The tragic headline hit hard: “Israel troops mistakenly killed 3 hostages in Gaza.” Three victims of Hamas’ October 7 attack had managed to escape only to be mistakenly shot by their own soldiers. One can only imagine the pain of their families at hearing of these three brave souls who had managed to escape from Hamas only to have their lives snatched away. The only thing a decent person could feel is sorrow. This was the reaction of Jamaal Bowman. “I am heartbroken to hear 3 Israeli hostages have been killed.” Bowman, while a harsh critic of Israel, recognized that this was not the time to be scoring points against Israel.
Wars are always ugly and messy... and full of so-called 'collateral damage'. But in the age of mass media they have also become ugly in another way. They have - for the mass of Western people who only see them on their tvs or smart phones, people who don't have to actually fight them or physically endure them - a ghoulish form of entertainment and an opportunity for endless emotionally-cathartic outrage and opinionising.
I think that's too dismissive. Israel/Palestine has the property that a faction of progressives put it heavily in the common framework of colonialist/native and white/POC, but there's another strong faction of liberals (broadly defined) who view it as exterminationist anti-Semitism and terrorism. The latter faction also has real physical safety concerns, so they aren't inclined to submit on this topic to the standard bullying tactics of the former faction. This is very unusual in terms of disputes within the "left".
Wars are always ugly and messy... and full of so-called 'collateral damage'. But in the age of mass media they have also become ugly in another way. They have - for the mass of Western people who only see them on their tvs or smart phones, people who don't have to actually fight them or physically endure them - a ghoulish form of entertainment and an opportunity for endless emotionally-cathartic outrage and opinionising.
Contemplation Of The Sword
by Robinson Jeffers
Reason will not decide at last; the sword will decide.
The sword: an obsolete instrument of bronze or steel,
formerly used to kill men, but here
In the sense of a symbol. The sword: that is: the storms
and counter-storms of general destruction; killing
of men,
Destruction of all goods and materials; massacre, more or
less intentional, of children and women;
Destruction poured down from wings, the air made accomplice,
the innocent air
Perverted into assasin and poisoner.
The sword: that is: treachery and cowardice, incredible
baseness, incredible courage, loyalties, insanities.
The sword: weeping and despair, mass-enslavement,
mass-tourture, frustration of all hopes
That starred man's forhead. Tyranny for freedom, horror for
happiness, famine for bread, carrion for children.
Reason will not decide at last, the sword will decide.
Dear God, who are the whole splendor of things and the sacred
stars, but also the cruelty and greed, the treacheries
And vileness, insanities and filth and anguish: now that this
thing comes near us again I am finding it hard
To praise you with a whole heart.
I know what pain is, but pain can shine. I know what death is,
I have sometimes
Longed for it. But cruelty and slavery and degredation,
pestilence, filth, the pitifulness
Of men like hurt little birds and animals . . . if you were
only
Waves beating rock, the wind and the iron-cored earth,
With what a heart I could praise your beauty.
You will not repent, nor cancel life, nor free man from anguish
For many ages to come. You are the one that tortures himself to
discover himself: I am
One that watches you and discovers you, and praises you in little
parables, idyl or tragedy, beautiful
Intolerable God.
The sword: that is:
I have two sons whom I love. They are twins, they were born
in nineteen sixteen, which seemed to us a dark year
Of a great war, and they are now of the age
That war prefers. The first-born is like his mother, he is so
beautiful
That persons I hardly know have stopped me on the street to
speak of the grave beauty of the boy's face.
The second-born has strength for his beauty; when he strips
for swimming the hero shoulders and wrestler loins
Make him seem clothed. The sword: that is: loathsome disfigurements,
blindness, mutilation, locked lips of boys
Too proud to scream.
Reason will not decide at last: the sword will decide.
To quote my friend there’s something about Israel Palestine which rots the brain
True that!
I think that's too dismissive. Israel/Palestine has the property that a faction of progressives put it heavily in the common framework of colonialist/native and white/POC, but there's another strong faction of liberals (broadly defined) who view it as exterminationist anti-Semitism and terrorism. The latter faction also has real physical safety concerns, so they aren't inclined to submit on this topic to the standard bullying tactics of the former faction. This is very unusual in terms of disputes within the "left".
You missed the point