This is a brilliant piece of journalism as it cuts through the BS to find the truth. These performative “keffiyeh clowns” don’t understand or care about the lives of Palestinians. They care about cameras, newscasters, and the chance to upset everyday people by blocking traffic or screaming at passerby. They don’t care about the cause, they care about the disruption.
While reading the article all I could think about was Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement. MLK and his followers protested and marched but they also participated in the political process seeking allies and supporters from across the political spectrum.
And in fact MLK achieved more than most likely any protest movement. They faced hundreds of years of racism and yet caused probably the second most important piece of legislation, the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (First was most likely the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution).
The Western leaders and followers of the "Free Palestine" movement have to be the most useless and counterproductive advocates of any cause in history. What has the Western Left done for these people except nurse their worst, ugliest grievances and feed them fantasies of bloody revenge all so the Western Leftist can feel the frisson of a revolution where the Oppressed delivers Justice to the Oppressor in the form of a cleansing massacre (while of course maintaining Western lifestyles and remaining at a safe distance)?
The Palestinians have a wholly symbolic existence in the mind of the Western Leftist, they are just totems and props and a new set of characters cast in the 20th century Leftist's attempted rerun of the French/October/Marxist Revolutions: after the Bolsheviks created only a police state, Chairman Mao one too many famines and purges, Hồ Chí Minh died, Fidel and Che became dictators, next up to fill the starring role came the PLO and Arafat. What was best for the actual Palestinian people was never once considered.
The Western Left bears a great deal of responsibility for the fact that Gaza is rubble: Imagine if our theorists/activists/Said acolytes/NGOs had found somewhere else to act out their Daddy issues, millenarian fantasies, and fill their god-shaped holes! This Western emotional, moral and political imperialism continues to cause so much misery. "Free Palestine" from the Western Left!
Brilliant – well said. You’ve captured exactly what I was getting at, the performative solidarity that does nothing for the people it claims to defend.
I've been telling my friends for a while that the Free Palestine! mania is a weird manifestation of Western emotional imperialism, but of course they just look at me like I'm crazy.
It's rare for anyone to even think of looking below the surface of things, which is why your essay was a breath of fresh air I really needed.
I like to think that one day in the near future, society will circle back to these posts of ours being dismissed today, and understand that the truth tellers of this era were silenced. Just as we always are by tyrants.
When I'm confronted by the problem of having a heterodox voice and/or going against what all the cool kids (and my friends) are insisting, in the most moralistically florid terms—Palestinian children are being killed! Only monsters quibble!—I always go back to Susan Sontag, the queen of the New York Left intellectuals, dropping a truth bomb on her fellow travelers in 1982 (which of course she was immediately denounced for and then tried to bury):
''Imagine, if you will, someone who read only the Reader's Digest between 1950 and 1970, and someone in the same period who read only The Nation or The New Statesman. Which reader would have been better informed about the realities of Communism? The answer, I think, should give us pause. Can it be that our enemies were right?''
Not only were almost all of our most lauded intellectuals and publications WRONG about one of the most important issues of the 20th century—the Soviet Union and global communism—they refused to admit that they were wrong, and thus became apologists for police states and gulags. They were not just wrong but dishonest and malevolent—but being on the Right Side of History™ and draping yourself in claims of Justice etc means never having to say you're sorry.
This is a fantastic essay. The activist is always the victim. Nothing one says will get through to them.
I called out an activist yesterday who was wearing a keffiyeh to church. Main quotes from this person were, "Of course you can negotiate with terrorists" and "Hamas changed their charter in 2017 so it no longer includes killing Jews." Narcissist is too kind of a word for this human being.
I vacillate between whether to call out this behavior or not, because I know I won't win, know I don't have tons of time for it, and know that approaching the conversation with super kindness won't get anywhere. But I must be a honey badger (thanks Gad Saad) and let them know I deeply disapprove.
Thanks, glad you liked it! I feel your pain. I've run out of patience with these narcissists, too. I'll have to check the Gad Saad reference – I'm looking forward to his new book out soon, 'Suicidal Empathy' (sounds about right).
Yes yes yes. It’s tempting to make fun of them but I’ve come to see this Islamist-leftist alliance in the west as Neo Jihadism, as toxic to the left as Neo Nazism has ever been to the right.
Excellent points. Uninformed narcissists cosplaying as activists were always the target audience of 10/7 and turned out to be Hamas’ most effective foot soldiers. They prolonged this conflict as much as anyone and a lot of Arabs (and Jews) are dead because of them. And the irony of extreme bigotry against Jews from these race-purists won’t be forgotten. Jew-hatred as proof of morality undercuts their already tired message.
The free press just wrote an article describing how the Napoleon strategy off No Enemies To The Right allows movements to let their most radical elements destroy common knowledge. The right is in the middle of letting theirs do what the left allowed in whole. History repeats itself
It concisely describes the modus operandi of the pathogen infecting western civilisation. With a simplicity and effectiveness that paints the picture more clearly, of more organisations and more actors, than anything previously I have read on the subject. You can't treat something you can not identify. This puts it on the big screen in full HD.
I sincerely hope this catches the breeze. This is Clarentyne for the haze of political and moral congestion.
Your welcome, although it wasn’t kindness that inspired my comments. It was the effectiveness of your authorship in communicating a robust analysis, supported by facts, of profound issue.
The title though….. will be limiting. It also does no justice to the quality of the writing nor your ideas expressed. Be worth experimenting with a less tabloid tone that still has the hook if you can find one.
Thank you for sharing your article by the link in Aaron MacLean article on "Donald Trump Gave War a Chance—and It Worked".
It was a pleasure reading your thoughts on these nuts that permeate our lives daily with their BS agendas!!! You sir are a journalist!!!! Unfortunately, most of your colleagues in are propagandist for the democratic party pushing an agenda.
Keep up the great work and I subscribed to your channel to read your future articles!
All true, only problem is this isn’t a lasting solution. Israel has its hostage release, and Hamas has its wanted release of its favourite terrorists. But don’t fool yourself that parts 2,3,4 of the 4 point plan will happen. Hamas has already said, unsurprisingly, that they’ll lever stop their dispute and will never leave Gaza, so we merely have a ceasefire, not a lasting solution. So the activists will soon have what they see as grounds for their childish protests, prompted by the many Hamas members living freely and openly in London.
This is a brilliant piece of journalism as it cuts through the BS to find the truth. These performative “keffiyeh clowns” don’t understand or care about the lives of Palestinians. They care about cameras, newscasters, and the chance to upset everyday people by blocking traffic or screaming at passerby. They don’t care about the cause, they care about the disruption.
While reading the article all I could think about was Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement. MLK and his followers protested and marched but they also participated in the political process seeking allies and supporters from across the political spectrum.
And in fact MLK achieved more than most likely any protest movement. They faced hundreds of years of racism and yet caused probably the second most important piece of legislation, the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (First was most likely the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution).
Many thanks for your comment. I agree – the contrast with MLK and the Civil Rights Movement is stark and revealing.
The Western leaders and followers of the "Free Palestine" movement have to be the most useless and counterproductive advocates of any cause in history. What has the Western Left done for these people except nurse their worst, ugliest grievances and feed them fantasies of bloody revenge all so the Western Leftist can feel the frisson of a revolution where the Oppressed delivers Justice to the Oppressor in the form of a cleansing massacre (while of course maintaining Western lifestyles and remaining at a safe distance)?
The Palestinians have a wholly symbolic existence in the mind of the Western Leftist, they are just totems and props and a new set of characters cast in the 20th century Leftist's attempted rerun of the French/October/Marxist Revolutions: after the Bolsheviks created only a police state, Chairman Mao one too many famines and purges, Hồ Chí Minh died, Fidel and Che became dictators, next up to fill the starring role came the PLO and Arafat. What was best for the actual Palestinian people was never once considered.
The Western Left bears a great deal of responsibility for the fact that Gaza is rubble: Imagine if our theorists/activists/Said acolytes/NGOs had found somewhere else to act out their Daddy issues, millenarian fantasies, and fill their god-shaped holes! This Western emotional, moral and political imperialism continues to cause so much misery. "Free Palestine" from the Western Left!
This was great work. Thanks!
Brilliant – well said. You’ve captured exactly what I was getting at, the performative solidarity that does nothing for the people it claims to defend.
Thanks, but you said it much better.
I've been telling my friends for a while that the Free Palestine! mania is a weird manifestation of Western emotional imperialism, but of course they just look at me like I'm crazy.
It's rare for anyone to even think of looking below the surface of things, which is why your essay was a breath of fresh air I really needed.
Thanks again
I like to think that one day in the near future, society will circle back to these posts of ours being dismissed today, and understand that the truth tellers of this era were silenced. Just as we always are by tyrants.
When I'm confronted by the problem of having a heterodox voice and/or going against what all the cool kids (and my friends) are insisting, in the most moralistically florid terms—Palestinian children are being killed! Only monsters quibble!—I always go back to Susan Sontag, the queen of the New York Left intellectuals, dropping a truth bomb on her fellow travelers in 1982 (which of course she was immediately denounced for and then tried to bury):
''Imagine, if you will, someone who read only the Reader's Digest between 1950 and 1970, and someone in the same period who read only The Nation or The New Statesman. Which reader would have been better informed about the realities of Communism? The answer, I think, should give us pause. Can it be that our enemies were right?''
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/00/03/12/specials/sontag-communism.html?scp=31&sq=communism&st=cse
Not only were almost all of our most lauded intellectuals and publications WRONG about one of the most important issues of the 20th century—the Soviet Union and global communism—they refused to admit that they were wrong, and thus became apologists for police states and gulags. They were not just wrong but dishonest and malevolent—but being on the Right Side of History™ and draping yourself in claims of Justice etc means never having to say you're sorry.
Same goes for today...
This is a fantastic essay. The activist is always the victim. Nothing one says will get through to them.
I called out an activist yesterday who was wearing a keffiyeh to church. Main quotes from this person were, "Of course you can negotiate with terrorists" and "Hamas changed their charter in 2017 so it no longer includes killing Jews." Narcissist is too kind of a word for this human being.
I vacillate between whether to call out this behavior or not, because I know I won't win, know I don't have tons of time for it, and know that approaching the conversation with super kindness won't get anywhere. But I must be a honey badger (thanks Gad Saad) and let them know I deeply disapprove.
Thanks, glad you liked it! I feel your pain. I've run out of patience with these narcissists, too. I'll have to check the Gad Saad reference – I'm looking forward to his new book out soon, 'Suicidal Empathy' (sounds about right).
This was a great read, thank you. I wrote a similar post a while ago about how we live in an age of useless activism: https://open.substack.com/pub/lucytabrizi/p/the-age-of-useless-activism?r=25bl88&utm_medium=ios
Perceptive article. Subscribed!
This is a really great piece, and I’m sharing one more I wrote recently because we are making many overlapping observations.
https://open.substack.com/pub/thegoldenpill/p/the-palestine-fetish?r=31tulb&utm_medium=ios
Yep, excellent. We're definitely on the same page.
Yes yes yes. It’s tempting to make fun of them but I’ve come to see this Islamist-leftist alliance in the west as Neo Jihadism, as toxic to the left as Neo Nazism has ever been to the right.
https://open.substack.com/pub/thegoldenpill/p/neo-jihadism-is-here?r=31tulb&utm_medium=ios
Excellent points. Uninformed narcissists cosplaying as activists were always the target audience of 10/7 and turned out to be Hamas’ most effective foot soldiers. They prolonged this conflict as much as anyone and a lot of Arabs (and Jews) are dead because of them. And the irony of extreme bigotry against Jews from these race-purists won’t be forgotten. Jew-hatred as proof of morality undercuts their already tired message.
Yes, exactly – thanks.
The free press just wrote an article describing how the Napoleon strategy off No Enemies To The Right allows movements to let their most radical elements destroy common knowledge. The right is in the middle of letting theirs do what the left allowed in whole. History repeats itself
Better idea Frederick - send them all on holiday to Gaza. If they can’t get in maybe Iran would like them…..🤔
Indeed, I'd pay for the flights. Queers for Palestine might be in for a shock when they arrive.
They'll just move on to their next hobby/cause on the intersectional merry go round.
This is good.
This is really, really good!
It concisely describes the modus operandi of the pathogen infecting western civilisation. With a simplicity and effectiveness that paints the picture more clearly, of more organisations and more actors, than anything previously I have read on the subject. You can't treat something you can not identify. This puts it on the big screen in full HD.
I sincerely hope this catches the breeze. This is Clarentyne for the haze of political and moral congestion.
Very kind of you to say that, Orson – thank you.
Your welcome, although it wasn’t kindness that inspired my comments. It was the effectiveness of your authorship in communicating a robust analysis, supported by facts, of profound issue.
The title though….. will be limiting. It also does no justice to the quality of the writing nor your ideas expressed. Be worth experimenting with a less tabloid tone that still has the hook if you can find one.
Again though, great piece!
That’s a good point about the title. I’ll have to think about that some more.
Beatles said it well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrkwgTBrW78
Frederick,
Thank you for sharing your article by the link in Aaron MacLean article on "Donald Trump Gave War a Chance—and It Worked".
It was a pleasure reading your thoughts on these nuts that permeate our lives daily with their BS agendas!!! You sir are a journalist!!!! Unfortunately, most of your colleagues in are propagandist for the democratic party pushing an agenda.
Keep up the great work and I subscribed to your channel to read your future articles!
Best Regards,
Donald
Thank you, Donald – very kind and much appreciated.
This is gold. Tik Tok Morality Play. Brilliant.
Beautifully written and clear as a bell.
Part of me thinks we are so lucky to have such gormless oafs as our opponents.
The other part tells me that we need to be scared of such deep set amorality and cluelessness. They are irredeemable and dangerous as well as pathetic
All true, only problem is this isn’t a lasting solution. Israel has its hostage release, and Hamas has its wanted release of its favourite terrorists. But don’t fool yourself that parts 2,3,4 of the 4 point plan will happen. Hamas has already said, unsurprisingly, that they’ll lever stop their dispute and will never leave Gaza, so we merely have a ceasefire, not a lasting solution. So the activists will soon have what they see as grounds for their childish protests, prompted by the many Hamas members living freely and openly in London.