Thread by @arash_tehran

One of the most damning intellectual features of our era, well encapsulated by Ta-Nehisi Coates's approach, is the inability to differentiate moral exigency from materialist analysis & strategic thinking

Look at this bizarre exchange!

Btw, Coates uses the phrase "I just can't accept that" a total of eight times in this interview

To be clear, this is the mismatch:

Klein says "Hamas has politically helped the Israeli right" which is a materialist analysis, a point that might be true or not true, but needs examination on its own merit

Coates seemingly takes this as "Hamas is simply responsible for what Israeli right is doing" and responds with a moral revulsion

Klein repeatedly tells Coates that he has "the same view" in regards to what Palestinians endure in the West Bank and beyond... but that basically shouting THIS IS TERRIBLE is not enough and you need to have a broader analysis & ultimately a political solution

Coates repeatedly refuses to countenance any of that & offers nothing but moral indignation

Coates's high-profile injection to this debate can still be welcome given how lop-sided the American mediasphere can be, not to mention how lopsided the actual war itself is, with Palestinians getting massacred by Israel with effective international support -- but, alas, if one wanted sharp, thoughtful and strategic advocates, one wouldn't find it in him

Given how much the Israeli right and hasbaraists muddle basic ethical questions (like the fact that the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is an abomination), basic moral indignations also have their place, hence why I understand why Coates's intervention is being welcomed

But we ultimately need thinking and not basic morality plays and this is not it

Also yes my delayed reaction is because I can't bring myself to actually listen to a podcast and listen to like 5 mins a day :))

Btw this is not limited to this case or the US... in talking to opponents of the Iranian regime over the past few years, I am absolutely sickened and baffled by the degree to which they think just stating their moral superiority vis a vis the regime is enough... they often escape even the most basic attempts at analysis of things as they actually are or political strategies about the path ahead...

This is precisely why the 2022-2023 movement went into defeat... and yet no one has learnt the lessons