I'm more curious about the thinking of those who've parked their humanity at the doorway and appear to see nothing wrong with imposing lethal punishment on people because the Israeli government has chosen to go the collective punishment route. "We have met the enemy," wise Pogo observed, "and he is us."
I've been trying to figure out where to put this post. There was a interesting discussion yesterday on Morning Joe that really got me thinking:
The.Ink, from Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites
Today on "Morning Joe," we had a spirited, and civil, debate about campus protest, civil disobedience, the civil rights movement, the founders, and more.
It's rare to have 20 minutes like this on TV, and I'm grateful for the chance we were given.
VIDEO: the.ink
For those of you who don't want to spend 20 minutes and can get to Twitter, you can listen to a salient snippet here:
America was built on civil disobedience.
It is possible to hold the line against violence and intimidation while insisting on protesters' rights -- and being curious enough to absorb what they're telling us that we may be too jaded to hear.
twitter.com
One point that captured my attention:
"Students through out history have often been telling us something really vital that almost everybody else in society is too afraid or too paid to say."
I would add "too complacent" or "too overwhelmed by life's challenges and responsibilities" to the list, but, yes, students are often unjaded and tenacious enough to see and say what others can't or won't. Have we forgotten that pior to the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, that Israelis themselves were protesting en masse against Netanyahu's corrupt administration? The deadly attack didn't cause Bibi to change his stripes, and it's Bibi who is running the show in Israel's war against Gaza in ways that are questionable and mixed at best and self-serving and potentially criminal at worst. Saying so isn't anti-Semitic.
