There is a patronizing racism in the idea that slaughtering innocent people equates to noble freedom fighting, as if this were the only way to respond to oppression.
I very much agree that people really need to look carefully at these situations before forming an opinion, especially when the issues are so complex. Short-circuiting that process leads to the unthinking endorsement of the barbarity you described. Now, however, I think most Palestinians would be happy to be condescended to if they could just be sure of survival. I truly hope Israel does its utmost to avoid the taking of more innocent lives. Netanyahu has tried to defend these tactics by citing civilian casualties resulting from the United States’ counterattacks during WWII and after 9/11. But there's something about these analogies that is problematic. For one thing, the allies were not trying to squeeze Germans out of Germany, and America was not trying to squeeze Afghans and Iraqis out of Afghanistan and Iraq, respectively. There are other reasons the analogies don’t hold up, but the most troubling thing is knowing in advance that the enemy is Hamas and not the Palestinians, while knowing the Palestinians will suffer the greatest percentage of the casualties. It’s like trying to kill a mosquito with a cannon ball.
There is another solution to the problem that has not been attempted and it points to one of the reasons Anti-Zionism is not the same thing as Anti-Semitism. Why has there not been a concerted effort on the part of the Israelis to convert the Muslim Population of Palestine to Judaism? If the Jews want to have a Jewish Homeland, and the Jews believe they are the chosen people, then why isn’t everyone invited to the party? If it is more a matter of mitochondrial DNA than religious faith, then is this not the very definition of racism?
Applauded by the WOKE Left has been the march toward “oppressed vs oppressor.” There is no middle ground. You are either oppressed (people of Color,BLM, illegal immigrates, LGBTQ, Palestinians, etc.! ALWAYS the minorities EXCEPT Asians, who are considered White, or Conservative Blacks who are considered Uncle Tom sellouts), OR the oppressor (the majority, always Whites, always Christians, always Conservatives, always Patriotic, always capitalist supporters of Democracy i.e. America & Israel).
The irony is how the WOKE Left is now “eating their own” over the Hamas - Israel WAR! ALL those years of ALWAYS voting Democrat, ALWAYS supporting BLM, LGBTQ and EVEN denying ANTFA is dangerous, THOSE Jewish people are now under attack by their WOKE comrades!
Where will this end? How? When? At what cost! One thing we know for certain, if we do not elect a strong, unapologetic President who will put America back on the World Stage, America will continue to deteriorate!
I'm a little surprised to see John McWhorter in these pages. But he's been saying common sense things lately on the Glen Loury show and some other places so welcome.
Mr. McWhorter is wrong in asserting, "Few of those who celebrate savagery in theory would do so when faced with its reality." Just watch this video https://youtu.be/A_PR5RaDE38?si=W8TP92ltMuIzP5od to see how wrong he is.
By the logic of the left is there really any difference in the "oppression" felt by the Palestinians from the Israelis and that felt by black Americans and LGBTQIetc from white America? If it is functionally the same, although possibly different in degree, then would your white lefty neighbor support marrauding gangs of blacks and gays on his street dispensing "justice" a la Hamas? If not, why not?
I agree with this sentiment. People need to take responsibility for themselves and their communities. The Palestinian people are not just innocent bystanders. They have allowed Hamas to infiltrate their society, controlling their minds and brainwashing their children. At some point, they need to take responsibility for their own community and work to improve it. They had control of Gaza for near 20 years and they allowed Hamas to turn it into a complete den of despair. As expected, the leftists must blame the “oppressor” for every struggling community they see on the planet. They refuse to acknowledge that some people live in broken cultures, broken communities. There are countless examples of communities rising from the depths, and it needs to be done from within. Keep telling people they’re victims of oppression, that there’s nothing they can do to change their own situation. When you convince someone they are a victim, it’s only a matter of time before they react violently to the power that is supposedly victimizing them. We are seeing the end result of this victim philosophy and it’s ugly. It will lead us back into barabarism.
MacWhorter is dead on! It is condescending to excuse anyone for morally reprehensible behaviour because they see themselves as perennial victims and so have the right to do what they do. This approach is profoundly insulting.
Palestinians have been infantilized since the very start. Excuses for 1948, declining multiple peace offers, 2 intifadas, on and on and now this!! They behave like mindless infants who have had their toys taken away. Any Palestinian of good faith needs to realize that many many of those on the Left of Israel with whom there may have been common cause have been lost to you. I’ve talked to them over the last two weeks. They are furious and won’t be placated with the BS about 2 states, one state...whatever. The onus of responsibility is on any good faith Palestinians to stand up for yourselves, to put yourselves at risk to your own terroristic kin. Then maybe you’ll be believed. How about rescinding the ‘forever refugee’ status that the UN provided. Go elsewhere. Settle down. Leave the Jews be. It is ironic to me that if the Palestinians had made peace with Israel way back in 1948 they would be The Most Successful ‘non-oil reliant’ Arabs in all of MENA. And through their own infantile, intransigent behavior along with the support of much of the world they have decimated their own hopes and dignity which they replaced with jealousy, hatred and violence.
KJP needs to be hounded out of her position with a burst of righteous anger. She is so fundamentally dishonest and unwilling to accept responsibility for her misdeeds and her statements. Because she is a black lesbian, she will be protected. This is outrageous. The hatred of Jews is so out of proportion with the more justifiable criticism of the entire Arab world1.
I have found the "Hamas cheerleaders" refrain to be such an egregious way to frame the narrative. Not only does it seem to forget (or ignore?) that Hamas is the government of Gaza (of which the militant faction is just one part), it also seems to (deceptively, imo) paint supporters of Palestinian liberation as supportive of terrorism. And it seems to come straight from the Bush Admin playbook after 9/11 when they employed the manipulative "You're either with us or with the terrorists" form of social engineering. I can't help but feel like we're being socially engineered again.
It very much pains me to say that I'm disappointed that you authored this article, Dr. McWhorter, because I have so much respect for you and your work... but not this piece.
I don’t know why Israel doesn’t make the availability of aid to Gaza contingent on the release of all captives. This puts the pressure back on Hamas where it belongs, and they will have a chance to show how much they love the Gazan Palestinians they rule over. A deal could happen in a matter of minutes. And if Hamas holds out and innocent Palestinians suffer (like their Israeli neighbors also did at the hands of Hamas), they can explain to the world why innocent Palestinians must suffer so that … innocent Israelis can also suffer.
And here's another idea: Hold spot elections in the Gaza Strip, right now. If the people vote for Hamas, then they get what they paid for. If they reject Hamas, it exposes and isolates them as stooges of the Shi-ite Ayatollahs.
So we are clear....when you hear that Israel is an "occupier" it means that Israel as a country should not exist and neither should Jews. Don't think it means Israel in Gaza. This is now beyond clear.
Lots of great comments to be read. I'm going to dumb down the conversation a bit by trying to remove the layers of analysis of McWhorter’s post. In its current state, the left liberals have succumbed to the worldview that if two bodies, bodies meaning race, gender, nations, and so on, exist in close proximity, a fault must be found to explain any disparities in success or prosperity. The knee-jerk reaction is always the same. Observe and react only in a way that discounts the obvious choices that have led to the disparities. In other words, blame the prosperous first, investigate later, maybe. That's not to say groups are never subjugated by others. Just not always.
Hypothetically, if Hamas was eliminated and the Palestinians were each given $250,000 dollars, I would bet in 10 years they would be in the same boat. Maybe it's them. Let's not lower the bar for cause.
I wonder what Palestinian women think when they hold their baby boys to their breast knowing that they will be raised to hate and kill - does she want peace? Can she say that? Who is the oppressor in this scenario when a woman can not choose the life they want for her children. What about the propaganda that is taught in schools and financed by the UN? I say the government- Gaza has a government in place and it is not Israel. The West Bank in Palestine is under the rule of the PA. Everyone talks about Israel’s motives or future plans - but what is Palestine hoping for? Who wants to leave the world a better place and move forward? There are real issues that the younger generation need to focus on - cleaning pollution, climate change and making the world a better place so we can live at peace with our neighbors. Jews have been oppressed throughout the ages but succeed anyway; I think we can learn something from them.
I very much agree that people really need to look carefully at these situations before forming an opinion, especially when the issues are so complex. Short-circuiting that process leads to the unthinking endorsement of the barbarity you described. Now, however, I think most Palestinians would be happy to be condescended to if they could just be sure of survival. I truly hope Israel does its utmost to avoid the taking of more innocent lives. Netanyahu has tried to defend these tactics by citing civilian casualties resulting from the United States’ counterattacks during WWII and after 9/11. But there's something about these analogies that is problematic. For one thing, the allies were not trying to squeeze Germans out of Germany, and America was not trying to squeeze Afghans and Iraqis out of Afghanistan and Iraq, respectively. There are other reasons the analogies don’t hold up, but the most troubling thing is knowing in advance that the enemy is Hamas and not the Palestinians, while knowing the Palestinians will suffer the greatest percentage of the casualties. It’s like trying to kill a mosquito with a cannon ball.
There is another solution to the problem that has not been attempted and it points to one of the reasons Anti-Zionism is not the same thing as Anti-Semitism. Why has there not been a concerted effort on the part of the Israelis to convert the Muslim Population of Palestine to Judaism? If the Jews want to have a Jewish Homeland, and the Jews believe they are the chosen people, then why isn’t everyone invited to the party? If it is more a matter of mitochondrial DNA than religious faith, then is this not the very definition of racism?
Applauded by the WOKE Left has been the march toward “oppressed vs oppressor.” There is no middle ground. You are either oppressed (people of Color,BLM, illegal immigrates, LGBTQ, Palestinians, etc.! ALWAYS the minorities EXCEPT Asians, who are considered White, or Conservative Blacks who are considered Uncle Tom sellouts), OR the oppressor (the majority, always Whites, always Christians, always Conservatives, always Patriotic, always capitalist supporters of Democracy i.e. America & Israel).
The irony is how the WOKE Left is now “eating their own” over the Hamas - Israel WAR! ALL those years of ALWAYS voting Democrat, ALWAYS supporting BLM, LGBTQ and EVEN denying ANTFA is dangerous, THOSE Jewish people are now under attack by their WOKE comrades!
Where will this end? How? When? At what cost! One thing we know for certain, if we do not elect a strong, unapologetic President who will put America back on the World Stage, America will continue to deteriorate!
I'm a little surprised to see John McWhorter in these pages. But he's been saying common sense things lately on the Glen Loury show and some other places so welcome.
Mr. McWhorter is wrong in asserting, "Few of those who celebrate savagery in theory would do so when faced with its reality." Just watch this video https://youtu.be/A_PR5RaDE38?si=W8TP92ltMuIzP5od to see how wrong he is.
By the logic of the left is there really any difference in the "oppression" felt by the Palestinians from the Israelis and that felt by black Americans and LGBTQIetc from white America? If it is functionally the same, although possibly different in degree, then would your white lefty neighbor support marrauding gangs of blacks and gays on his street dispensing "justice" a la Hamas? If not, why not?
That's a discussion I'd like to hear.
Wow!
I agree with this sentiment. People need to take responsibility for themselves and their communities. The Palestinian people are not just innocent bystanders. They have allowed Hamas to infiltrate their society, controlling their minds and brainwashing their children. At some point, they need to take responsibility for their own community and work to improve it. They had control of Gaza for near 20 years and they allowed Hamas to turn it into a complete den of despair. As expected, the leftists must blame the “oppressor” for every struggling community they see on the planet. They refuse to acknowledge that some people live in broken cultures, broken communities. There are countless examples of communities rising from the depths, and it needs to be done from within. Keep telling people they’re victims of oppression, that there’s nothing they can do to change their own situation. When you convince someone they are a victim, it’s only a matter of time before they react violently to the power that is supposedly victimizing them. We are seeing the end result of this victim philosophy and it’s ugly. It will lead us back into barabarism.
MacWhorter is dead on! It is condescending to excuse anyone for morally reprehensible behaviour because they see themselves as perennial victims and so have the right to do what they do. This approach is profoundly insulting.
Palestinians have been infantilized since the very start. Excuses for 1948, declining multiple peace offers, 2 intifadas, on and on and now this!! They behave like mindless infants who have had their toys taken away. Any Palestinian of good faith needs to realize that many many of those on the Left of Israel with whom there may have been common cause have been lost to you. I’ve talked to them over the last two weeks. They are furious and won’t be placated with the BS about 2 states, one state...whatever. The onus of responsibility is on any good faith Palestinians to stand up for yourselves, to put yourselves at risk to your own terroristic kin. Then maybe you’ll be believed. How about rescinding the ‘forever refugee’ status that the UN provided. Go elsewhere. Settle down. Leave the Jews be. It is ironic to me that if the Palestinians had made peace with Israel way back in 1948 they would be The Most Successful ‘non-oil reliant’ Arabs in all of MENA. And through their own infantile, intransigent behavior along with the support of much of the world they have decimated their own hopes and dignity which they replaced with jealousy, hatred and violence.
KJP needs to be hounded out of her position with a burst of righteous anger. She is so fundamentally dishonest and unwilling to accept responsibility for her misdeeds and her statements. Because she is a black lesbian, she will be protected. This is outrageous. The hatred of Jews is so out of proportion with the more justifiable criticism of the entire Arab world1.
I have found the "Hamas cheerleaders" refrain to be such an egregious way to frame the narrative. Not only does it seem to forget (or ignore?) that Hamas is the government of Gaza (of which the militant faction is just one part), it also seems to (deceptively, imo) paint supporters of Palestinian liberation as supportive of terrorism. And it seems to come straight from the Bush Admin playbook after 9/11 when they employed the manipulative "You're either with us or with the terrorists" form of social engineering. I can't help but feel like we're being socially engineered again.
It very much pains me to say that I'm disappointed that you authored this article, Dr. McWhorter, because I have so much respect for you and your work... but not this piece.
I don’t know why Israel doesn’t make the availability of aid to Gaza contingent on the release of all captives. This puts the pressure back on Hamas where it belongs, and they will have a chance to show how much they love the Gazan Palestinians they rule over. A deal could happen in a matter of minutes. And if Hamas holds out and innocent Palestinians suffer (like their Israeli neighbors also did at the hands of Hamas), they can explain to the world why innocent Palestinians must suffer so that … innocent Israelis can also suffer.
And here's another idea: Hold spot elections in the Gaza Strip, right now. If the people vote for Hamas, then they get what they paid for. If they reject Hamas, it exposes and isolates them as stooges of the Shi-ite Ayatollahs.
So we are clear....when you hear that Israel is an "occupier" it means that Israel as a country should not exist and neither should Jews. Don't think it means Israel in Gaza. This is now beyond clear.
Lots of great comments to be read. I'm going to dumb down the conversation a bit by trying to remove the layers of analysis of McWhorter’s post. In its current state, the left liberals have succumbed to the worldview that if two bodies, bodies meaning race, gender, nations, and so on, exist in close proximity, a fault must be found to explain any disparities in success or prosperity. The knee-jerk reaction is always the same. Observe and react only in a way that discounts the obvious choices that have led to the disparities. In other words, blame the prosperous first, investigate later, maybe. That's not to say groups are never subjugated by others. Just not always.
Hypothetically, if Hamas was eliminated and the Palestinians were each given $250,000 dollars, I would bet in 10 years they would be in the same boat. Maybe it's them. Let's not lower the bar for cause.
@thefp please make these articles accessible to substack’s e-reader m. Thank you
I wonder what Palestinian women think when they hold their baby boys to their breast knowing that they will be raised to hate and kill - does she want peace? Can she say that? Who is the oppressor in this scenario when a woman can not choose the life they want for her children. What about the propaganda that is taught in schools and financed by the UN? I say the government- Gaza has a government in place and it is not Israel. The West Bank in Palestine is under the rule of the PA. Everyone talks about Israel’s motives or future plans - but what is Palestine hoping for? Who wants to leave the world a better place and move forward? There are real issues that the younger generation need to focus on - cleaning pollution, climate change and making the world a better place so we can live at peace with our neighbors. Jews have been oppressed throughout the ages but succeed anyway; I think we can learn something from them.