I’ve been working on a Gaza-related blog post off and on for months, mostly threw it out and rewrote it this week. Sometimes I draft a post and it feels good to write it down, so I never actually post it. Other times I can’t let a topic go until it’s published.

@manton I wish I was good enough at nuance to write about it. My take is pretty much "killing civilians is a bad thing" but even that falls short of saying what I want to say. I admire you for sticking with it and I look forward to reading the final draft.

@amerpie It is difficult because no matter what, someone probably won’t like it. I think there are too many exaggerated hot takes, not that I have any answers either.

@manton I can’t do it either. There’s just too much nuance. The best micro sentiment I can come up with is that Israel is at the heart of a geopolitical chess match and no amount of blogging or protesting can steer the outcome in a good direction.

@manton It depends on the repercussions you expect. Do you fear economic or physical threats if you do? Someone is never going to like everything we write and that goes for everything we write. It just matters how much you care about what they think.

@manton Looking forward to it, when/if you’re done.

@pratik I do care what people think, but I also care about having a space where I can write how I feel. I actually have no idea how many people read my blog because I don't track stats. Would be easier if I knew for sure no one read it. 🙂

@fgtech Yep, there's value in those things but it won't steer anything. I think a lot of it is that people feel powerless and need some kind of outlet.

@manton

but I also care about having a space where I can write how I feel.

You literally created micro.blog for just that? Did I get the wrong memo lol. Should I not write what I feel here? @pratik

@stupendousman @pratik Haha, yes, that is the whole point! But I sometimes overthink it.

@manton Of course, we all care what people think. Maybe depends on which people on how much we care. Maybe some way to close comments or to share within a closed community (Micro.blog after-dark/private)? Disable web mentions on that post if people should to react on their blogs?

@pratik Yeah, we need more control over this. Disabling replies per post and being able to curate which replies show on your own blog.

@manton Agreed. I don’t mean to say people shouldn’t blog or protest in peaceful ways. There is inherent value in writing. I do think the point of protest is to change something. Protestors should be clear about what they want to achieve and focus on only those goals or risk others tuning them out.

@fgtech Totally agree. Or worse than tuning out, what we see this week is tuning in to only the most radical parts of what is happening, which also doesn't help.

@manton Yeah. I totally understand that Netanyahu has crossed a line and needs to be accountable. At the same time, violent protest and division of U.S. support only play into the hands of Hamas and others whose explicit goal is to destroy Israel. I can’t believe that is what most protesters want.

@manton this is always my sign that it belongs in DayOne instead of on my blog. At least for a while.

@manton Or have a POSSN version. Or that thing when you post on your blog but it’s viewable only via RSS? Or posts that is made private/archived or even deleted after a certain time? BlinkAndYouMissIt.com ☺️

@fgtech @manton It's worth mentioning that it's exceptionally rare for sit-ins and occupations to turn violent as, by their nature, the protestors are stationary and so easily arrested and/or otherwise vulnerable. Now, what they may be is illegal which can lead to violence if the police or antagonistic civilians show up. Consider for a moment the Civil Rights movement in the southern US during the 1960s. People peacefully sitting in the wrong section of a bus or going into a white-only establishment to be served. Non-violent but breaking the law. Such protests often turned violent when the police or civilians insisted on removing or otherwise becoming physical, taking action upon someone sitting and/or otherwise attempting to occupy a space.

While the current pro-Palestinian protests are often loud and energetic, most notably when speakers are present, they are peaceful. This only changes when actions are being taken by security forces, the police or counter protestors that move into the space with the intent of physical confrontation. I think it's a dynamic that gets lost in media reporting.

I would also add that it's not just Israel that faces potential destruction. Historically the oposite is true and the US has played into the hands of Israel which has led to the actual destruction of Gaza and Palestine. In making that statement I'm not just talking about the past 8 months and current phase of the conflict but, rather, the long term conflict and violence of 100 years. Many protestors want that long-term history figured into the future - it's essential if a just, inclusive and long-term peace is to be found.

@Denny I am nodding in agreement with everything you have said. You hit on a lot of the nuance that makes it so difficult to discuss the issue.

A huge part of the issue is that many supporters of Israel refuse to recognize the innocence of most Palestinians. It is so fraught we cannot even agree on terminology. The conversations we need to have are repeatedly shut down by an overreaction to legitimate criticism and claims of antisemitism.

@JohnPhilpin @manton Agreed John. I think and feel, deep in my core, that we in the US have become so insecure as a function of capitalism in culture as well as in terms of financial security, that we will do anything to avoid rocking the boat, even if it is just a gentle rocking and even if the actual repercussions are low to nonexistent. It is enough that there may be repercussions at all that many often quietly walk away. At least, that's my general observation.

I've often argued that there should be no "activists" because all citizens should be more active, more vocal, more willing to engage, protest and rock the boat. If such activism were more common it would be more normal and perhaps easier for us to converse about the difficult issues. But as it is the culture encourages a more passive, disengaged citizenship in favor of consumerism of cultural capitalism: sports and entertainment being examples of how our energy is channeled into approved, not-political good-for-capitalism "pastimes". Professional sports are a great example of a space where it's okay to yell, wave banners and be quite rowdy.

@Denny This article does a great job digging into more nuance and history, including the inability to agree on terminology that makes discussions so difficult:

What is Zionism? The movement college protesters oppose, explained.

@fgtech Yeah, it would seem there is some difficulty with the term Zionism. On some level this is to be expected as there are often disagreements in definitions, especially when it comes to social movements. Socialists, anarchists and on and on. When large groups of people become involved in social-political movements there's usually disagreement about goals or even analysis of problems.

I don't know how that gets worked around. At the very least elements within Zionism or what is called Zionism can be pointed to as problematic.

Leave that term aside and just look at the actions and policy of Israel of the past 20 years. The past 50 years. What are the actions carried out by the state of Israel in that time period? Specific to the problems we see now, pro-Palestinian protestors are protesting specific pattens of behavior and in some cases the policy of Israel. Decades of land theft is one example. Another would be intentional fragmentation and systems of control in terms of the public spaces available to Palestinians and how they are allowed to exist in those spaces.

In terms of antisemitism, I've seen many point out that the term is being used against protestors that include Jews as well as Palestinians, both of which are Semitic. It's worth noting that the word Semitic refers to a large group of languages that includes Arabic, Hebrew and others. So even the term anti-Semitic is problematic if it's being used against Palestinians.

But it must be made clear that many supporters of Netanyahu and the Israel government have claimed that the very act of critiquing and protesting of Israel is an expression of antisemitism and that can be given no ground. NONE. No state is above critique and protest and the leadership of Israel (and many supporters) are making a mistake on that point. Worth a watch: m.youtube.com/watch

@Denny You cover a lot, some I agree with, some I’m not sure about. The sports comparison is interesting… Funny that there are parallels here not just in being loud but also that there are lines that shouldn’t be crossed. Fans are removed from games all the time.

@manton

Yes!!! 🙌

Yeah, we need more control over this. Disabling replies per post and being able to curate which replies show on your own blog.

@toddgrotenhuis 👏👏👏

@manton

In sports it is typically the violent fans that are removed - unlike on our campuses - where apparently it is the fault of the non violent protestors for being there that caused them to get hurt or get arrested.

Seperately headlines everywhere about 2,000 - 2,200 - depending on which COORDINATED headline you read - protestors - primarily students and faculty - have been arrested in the past two weeks - sound a lot - right?

Across America there are somewhere between 230,000 and 310,000 arrests (year dependant) in the same time period Statista - and maybe some 40,000 of them are for drunk driving

// @Denny

@JohnPhilpin @Denny At basketball games at least, fans have also been removed for what they say or shout at players, usually when racist.