest thing we have to being OBJECTIVELY wrong to try to say something about something that’s subjectively right. Palestinian supporters have been trying to have a place to live for decades, and the west, who installed Israel, and Israel itself, isn’t going to just sit down and say “yes, sorry. Here, have your land back.” (look, readers! Another sentiment that is expressed to death!)
Anyway, I’m frustrated with my inability to NOT simply restate what other people say and feel. But I don’t know enough, and I don’t have the right perspective to come up with anything new. I don’t have personal ties to the area, but I still feel so completely tied to this conflict probably because it is so disillusioning. It’s one of those things you learn about the world that makes you realize without a doubt that shit is Fucked Up and that there is no simple solution at all. Its both maturing (like life) and devastating (like death). It’s the same feeling I felt when I started to realize how widespread the illegal sex industry, and people-trafficking industry (CIA pdf, Coalition Against Trafficking in Women pdf, wikipedia + lots of links) is in the US…
*sigh*
Ok. I’m pure tired right now. And there’s no hope for me to find any kind of closure or even try to slap some kind of judgement or solution or strong opinion onto this like many news-bloggers try to do.
Consider me either subvertive, honest, or just plain naive. I don’t care. I want more perspective and I also don’t ever want to have an over-simplified understanding of things like this.
I welcome opinions, information, links, heads of cabbage, and hugs.
Discuss.
4 Comments
Sorry for the long comment. IMO the outcome that appears most utopian and unrealistic on first inspection, a binational state, is the only viable one in the long-term. A ‘two-state solution’ will leave populations marooned and neither side satisfied with its lot, whatever the territorial boundaries decided upon, causing continuing squabbles. While there’s longstanding enmity between both peoples, they’re now so geographically and demographically intertwined that their futures’ ultimately lie together. But their attitudes still need to catch up to this practical necessity. And, as EVERYBODY says, it would help a hell of a lot if Great Powers would stop poking their noses in. Due to the strategic value of the region, this seems unlikely. Politics: it’s all just pissing in the wind really.
long comments are always welcome. and yours isn’t long at all. thanks for visiting.
I think the world is fucked up, too. Here is the only solution I have ever come up with that might create world peace: neuter ALL world leaders. I see war and human territory fighting and squalls as a bunch of howling marking hissing tom cats, trying to puff up and look bigger than they are, spraying somebody else’s fence post to challenge a territory, etc. It’s hormonal stuff. And humans are animals, too. Male humans have a lot of hormonal issues, although they are generally the ones always mocking female hormonal behavior. Human brains are amazing but we still use them to create goods that serve hormonal drives, such as the male drive to be top cat or leader of the pack or have the mostest bestest territory. We need to evolve outside hormonal control or we don’t stand a chance. Our brains could solve real world problems, but they’re tied up in servitude to the penis. Now I admit I’m drunk, and perhaps I spend too much time with cats, but I still think the argument has validity.
OK, I’m sure you might be tired of my comments, but I’m not. I’m still drinking wine and I am a lighweight drinker. So anyhow, see, I think the world is hormone driven. Bush is President. Why? He wanted to be leader of the pack. Big ball syndrome. Testosterone. Why else would one want to be Pres? Power. Money. Shock and awe. Everything a tom cat wants. See, these tom cats out, they’ll roam for ten miles looking for love in all the wrong places. They’re no good at anything until they’re neutered. Then their change, and for the better. They even then become good mousers whereas before, they’re just off chasing in heat females and fighting and causing neighborhood problems. It’s always funny that a lot of men just don’t want their male cats fixed, don’t see the need and cringe at the thought. Fucking funny. Because male cats die, in alarming numbers of FIV because they fight. (FIV primarily spread by deep bite wounds) And even when you explain this to a guy, many still refuse to fix their male cats. I don’t know where I got off on that tangent. But females seem to sympathize with their female cats having litter after litter, with no control to stop it, and often very happily get their female cats fixed. I don’t know what I’m saying. Males are different than females. They think in straight lines more. And the world is driven by testosterone. Males are driven to work harder and harder in a drive to get to the top because of hormones. “Well, we should have a woman President,” some might say, “because women can be tough but see problems from many angles.” Well I think women who lust after power and top dog position might have hormonal imbalances cause that isn’t normal woman hormone behavior. So we’re fucked, is what I’m saying, because men are blinded by testosterone and women don’t have the hormonal drives for power and command and control. So that’s what I’m saying, the only way for the world to survive humans and humans to survive in this world, with our big busy brains, is for those in power to make the ultimate sacrifice–SPAY AND NEUTER World leaders!!!! It’s the only way. Well, there’s another way. Everybody would have to dope up on weed. Weed makes people mild mannered and laid back. Hard to aim an assault rifle when high on weed. Even a big dominant tom cat gets all nice when high on cat weed. So there you have it. Signing out.
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