7sleepersmusic#JinaMooreNgarambe was the editor of #Guernica magazine. She "resigned" today after publishing this essay by #JoannaChen. The essay was retracted by Guernica and re-published in #WashingtonMonthly. IMHO It's well worth reading. #Literature #Publishing #Palestine #CeasefireNow https://washingtonmonthly.com/2024/03/18/from-the-edges-of-a-broken-world/
Ginny Bee (she/her)@7sleepersmusic It's telling that this article merely presents Palestinians as human, worthy of compassion. There's no pro-Palestinian propaganda. Only sympathy for friends, neighbors. And yet Guernica had to retract? So telling.
@fixiemama Yes, I agree. I've read some other essays from Joanna Chen, I don't see much of a political agenda at all. Seems to me that she's trying to find a way to connect with others, and maybe sow the seeds of peace in a troubled land. It's hard to understand why anyone would object.
@7sleepersmusic I know a little bit of psychology bc I studied it in uni (ages ago now). People are so afraid of facing their own failures - failure to hold compassion, failure to do something about injustice - that they will do irrational things to avoid looking at it. Seems like it should be something they can see, be conscious of, but it's not. They are not able to peel back the protective layer of their own cognitive dissonance to see the truth.
In fact the film "Tantura" lays this bare.
@fixiemama Never thought about it like that, makes sense! We do seem to have an astonishing ability to compartmentalize, to deny our own faults. By any means necessary, it seems. And we just perpetuate trauma after trauma. I think the author is trying to mitigate the trauma, for herself and others. She should not be silenced.
Also added “Tantura” to the must-see list! Thank you!