Wednesday 1 November 2023

From the news: on the war in West Asia [Content Warning - links to reports on bigotry/hate, violence including SA & CSA/abuse/war, genocide, language. Reader discretion is advised]

Note: CONTENT WARNING - some of this content is about upsetting, disturbing or triggering events & attitudes. Seek competent help - including professional - if you need it. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that linked articles may contains names and/or images of deceased people. READER CAUTION IS RECOMMENDED! For anyone distressed by anything in this post, or for any other reason considering seeking support, resources are available in Australia here, here, and here. In other nations, you will have to do an Internet search using terms such as “mental health support - <your nation>” (which, for instance, may lead to this, this, and this, in the USA, or this, this, and this, in France [biased towards English-language - my apologies]), or perhaps try https://www.befrienders.org/. 

Reporting on recent and currently ongoing tragic events in West Asia, in Israel, Gaza, and adjoining nations, includes the following:



  • “Jewish response to _____ war criticism comes from deep sense of trauma, active grief and fear”   https://theconversation.com/jewish-response-to-_____-war-criticism-comes-from-deep-sense-of-trauma-active-grief-and-fear-216340   “For many Jews, the specific nature of _____’ attack – the mass slaughter and the way in which _____ gunmen went systematically from house to house murdering families, and, in some cases, brutally butchering people – evokes deep, traumatic memories of the Holocaust.   ...   What happened on Oct. 7, in the minds of many, is qualitatively different.   The fact that many other people don’t seem to recognize or acknowledge that, or respond as many Jews would hope, is why some Jews feel that there’s antisemitism lurking beneath the surface.   ...   Unfortunately, legitimate criticism of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, and peaceful activism in support of the Palestinians, is too often called antisemitic.   I think that most Jews regard criticism of Israel as legitimate, though many feel that it is sometimes excessive. Many, if not most, Jews actually criticize Israel. Nobody seriously insists that all criticism of Israel is antisemitic. The real question is, what kinds of criticism of Israel are acceptable and what might be considered antisemitic? When does criticism of Israel cross the line into antisemitism?   Much of the mainstream American Jewish community, including many major organizations, draws the line between criticizing the actions and policies of Israeli governments – toward the Palestinians, for example – and criticizing Zionism or Israel’s identity as a Jewish state. They regard the latter as delegitimizing Israel, and they see that as antisemitic.”  
    This is an important article to gain improved understanding of Israeli motivation.

A number of nations have recalled their Ambassadors to Israel for consultations, which is a measure of the growing international concerns. 



Note: as with other mass murderers, violent extremists crave publicity, so I refuse to give that to them - I will avoid using their names (which is a policy adopted by good law enforcement and media for other mass murderers), and I will not give them the satisfaction of being described with the T word. 

This is explained further in my post at https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2023/10/from-news-on-war-in-west-asia-content_25.html.

 

Post script

The violent extremist group that committed the atrocities in Israel on 7th October can be viewed, in my opinion, as the worst extreme of narcissist: they lived in & under, and used, abused & destroyed the Palestinians of Gaza. 

From that point of view (which is a limited view, but one based on something most people can do something about), as with all narcissists, they crave attention. 

They must be opposed - including by those many Palestinians who loathed them beforehand and those many Palestinians who have been harmed by their actions and the response they AIMED to cause, and by a wide range of methods ... one of which is to deny them the attention they crave. 

Noting that a similar extremist group from Iraq was best referred to as Da'esh, the name based on its initials that the group concerned hated, and the comments I have given about not naming serial killers and other mass murderers to deny them the attention they crave, I will continue to avoid (as much as is possible) naming that group, and I will deny them the t word. 

Some - primary news sources, government/military organisations, and academic researchers, for instance - must name them: that should be minimised, and is not, in my opinion, necessary for anyone else - certainly not for people such as myself. 

Those who name them with hate may think they are doing something to harm them, but, much as search engine optimisations do not care whether a response is a like or a dislike (both are counted equally as engagement), that group does not care whether they are named in hate or not.

So, in addition to the other actions action being taken against them, I suggest we make them disappear DIGITALLY. 

And do not feed them by an extremist (genocidal) response! 

 

PPS 

I have subsequently found answers to some of the questions I have posed, which are below, together with some more recent news updates: 

 

PPPS 

Some useful better language guides: 

  • “American Jewish Committee's Translate Hate glossary empowers you to identify, expose, and report antisemitism. Click on the terms below to learn more about how antisemitic tropes, words, and symbols hide in plain sight - from the internet to pop culture.”   https://www.ajc.org/translatehateglossary   


Assumptions / basis 

In writing this, I have assumed / started from the following: 

  • this blog states quite clearly that it is about political and human rights matters, including lived experience of problems, and thus I will assume readers are reasonable people who have noted the content warning in the post header;

Possible flaws 

Where I can, I will try to highlight possible flaws / issues you should consider:

  • there may be flawed logical arguments in the above: to find out more about such flaws and thinking generally, I recommend Brendan  Myers’ free online course “Clear and Present Thinking”; 
  • I could be wrong - so keep your thinking caps on, and make up your own minds for yourself.

 

If they are of any use of interest, the activism information links from my former news posts are available in this post. 

 

If you appreciated this post, please consider promoting it - there are some links below.

Remember: we need to be more human being rather than human doing, and all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk.


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