this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
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Nope. Since there is nothing I can do about it - picking side it literally virtue signaling. If that's your cup of tea and I would guess it is, go ahead and waste your life picking sides in conflicts you are not involved in and have no influence over. Makes you feel good, does not change a thing.
Public support is what you can do about it.
Just because I alone don’t have the power to end the conflict means jack shit, I’m but one part of a larger whole of which I can influence.
Sorry but I'm too old to fall for this one. Nothing will stop this conflict until Israelis and Palestinians figure out how to get along. It took people in Europe more then thousand years to stop slaughtering each other - so might be a long ride. But it is definitely some kind delusions of grandeur if you think that as an outsider without any kind of power you will have any influence, especially since there are some real big boys at play there.
By the way tell me how the demonstrations against the war in Iraq went? As far as I remember one of the biggest in Europe.
In the end by choosing a side, you are just playing into the conflict by increasing the polarization.
And while I have empathy for anyone, who is involuntary crushed by the wheels of history - I also am very much aware that I wont stop them from turning.
But it’s not a question of „just getting along“. Palestinians are indigenous to that country and right wing extremist nationalists are committing a genocide on them right in front of our eyes. Actually backed by our governments.
I mean honestly, they’re starving innocent children, bombing them as they’re sheltering in schools & hospitals. You don’t do that to anyone. It’s just wrong and it shouldn’t be polarizing to express for anyone that they’re against wiping out innocent civilians, let alone children.
Yes lets discuss some semantics - that will surly help.
How brave of you to take such an controversial stance on the internet. So what are you intending to do: write some angry posts and give some upvotes down-votes? Go to the streets? I feel like in the end - I will have the exact same real influence on the situation like you. So get down from your high horse, and if you want to change something - get you some power.
Look, I don’t know what kind of things matter in your personal life, what bothers you and what you stand up for. From what I understood in your post, you just want to mind your own business and not give a fuck about problems of some people far away. That’s fair and I understand that.
My intention wasn’t to make you feel bad or confront you, and I really understand why you got tired of getting involved in random conflicts. I was too when I saw the invasion of Ukraine by Russia going down. I know it sucks and I feel sorry for the Ukrainans, but I felt the same way I couldn’t do much.
Why what you call discussing about semantics is important for me is simply because this is not just a conflict between neighbors. This is indigenous people facing a setter colonial movement born in Europe not even 200 years ago. And this movement wants to wipe the Palestinians and their whole identity out. It’s literally people fighting for survival.
I’m German-Palestinian and I have lost family in this most recent outbreak of violence and many past conflicts. And so have most of my Palestinian friends unfortunately. I have personally experienced what military occupation does to you, and I’ve experienced what apartheid feels like already as a child.
But I think it isn’t true that it all doesn’t help. I’ve been arguing with strangers about this on Facebook more than 10 years ago when it was still unquestionable to criticize anything Israel does. Arguing in real life with people who had some edgy takes on people being bombed to shit. I went to protests where we were like 50 people. Have seen and supported activists since teenage years (nowadays mostly financially). I had my picture posted somewhere online when I was on a protest. Immigration at Ben Gurion Airport loved it, almost sent me back to Germany.
Why I’m saying this is because I see that public opinion has shifted a lot. Politicians, especially German ones, still want to suppress our voices and equate all Palestinians with Hamas/Terrorists. But people aren’t having it anymore. Of course it doesn’t change things overnight. And I’m wondering how many more children need to be bombed until some old fucks realize how horrible the situation is.
In any case if you actually read this, thanks, and I hope you see now why it was import to me to clear up some things even if maybe 2 other people are reading this.
Nope. I'm just rather disillusioned about my impact on big events, far away. The time and energy I have I spend on people around me - where I have the most impact to actually change something. Like I said - my empathy is with anyone who is getting crushed by the wheels of history, I'm just rather realistic about my abilities to stop them from turning or even to steer them another way.
I don't get this point. We can't turn history back and give Jews Bavaria or something. Palestinians and Jews are now neighbors, and have to figure it out how to get along. Obviously more complicated, since big boys outside powers are involved.
Sorry to hear that you lost loved ones, even if it does not mean much from a random internet guy. But makes sense that your are more involved in this one than me. I'm a russian/jewish mix living in Germany. But one of my best friends is Palestinian (absurdly she can't visit her home, while I could) - so I'm well aware of all the bullshit Israel has done to Palestinians. Israel is fucked up. But I also very much understand that Israelis will fight to the last, to keep it and so will Palestinians. Until they learn a way to coexist - they will be slaughtering each other for ever.
Sorry, but that is exactly what I'm talking about - even if the public perception in Germany shifts completely - it won't change to much. Europe as a whole, becomes less and less influential outside it's borders.
Like I said, nothing wrong for you to support what you believe in. Just don't use cheap rhetoric, like that one has to chose a side. No I don't have to and it's perfectly fine.