Most of us are just exhausted. Exhausted from a Twittercentric news cycle that isn't even 24 hrs anymore, more like 24 minutes. Exhausted from self-censorship lest we get labeled and canceled for having opinions that were perfectly mainstream 10 minutes ago but are now verboten.
Jews are particularly exhausted. We are being used as political props by extremists on both sides of the aisle. We are hearing the worst, most divisive, anti-Jewish voices in both parties are being amplified and portrayed as martyrs and leaders.
But what exhausts me most are not Omar /Tlaib’s lies. Snakes gonna snake. I’m not even that angry at the President. Trump’s gonna Trump. What exhausts me are the supposedly mainstream voices in the politics and the media, on both sides, rising to their defense.
Am I guilty of the dreaded ‘both-sides-ism?’ Perhaps. But when it comes to Jews, the last week has been just freaking exhausting, from all sides.
There is a catch phrase floating around Jewish Twitter. #TheJewsAreTired. Yeah, we are. And we need to be able to express that.
But we also know we won’t get the luxury of resting.
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9/11 was my 2nd week as exec dir of @RutgersHillel, at @RutgersU, the State U of NJ. The next day flyers went up all over campus inviting people to a special meeting of the Muslim Students Assoc on 9/13. Of course I went. Here is what I saw and heard. It haunts me to this day. 🧵
I thought half the campus would be there. Who wouldn't want to hear what the MSA had to say 2 days after Al-Qaeda killed 3,000 Americans? We could smell the smoke from Ground Zero on campus. But I was the only visibly non-Muslim person in a crowd of 200+. Wearing my kipah. ✡️
The first 45 minutes a prof spoke on the atrocities of the recent Algerian civil war. At first I didn't understand why. But he was making a point to the doubting Muslim students. SEE? It is possible for Muslims to do violent terrible things. It's possible Muslims had done this.
Proving there is nothing new under the sun, let's see how Dostoevsky, the brilliant Russian novelist, predicted today's world via the character Pytor Stepanovich Verkhovensky, a socialist revolutionary in his book "Demons."
Read to the end. You'll like this. 🧵
"The first thing is to lower the level of education, science, and accomplishment. A high level of science and accomplishment is accessible only to people of high ability and there’s no need for high ability! People of high ability can’t help but be despots and have always
corrupted more than they have brought benefit.. There’s no need for education, enough of science! The thirst for education is nothing but an aristocratic thirst...No sooner do we have family or love than the desire for private property arises. We will kill desire; we will foster
Great article on The Roots of Progressive Radicalism by @jonkay. I'm especially intrigued by Musa Al-Gharbi's book on how the “woke” elite use the language of social justice to gain power and status—without helping the marginalized and disadvantaged.🧵 quillette.com/2024/06/25/the…
Al-Gharbi's thesis: Patterns of elite political radicalisation are recurrent in the West esp during times of underemployment among the well-educated. So they substitute what French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu called "symbolic capital" for the real capital they want but lack.
"Symbolic capitalists" find alternative means to advance their social standing, often by presenting themselves as vital (and even heroic) "allies." This works in college, but eventually they have to get real jobs and pay real bills. To resolve the resulting cognitive dissonance
The fanatical attachment of so many in the West to extremist Islam’s jihadi ideology, manifested as "Palestinianism," is one of the confounding dynamics of our age. Yet it is explained clearly by the philosopher Eric Hoffer in his 1951 book The True Believer.🧵
Hoffer posits that fanatical movements (religious, social, or national) arise when large numbers of people believe their own individual lives to be worthless - or worse. So they join movements demanding radical change. But the underlying psychological cause is very different.
The real attraction for this population is not the particular cause but an escape from the self:
“A mass movement attracts and holds a following not because it can satisfy the desire for self-advancement, but because it can satisfy the passion for self-renunciation." Genius.
The presidents of @RutgersU, @NorthwesternU & @UCLA are facing a Congressional hearing today regarding their ailure to respond to #antisemitism on campus. They are not acquitting themselves well. My personal dealings with Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway and his testimony: 🧵
@RutgersU Pres. Jonathan Holloway was asked "Do you think Israel's government is genocidal?"
His response "I don't have an opinion on that phrase."
Asked again, he responded "I believe Israel has a right to exist and to defend itself."
Asked again, "Do you think Israel's
government is genocidal?" Holloway again said "I believe Israel has a right to exist and to defend itself."
Either he is afraid to say Israel's government is genocidal or he is afraid to say Israel's government is NOT genocidal. He is afraid to answer directly at all.
Antisemites corrupt everyone. Salma Hamamy, pres of the main pro-Palestinian group at @UMich posted on social-media “Until my last breath I will utter death to every single individual who supports the Zionist state. Death and worse.” So how is such a student treated?🧵1/4
She's among @UMich most honored students.
~Recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Spirit Award for students “who best exemplify the leadership and extraordinary vision" of MLK. No joke.
~ State, national and intl media quoted her warning @JoeBiden to change course, citing her as an example of the kind of progressives Democrats must placate.
~ The @nytimes profiled her and a pro-Israel activist in a story, presenting both as "searching for common humanity."