ericatty

Plus the massacre that started everything was so horrific, it made a clear good guy - bad guy effect in the immediate aftermath. Same as Russia looking like the bad guys invading Ukraine, especially with Zelensky being a charismatic good guy.

Those of us watching from a far, seeing it only on our screens, try to categorize what we see. And decide who we align with.

The problem is that Israel is complicated on a good day, most of us don’t have anywhere close to basic understanding of what’s going on politically there. Then add in the weird religious stuff. (For instance, my dad thinks Israel is ordained by God and therefore the government there is not corrupt, but also thinks Jewish people should convert to Christianity?)

So people feel like they can’t criticize Israel (because God) and also can’t comprehend that bad things are being done by the “good guys” to innocent people. And the innocent people are also of yet another religion that they’ve been taught to fear- so…

And politicians and journalists are also stuck because if they are too critical of Israel, it fuels antisemitism, at least here in the US.

I don’t have a solution, other than for someone smarter than me to figure out how to explain it in simple terms, that can be fed in short segments to the population along with the on the ground reporting. But that would still have to compete with the dissonance in messaging coming from churches.

deleted by creator

Today I read your comment twice before I realized my brain had autocorrected all badminton to badmitton

Yeah, my step-son is planning to adopt if he and his fiancee want kids. Climate isn’t the only reason, but even before he ever met her, he told me he’d rather adopt than bring more people into the world.