I love this strategy and am adopting it. As someone who taught for 45 years I'm hear to tell you that you are so right about today's young people wanting to see themselves as uncompromisingly "speaking truth to power." Everything that they consider to be against the status quo is valued as a truth and everything that supports the things their parents might value, such as peaceful coexistence with other humans, is seen as a lie meant to manipulate them. On FacebooK I have stopped trying to talk sense to them. Now I just post laughing emojis or say things like, "Whatever genocide supporter" followed by a bunch of laughing emojis. When they respond indignantly I post another laughing emoji. Maybe it doesn't do any good, but it makes me feel better.
The thing is, as likely as not, that K-12 student or post secondary student will have been groomed for Palestinianism by their teachers or professors, who proclaim themselves to be speaking truth to power. So yeah, mock the hypocrisy without expending too much energy and move on.
NY Knicks have the greatest comeback in NBA finals history. On the way out of the game Jerry Seinfeld is approached by a pro-pali heckler. He asks Jerry "Can I get a free palestine?" Seinfeld responds "Palestine doesn't exist." Another great comeback.
It's not the first time in history when "useful idiots" have been indoctrinated to believe their bad actions are justified, when they are doing the complete Opposite. So sad what has been allowed, and supported, in once civilized and safe nations. Weak vote hoarding Politicians and Hypocritical sellout Leaders have a lot of answering to do.
Gay Jewish comedian Zack Sage Fox who does reels for Street Smarts, often dressed up to look like a gay Hamas fan draped in kefiyyehs and rainbow attire, is pretty good at drawing out the "pro-Palestine" types to expose their hypocrisy. One of them smiled prettily for the videographer as she agreed that her voiced support for Hamas was as Fox put it, her "kink".
Definitely, there's little point in telling the anti-Israel crowd that they are voicing clearly antisemitic opinions. They will likely respond that they are only "antizionist" and that lots of Jews are antizionist, and the real antisemitism is Zionism. Best strategy is to likely point out hypocrisies as best you can about the misogyny, homophobia, authoritarianism and nihilism, or the falsity of the "settler colonial" claim, using the words of retired Ontario Court of Appeals justice Harry S. LaForme, as published recently at the National Post as part of his response to Mark Carney's rather disappointing June 1st announcement of the advisory board that's supposedly going to make combatting antisemitism their priority. (The piece is behind a paywall or I'd have supplied a URL to it:
[...]
As an Anishinaabe man, a member of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, and someone who spent almost 25 years as a judge interpreting the laws of this country, let me be clear — Canada is a colonial country. Israel is not.
Indigenous peoples know colonialism because we lived it. Colonialism means language suppression. It means forced religious conversion. It means population displacement, foreign governance, economic exploitation, imposed legal hierarchies and cultural erasure. Canada’s Indigenous peoples experienced these things. The Jewish people experienced these things. They do not describe Israel.
For thousands of years, Jewish identity has been tied to the land of Israel through language, culture, law, religion, traditions and collective memory. The Jewish connection to Jerusalem did not begin in 1948. It survived despite conquest, exile, persecution and genocide.
Indigeneity is demonstrated through historical continuity: a distinct people with a connection to ancestral land, identity, language, culture, rituals, legal traditions and spiritual life. By that measure, Jews are Indigenous to Israel.
Zionism is not colonialism. Zionism is self-determination. The Indigenous people of Israel achieved what Indigenous peoples around the world have sought: self-governance in their ancestral homeland.
Thank you for stating this, and it is a brilliant idea. Either we resort to methods used by the haters in retaliation, but we are way outnumbered and definitely not inclined to use those methods anyways or we need something like ridicule, and lawsuits, like how they have done it in the US, with lawyers giving their time pro bono to students, academics, professionals, parents, and Jewish organizations to sue everyone and every organization like school boards and universities . However, it is not just young people who are at the forefront. As noted in media, CSIS has warned the government that the Muslim Brotherhood, considered a terror organization in much of the ME is very active in Canada fomenting violence and hate. It has been incredibly frustrating to see the unelected Jewish leaders, chosen by the old boys' network, still persist in thinking it is the 1970s where perhaps Holocaust education, debates and opinion pieces in the papers would rectify the situation. Today you are comparing apples to oranges. Today the deep hatred is a virulent virus which has been mainstreamed into society as the norm, often due to brainwashing from academics, social and mainline media, as well as the ruling Liberal Party with Carney, NDP and of course the Green Party as well as from certain segments of the Muslim population that has come from the most radical areas of the ME, as well as Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who have poured in, in the last ten years. New methods must be used as the others methods cannot fight a virus, that has been normalized in Canada.
Saul Alinsky's 1971 book, "Rules for Radicals", details a number of techniques that can be used to counter the current-day antisemitic/anti-Israel/anti-Western Civilization movement. Per Pat's suggestion, he does talk about Ridicule as a way to infuriate the opposition, which then triggers them to react. A further rule "Whenever possible, go outside the experience of an opponent. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat." Making the Hard Left/Communists "Own", defend, answer for, their Islamist Allies is a very effective tactic. As the Islamists are homophobic, misogynistic, antisemitic, anti-Christian, Sharia Law enforcing, there's endless material to work with. The idea is to shame and ridicule the Hard Left for their disgraceful association and partnership with the Islamists.
Yes, the herd of independent minds. But poking fun at them will likely enrage them and plant them even more firmly in Camp Antisemitism.
I don't see a solution to the problem. We can only get out there and sincerely tell the truth. Staying silent is what we must avoid. If enough people speak out against living by lies, it may have a positive effect, but it will take some time.
As you say, we are dealing with mobs, with conformists who think that they are actually signaling their virtue. The mob gives them a sense of belonging, something I'm sure few of them ever had. We have a generation of young people who have been brought up by bad teachers and cell phones. A cell phone isn't much of a community, and they want a community wherever they can find it. This means that they can easily be manipulated. A country or culture like this is ripe for totalitarianism. This is why the problem is not really a Jewish problem. It's a civilizational problem, and every citizen has a stake in the battle.
Western leaders have been inadequate, to say the least, in addressing this. In fact, many have incited this oldest of hatreds. Most are silent. The Democratic Party in the US has become part of the problem. Only one Democratic Senator has spoken out against the antisemitic progressive Democrat with the Nazi tattoo running for the Senate in Maine. The Democrats who don't like it are too cowardly to say something because they will lose Democratic voters. The situation is getting worse, not better.
It remains to be seen how long younger Palestinianists will cling to the orthodoxy that they've been sold by their teachers, media, social media and corrupted NGOs. Some will outgrow it as they come to recognize the unholy alliances of Islamists, authoritarian non-Islamist states like Russia and the Peoples Republic of China for what they actually are. For the moment, most will reflexively become enraged at having their ignorance and hypocrisy pointed out. (Think in terms of Mark Twain's famous quote about being disgusted to realize how dumb his father was when Twain was 18, only to concede, by age 21, that his father was actually quite wise.)
Pat, I think you're right, but I would take it a step further. Facts mean nothing to many of these people. The way you beat them is with better slogans, better messaging, better branding, and a stronger sense of identity.
These people are not revolutionaries. They're conformists. They pride themselves on being nonconformists, yet they dress alike, chant the same slogans, carry the same signs, and think the same thoughts. They are a movement built on conformity pretending to be rebellion.
What frustrates me is that they're actually sending us a message every day, and we're not listening. Their demonstrations, their unity, their discipline, and their messaging are exposing how poor a job we're doing. Instead of learning from it, we keep complaining.
Look at them. They have the keffiyeh. They have slogans. They have symbols. They have branding. What do we have? We have endless discussions and endless arguments. I remember the young hostage who raised her injured hand in defiance after terrorists had mutilated her fingers. There are powerful symbols, powerful stories, and powerful messages everywhere, yet we rarely turn them into a movement people can rally around.
I remember your "Pro-Jew" article. I thought it was brilliant. Simple, positive, memorable. I liked it so much that I now sign many of my comments, "Pro-Jew, Proudly Zionist." But where is everyone else? Why isn't it everywhere? Why aren't Jewish organizations, writers, and activists repeating it? Good ideas don't go anywhere if nobody uses them.
The truth is, they are beating us at messaging. That's the lesson. We can whine about it, or we can do something about it. Too often, I think we've found our niche: endless complaining instead of effective action.
I discovered a different way to deal with this problem of radicalized ignorance and sadism (poorly) disguised as moral concern that marches under the banner of Free Palestine!—but this might be less about opposing the dedicated cult members than about peeling off the implicit support they get from older gentry progressives, who usually buy their ideas and opinions in bulk (from the NYT NPR BBC CNN etc) and who mostly just go along to get along and reflexively repeat all the mandatory opinions of their social circles.
My closest friend is an NYC Gen-X Dem liberal and since 10/7 he's been pretty much repeating the conventional wisdom about Israel stealing Arab land, about the crimes of the IDF and about the poor Palestinian children, all of it imbibed straight from the NYT homepage. Recently he went to a documentary screening about the Palestinian plight and he came out feeling very differently than when he went in, but it wasn't because of the film itself, but because there was a Q&A afterwards. After he sat for half an hour listening to the deranged screechings of the cult members and their ritual denunciations of the Zionist entity, seeing how unhinged, rage-addled and repulsive these people are (even especially physically), he came out no longer having any sympathy in their cause, no longer believing anything they said, and no longer wanting anything to do with them.
For sane middle-of-road types, exposure to the actual Free Palestine! cult members might just be the best thing to show them that the people claiming to be devoted to justice and liberation are just miserable mentally unbalanced freaks who only want a socially acceptable excuse to spread their misery and hatred to others. They might just be the worst heralds of their cause, a living refutation. Let's call it exposure therapy...
Nuance is such an underrated skill in today's world! Everybody needs a dose (maybe more!) of nuance nowadays to actually make sense of the modern-day world.
I have sympathy/empathy for your friend! I have similar feelings.
I don't mean to be glib or dismissive, but Progressives really exhibit similar patterns of thought as cult members. And not that anyone close to me has been in a cult or that I've had to deprogram them, but it seems that you can't challenge their entire worldview or any of the sacred dogma they've absorbed directly or aggressively.
You have to sort of lay out bread crumbs of skepticism and hope that they nibble one, but don't force it and don't make them eat more than one at a time. Like feeding a very skittish squirrel!
It feels almost literally painful for them to question the narratives blasted out daily by the media (esp the NYT, the Progressive Bible)—"Left spaces" are ruthless in their dogma policing and in the social death sentences they hand out to dissenters and reasoned debate is hopeless—but I keep trying, just with my closest friends and family.
No, I understand what you mean. What you have written is very true.
They've been told their whole views that, in a way, the world is very simple partially due to stereotypes and in-built assumptions. Of course, reality would beg to differ. For example:
The Republicans are ALL racist (NOT fully true! What happened to bipartisanship?!).
The Muslims are ALL peace-loving folk who can do no wrong (Hello, what happened to helping reform the religion so democratic nations and their citizens can stay safe!)
Everyone who disagrees with them are ALL people who have not seen and/or read their opinions/views before (Even though I'm sure everybody, at some point in life, has seen the papers themselves and made up their minds accordingly!).
----------------
I hope you can 'save' your friend, as you said.
But, please don't forget he has an opinion for a reason. Don't be an aggressive proselytizer. There's so much stuff you don't know either! Be humble.
The above paragraph is extremely unwarranted advice, on my part, but is worth repeating nevertheless, lest we all fall into Internet echo chambers and be unable to talk to our very good friends :)
I am the opposite of both words here: aggressive proselytizer.
And am a strong believer in intellectual humility and healthy skepticism.
This only becomes a problem when I'm faced with people lying and/or repeating claims about things they know nothing about, not to mention that everyone else is repeating simultaneously, having all just absorbed the daily dogma from their preferred media orgs.
Debate aint what it used to be—it seems that ignorance and certitude always march in lockstep.
Like I said before, I will try to correct my friends and family when they regurgitate certain preposterous ideas and narratives, but that is the full extent of my ambition.
They are making absolute fools of themselves and should absolutely be told as much. If they are not taken down a peg or two, they suffer what MLK calls MORAL INJURY, which is arguably the greatest of all wounds.
Check out this clip of Tom Cotton ridiculing an Al Jazeera “reporter” trying to interview him.
He calls the man “an embarrassment.”
We should take notes on how the Senator handles this.
These professional crier of crocodile tears about the poor oppressed Palestinians wouldn't know what to do if the Palestinians chose peace instead of war. Not only would they be out of jobs, they'd be out of cheap virtue and a global platform to perform on. The "pro-Palestine" industrial complex is a parasite and vampire that runs on Arab and Jewish blood and needs more and more of it to survive and grow fat.
The problem is that the targets of our ridicule are humour impaired. Hypocrisy and foolishness are comic staples but they can't recognize it. Our politicians, media, academics, world organizations (UN etc.) all lie with straight faces. No shame. No self awareness. We should laugh at them for our own good. :)
What is the L on the forehead? The pro-Pal young (and old) I guess are trying to be as oppositionally defiant as they think Jews are, deliberately arraying themselves against Pro-Pal values. First Christ the Jew had to die for their sins, next the remaining Jews, now Israel and any other Jews left-over, is how I see it. don't know how to make fun of these people. I agree with your theory re the young and ask why is the UN etc acting like they're 14? Maybe the digital world is making everyone younger (stupider about some things).
Since Oct 7, it’s mostly been about *what* to say to those who are prejudiced against Jews and Israelis. And *why* we speak up or not. I’ve been more curious about *how* we argue, what’s effective or not
I love this strategy and am adopting it. As someone who taught for 45 years I'm hear to tell you that you are so right about today's young people wanting to see themselves as uncompromisingly "speaking truth to power." Everything that they consider to be against the status quo is valued as a truth and everything that supports the things their parents might value, such as peaceful coexistence with other humans, is seen as a lie meant to manipulate them. On FacebooK I have stopped trying to talk sense to them. Now I just post laughing emojis or say things like, "Whatever genocide supporter" followed by a bunch of laughing emojis. When they respond indignantly I post another laughing emoji. Maybe it doesn't do any good, but it makes me feel better.
The thing is, as likely as not, that K-12 student or post secondary student will have been groomed for Palestinianism by their teachers or professors, who proclaim themselves to be speaking truth to power. So yeah, mock the hypocrisy without expending too much energy and move on.
Yes, sadly so.
feeling better is important. I'll try it
NY Knicks have the greatest comeback in NBA finals history. On the way out of the game Jerry Seinfeld is approached by a pro-pali heckler. He asks Jerry "Can I get a free palestine?" Seinfeld responds "Palestine doesn't exist." Another great comeback.
It's not the first time in history when "useful idiots" have been indoctrinated to believe their bad actions are justified, when they are doing the complete Opposite. So sad what has been allowed, and supported, in once civilized and safe nations. Weak vote hoarding Politicians and Hypocritical sellout Leaders have a lot of answering to do.
Gay Jewish comedian Zack Sage Fox who does reels for Street Smarts, often dressed up to look like a gay Hamas fan draped in kefiyyehs and rainbow attire, is pretty good at drawing out the "pro-Palestine" types to expose their hypocrisy. One of them smiled prettily for the videographer as she agreed that her voiced support for Hamas was as Fox put it, her "kink".
Definitely, there's little point in telling the anti-Israel crowd that they are voicing clearly antisemitic opinions. They will likely respond that they are only "antizionist" and that lots of Jews are antizionist, and the real antisemitism is Zionism. Best strategy is to likely point out hypocrisies as best you can about the misogyny, homophobia, authoritarianism and nihilism, or the falsity of the "settler colonial" claim, using the words of retired Ontario Court of Appeals justice Harry S. LaForme, as published recently at the National Post as part of his response to Mark Carney's rather disappointing June 1st announcement of the advisory board that's supposedly going to make combatting antisemitism their priority. (The piece is behind a paywall or I'd have supplied a URL to it:
[...]
As an Anishinaabe man, a member of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, and someone who spent almost 25 years as a judge interpreting the laws of this country, let me be clear — Canada is a colonial country. Israel is not.
Indigenous peoples know colonialism because we lived it. Colonialism means language suppression. It means forced religious conversion. It means population displacement, foreign governance, economic exploitation, imposed legal hierarchies and cultural erasure. Canada’s Indigenous peoples experienced these things. The Jewish people experienced these things. They do not describe Israel.
For thousands of years, Jewish identity has been tied to the land of Israel through language, culture, law, religion, traditions and collective memory. The Jewish connection to Jerusalem did not begin in 1948. It survived despite conquest, exile, persecution and genocide.
Indigeneity is demonstrated through historical continuity: a distinct people with a connection to ancestral land, identity, language, culture, rituals, legal traditions and spiritual life. By that measure, Jews are Indigenous to Israel.
Zionism is not colonialism. Zionism is self-determination. The Indigenous people of Israel achieved what Indigenous peoples around the world have sought: self-governance in their ancestral homeland.
[...]
Thank you for stating this, and it is a brilliant idea. Either we resort to methods used by the haters in retaliation, but we are way outnumbered and definitely not inclined to use those methods anyways or we need something like ridicule, and lawsuits, like how they have done it in the US, with lawyers giving their time pro bono to students, academics, professionals, parents, and Jewish organizations to sue everyone and every organization like school boards and universities . However, it is not just young people who are at the forefront. As noted in media, CSIS has warned the government that the Muslim Brotherhood, considered a terror organization in much of the ME is very active in Canada fomenting violence and hate. It has been incredibly frustrating to see the unelected Jewish leaders, chosen by the old boys' network, still persist in thinking it is the 1970s where perhaps Holocaust education, debates and opinion pieces in the papers would rectify the situation. Today you are comparing apples to oranges. Today the deep hatred is a virulent virus which has been mainstreamed into society as the norm, often due to brainwashing from academics, social and mainline media, as well as the ruling Liberal Party with Carney, NDP and of course the Green Party as well as from certain segments of the Muslim population that has come from the most radical areas of the ME, as well as Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who have poured in, in the last ten years. New methods must be used as the others methods cannot fight a virus, that has been normalized in Canada.
Saul Alinsky's 1971 book, "Rules for Radicals", details a number of techniques that can be used to counter the current-day antisemitic/anti-Israel/anti-Western Civilization movement. Per Pat's suggestion, he does talk about Ridicule as a way to infuriate the opposition, which then triggers them to react. A further rule "Whenever possible, go outside the experience of an opponent. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat." Making the Hard Left/Communists "Own", defend, answer for, their Islamist Allies is a very effective tactic. As the Islamists are homophobic, misogynistic, antisemitic, anti-Christian, Sharia Law enforcing, there's endless material to work with. The idea is to shame and ridicule the Hard Left for their disgraceful association and partnership with the Islamists.
Creativity and out-of-the-box ideas are needed. See my suggestions: https://allenz1.substack.com/p/freedom-of-speech-is-our-last-best
Yes, the herd of independent minds. But poking fun at them will likely enrage them and plant them even more firmly in Camp Antisemitism.
I don't see a solution to the problem. We can only get out there and sincerely tell the truth. Staying silent is what we must avoid. If enough people speak out against living by lies, it may have a positive effect, but it will take some time.
As you say, we are dealing with mobs, with conformists who think that they are actually signaling their virtue. The mob gives them a sense of belonging, something I'm sure few of them ever had. We have a generation of young people who have been brought up by bad teachers and cell phones. A cell phone isn't much of a community, and they want a community wherever they can find it. This means that they can easily be manipulated. A country or culture like this is ripe for totalitarianism. This is why the problem is not really a Jewish problem. It's a civilizational problem, and every citizen has a stake in the battle.
Western leaders have been inadequate, to say the least, in addressing this. In fact, many have incited this oldest of hatreds. Most are silent. The Democratic Party in the US has become part of the problem. Only one Democratic Senator has spoken out against the antisemitic progressive Democrat with the Nazi tattoo running for the Senate in Maine. The Democrats who don't like it are too cowardly to say something because they will lose Democratic voters. The situation is getting worse, not better.
It remains to be seen how long younger Palestinianists will cling to the orthodoxy that they've been sold by their teachers, media, social media and corrupted NGOs. Some will outgrow it as they come to recognize the unholy alliances of Islamists, authoritarian non-Islamist states like Russia and the Peoples Republic of China for what they actually are. For the moment, most will reflexively become enraged at having their ignorance and hypocrisy pointed out. (Think in terms of Mark Twain's famous quote about being disgusted to realize how dumb his father was when Twain was 18, only to concede, by age 21, that his father was actually quite wise.)
Screw’m. I’m so done with their virtuosity. Let them be enraged - all they are is emotions anyway.
Pat, I think you're right, but I would take it a step further. Facts mean nothing to many of these people. The way you beat them is with better slogans, better messaging, better branding, and a stronger sense of identity.
These people are not revolutionaries. They're conformists. They pride themselves on being nonconformists, yet they dress alike, chant the same slogans, carry the same signs, and think the same thoughts. They are a movement built on conformity pretending to be rebellion.
What frustrates me is that they're actually sending us a message every day, and we're not listening. Their demonstrations, their unity, their discipline, and their messaging are exposing how poor a job we're doing. Instead of learning from it, we keep complaining.
Look at them. They have the keffiyeh. They have slogans. They have symbols. They have branding. What do we have? We have endless discussions and endless arguments. I remember the young hostage who raised her injured hand in defiance after terrorists had mutilated her fingers. There are powerful symbols, powerful stories, and powerful messages everywhere, yet we rarely turn them into a movement people can rally around.
I remember your "Pro-Jew" article. I thought it was brilliant. Simple, positive, memorable. I liked it so much that I now sign many of my comments, "Pro-Jew, Proudly Zionist." But where is everyone else? Why isn't it everywhere? Why aren't Jewish organizations, writers, and activists repeating it? Good ideas don't go anywhere if nobody uses them.
The truth is, they are beating us at messaging. That's the lesson. We can whine about it, or we can do something about it. Too often, I think we've found our niche: endless complaining instead of effective action.
I discovered a different way to deal with this problem of radicalized ignorance and sadism (poorly) disguised as moral concern that marches under the banner of Free Palestine!—but this might be less about opposing the dedicated cult members than about peeling off the implicit support they get from older gentry progressives, who usually buy their ideas and opinions in bulk (from the NYT NPR BBC CNN etc) and who mostly just go along to get along and reflexively repeat all the mandatory opinions of their social circles.
My closest friend is an NYC Gen-X Dem liberal and since 10/7 he's been pretty much repeating the conventional wisdom about Israel stealing Arab land, about the crimes of the IDF and about the poor Palestinian children, all of it imbibed straight from the NYT homepage. Recently he went to a documentary screening about the Palestinian plight and he came out feeling very differently than when he went in, but it wasn't because of the film itself, but because there was a Q&A afterwards. After he sat for half an hour listening to the deranged screechings of the cult members and their ritual denunciations of the Zionist entity, seeing how unhinged, rage-addled and repulsive these people are (even especially physically), he came out no longer having any sympathy in their cause, no longer believing anything they said, and no longer wanting anything to do with them.
For sane middle-of-road types, exposure to the actual Free Palestine! cult members might just be the best thing to show them that the people claiming to be devoted to justice and liberation are just miserable mentally unbalanced freaks who only want a socially acceptable excuse to spread their misery and hatred to others. They might just be the worst heralds of their cause, a living refutation. Let's call it exposure therapy...
Nuance is such an underrated skill in today's world! Everybody needs a dose (maybe more!) of nuance nowadays to actually make sense of the modern-day world.
I have sympathy/empathy for your friend! I have similar feelings.
Best wishes. I hope it is not too late.
I don't mean to be glib or dismissive, but Progressives really exhibit similar patterns of thought as cult members. And not that anyone close to me has been in a cult or that I've had to deprogram them, but it seems that you can't challenge their entire worldview or any of the sacred dogma they've absorbed directly or aggressively.
You have to sort of lay out bread crumbs of skepticism and hope that they nibble one, but don't force it and don't make them eat more than one at a time. Like feeding a very skittish squirrel!
It feels almost literally painful for them to question the narratives blasted out daily by the media (esp the NYT, the Progressive Bible)—"Left spaces" are ruthless in their dogma policing and in the social death sentences they hand out to dissenters and reasoned debate is hopeless—but I keep trying, just with my closest friends and family.
You can't save everyone!
Cheers
No, I understand what you mean. What you have written is very true.
They've been told their whole views that, in a way, the world is very simple partially due to stereotypes and in-built assumptions. Of course, reality would beg to differ. For example:
The Republicans are ALL racist (NOT fully true! What happened to bipartisanship?!).
The Muslims are ALL peace-loving folk who can do no wrong (Hello, what happened to helping reform the religion so democratic nations and their citizens can stay safe!)
Everyone who disagrees with them are ALL people who have not seen and/or read their opinions/views before (Even though I'm sure everybody, at some point in life, has seen the papers themselves and made up their minds accordingly!).
----------------
I hope you can 'save' your friend, as you said.
But, please don't forget he has an opinion for a reason. Don't be an aggressive proselytizer. There's so much stuff you don't know either! Be humble.
The above paragraph is extremely unwarranted advice, on my part, but is worth repeating nevertheless, lest we all fall into Internet echo chambers and be unable to talk to our very good friends :)
Cheers!
I am the opposite of both words here: aggressive proselytizer.
And am a strong believer in intellectual humility and healthy skepticism.
This only becomes a problem when I'm faced with people lying and/or repeating claims about things they know nothing about, not to mention that everyone else is repeating simultaneously, having all just absorbed the daily dogma from their preferred media orgs.
Debate aint what it used to be—it seems that ignorance and certitude always march in lockstep.
Like I said before, I will try to correct my friends and family when they regurgitate certain preposterous ideas and narratives, but that is the full extent of my ambition.
Then, we're on the same page here!
I agree with basically everything you wrote here.
Like I also said before, I hope you can 'save' your friend, if possible (which I very much hope so!).
Good luck and stay safe! :)
They are making absolute fools of themselves and should absolutely be told as much. If they are not taken down a peg or two, they suffer what MLK calls MORAL INJURY, which is arguably the greatest of all wounds.
Check out this clip of Tom Cotton ridiculing an Al Jazeera “reporter” trying to interview him.
He calls the man “an embarrassment.”
We should take notes on how the Senator handles this.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOgeWZ2EbmA/?igsh=MXY0dnN1YWpvYXcxNQ==
That was great!
"Why would the IPC lie about famine?"
LOL
These professional crier of crocodile tears about the poor oppressed Palestinians wouldn't know what to do if the Palestinians chose peace instead of war. Not only would they be out of jobs, they'd be out of cheap virtue and a global platform to perform on. The "pro-Palestine" industrial complex is a parasite and vampire that runs on Arab and Jewish blood and needs more and more of it to survive and grow fat.
Might be your best yet.
The problem is that the targets of our ridicule are humour impaired. Hypocrisy and foolishness are comic staples but they can't recognize it. Our politicians, media, academics, world organizations (UN etc.) all lie with straight faces. No shame. No self awareness. We should laugh at them for our own good. :)
As usual, Pat is brilliant! I have no solution, so his may actually work. But my pessimism thinks not. Good luck!
What is the L on the forehead? The pro-Pal young (and old) I guess are trying to be as oppositionally defiant as they think Jews are, deliberately arraying themselves against Pro-Pal values. First Christ the Jew had to die for their sins, next the remaining Jews, now Israel and any other Jews left-over, is how I see it. don't know how to make fun of these people. I agree with your theory re the young and ask why is the UN etc acting like they're 14? Maybe the digital world is making everyone younger (stupider about some things).
Since Oct 7, it’s mostly been about *what* to say to those who are prejudiced against Jews and Israelis. And *why* we speak up or not. I’ve been more curious about *how* we argue, what’s effective or not
You’re absolutely right. Arguing on social media gives them nothing but pleasure. Brilliant, as always, Pat.