Scott 🇮🇱🇺🇦 WILL NOT COMPLYNov 14, 2023

Then again, all rallies make me uncomfortable. For example, these group chants suggest at a minimum a lack of nuance that obscures the complexity of the issues. And really, somebody is going to step up to the podium and say something I really disagree with, regardless of how invested I am in the main goals of the rally, as people around me applaud and cheer without really hearing or giving any thought to what was actually said, or what it implies.

I know I'm being vague here, but it's a general problem I have, not just with the #MarchForIsrael. The march is important and I'm glad it's happening; but attending it would not be the best way for me, specifically, to express my support for #Israel.

Show threadMiles

@escott

I'm with you in that rallies and marches make me deeply uncomfortable and I don't think I've ever participated in one, although come to think of it I did march against the invasion of Iraq in Portland.

But the stupidity of crowds is endless and the simplistic slogans of chants offend me to the depths of my soul.

And yet I am glad that my rabbi, who also hates rallies, was there today in Washington along with everyone else who participated, just to lay down a marker that we still exist as American Jews and that our fate is in some way connected to Israel's fate.

#israel #rallies #crowds #simplistic #jewish

Nov 14, 2023 at 7:47pmWeb
Show threadScott 🇮🇱🇺🇦 WILL NOT COMPLYNov 14, 2023
@oregonmiles With you 💯%.
Show threadOzzie D, NP-hard  Nov 14, 2023
@escott @oregonmiles Watching the livestream has been rough enough. So much violent rhetoric and political pandering. And so disturbing that they gave a platform to the fundamentalist end-times Texas megapastor Hagee. :(
Show threadMilesNov 14, 2023

@ozdreaming @escott

That is disturbing. Glad I wasn't there. But, maybe I'm still glad it happened. Some people were there for the right reason, and being there doesn't mean one endorses every word of every speaker.

Still, I would have hated to be in the crowd being told things I don't believe in, and that's the deep problem with almost any large crowd. One finds that one is endorsing implicitly every word that every speaker speaks simply by being there, willy nilly.

You can't unbe there for the words that you don't like.

The world reads your presence as a sign of agreement, even when you are only down for 60% of the agenda, and some of the speakers.

#israel #jewish #crowds #politics.

Show threadScott 🇮🇱🇺🇦 WILL NOT COMPLYNov 14, 2023

@ozdreaming @oregonmiles Those dudes always show up. A big reason the US stands behind Israel is the sheer number of evangelist Christians who are not only pro-Israel, but make Israel a priority issue.

Strange bedfellows. But the point of alliances is to get together on those issues on which you agree.

Show threadScott 🇮🇱🇺🇦 WILL NOT COMPLYNov 16, 2023
@ozdreaming @oregonmiles That said: yeah that dude makes my skin crawl.