Why can't we discuss Israel? because its a big pain in the ass, thats why.
Greetings from the hell pit that my life has been lately, and my recovery day from the wonderful bar mitzvah yesterday of a fantastic kid who I have watched grow into a really great person. It was touching and funny and I really enjoyed it. But because I'm somewhat of a "negative" person or something, (I prefer a sort of Woody Allen before-the-fall, neurotic-ish, realist, NYC, outlook...thats not all that negative is it?) My perception of things is always about what is happening between the lines, inside the message, and I agonize so much about all this organized religion stuff. But this temple and rabbi always get me because the Israel issue is BIG...and that sticks in my craw a little...and why? Because the ideas that are swirling around this community and this country, and what people end up feeling and acting on regarding the hardest issues that we face these days involve a sort of stark fear..
Liberals pussyfoot around this issue because its such a sensitive spot and it seems to hit every soft spot of emotion and fear possible. The passion involved makes it impossible to argue it, much less fight a war over it. In dealing with something that inevitably leads to religious issues, I've found that its best to not set foot in that taboo land of god.How could I possibly understand faith? Its something that I lack, for better or worse...except for a faith in nature and certain people...far fewer these days and ever dwindling. I also don't know as much as I should about the political details of the holy land, probably, because I reject the idea of religious war and I don't believe that any god that exists gives a shit about land and temples or shrines and governing entities deciding who gets what . I think that if there is a test to being human and gaining entrance into whatever heaven might be, and if its in the scriptures or written in the skies, it must concern how easily a soul is able to let go of these earthly things, and understand that there is no control over anything, much less who gets the rights to one holy place or another. It also must be somewhat about how we treat our worst enemy and the weakest among us...right? And something about looking within and questioning our motives and the societal standards and rules set up around those motives.
If we can't see ourselves in every person out there and have empathy for the struggles of others, then what good is it if we own the ground that god's son walked on? Its only a piece of dirt...how does that compare to a life? Or is life really that cheap?
The human animal has always migrated, and there have always been wars, along with barbaric behavior, in order to gain control of whatever the Spice resource of the time is.
Today at part 1 of the epic bar mitzvah, of the guy with the turtle above, sorta like a young man now, I saw a bunch of people that I've known for more years than I can remember passing me by. And again I was in that pew wondering about what goes into this wonderful community thing that unfortunately also includes giving up a certain amount of logic and reason and accepting the feeling of a very definite line of separation between these people and...others outside of this place. These are the chosen people, after all. I'm not denying that. I think its good to have a well developed ego and feeling about purpose in this life, but what of the rest of us...the...er...left behind...what about us?
Who was I and how did I get through all of everything for all of these years? Who are these young adults and how did they get so big? The boys were shrugging off their mothers fixing their hair or patting their shoulders; the girls were in little cliques and talking in code, holding their phones, and flipping that young shiny hair around. Its all so young and fertile and...scary....because the time really did fly by like nothing. But still, we've all been busy, busy, so its not yet porch and rocking chair time. We still have weddings to go through and grandchildren too, I suppose (though I have been notified by my young alien that he intends to give me NO grandchildren....whatever...I'm beyond trying to reason with the creature until he is at least 18...because he knows everything! And he can see the future!)
During all of that hugging of people I hadn't seen in so long, and measuring all the kids against my vaguely changing self, (at least I hope I'm not changing as fast as they are,) the "liberal-politics-blogger" and how is it going thing came up over and over...to which I had to explain that I've been away and so crazy busy, etc...and that this blog of not much content, is not what I do usually, and all that...yeah, not much posting going on lately....
Along came a dad who I guess I have known since nursery school in the little schoolhouse up the road, and we have met the family again since Will has joined the son in a different school. I was talking about blogging, with some friends, and especially a friend who started a business/bakery that makes snacks for kids with food allergies, and who is adding a blog to her site, when dad piped in that he is a friend of Joe Lieberman and worked on his campaign and has been involved in politics himself. Silence. Should I go there?
Don't do it Melina! Don't jump! But, you know me....
"I have to say...well, you must know... that Joe is not my favorite person in the world, though I would like to talk to him, if I can find him."
So, my friend with the food allergy site glazed over and moved on to say hello to other friends. My other friend just sat there glazed and unbelieving that I was actually going there, and looking to the side for escape possibilities. I bit:
"I actually was just in Chicago with Ned Lamont. I worked on his campaign. I LOVE him! I hope he runs again for anything."
And then I went on to say that I know that Joe has a great voting record, and that he has been not so bad for us. But the problem is that he thinks that his skewed view of the Iraq war is compelling enough, against the views of all the experts and in siding with a view that only George Bush and Barney the dog support anymore, to tear the Democratic party apart, not respect our wishes, and threaten over and over to take his vote to the republican side. This goes against what his constituents want and we have made that clear. The majority of us don't want him to be doing what he's doing, and yet he keeps speaking out in favor of the war...at the same time speaking to us in a condesending, paternalistic fashion, which makes clear that he believes that we are children who dont know our own minds.
I then took a breath.
To which he said: "Well then, how do you feel about Israel?"
Hmmm...How do I feel about Israel?
I was trying to say that it was complicated and that I don't believe in war for land...that perhaps it has a strategic purpose in the Middle east, and that I really don't know enough about all the details to speak on some of these issues....
And, fuck it, I'm a PC liberal...and we don't talk about this subject.
But heres the rub: Joementum Lieberman uses the psychology of fear about the Holocaust/Israel, and it somehow bleeds into a line about Iraq and Iran, and how the Middle East is "gonna blow up," and how unsafe we are. I felt myself mouthing that "be afraid, be very afraid..." line....That mushroom soup with the puff pastry mushroom floating on top could soon be a mushroom cloud!
Part of this is just Joementum talking points , and there is a pretty big fear of the middle east, in general, going round. What it would mean to us if it "blew-up," which seems pretty selfish somehow, because if it blows up (and I think that this rhetoric line involves wars and civil war and Iran taking over Iraq and becoming that much more powerful,) but mostly what it comes down to for many, many people is this myth that Joe is somehow holding Israel together all by himself.
And we don't talk about Israel...or do we?
Supporting Israel is to honor the fallen Holocaust victims. I hear this alot.
I finally said to the woman next to me (a very smart woman, I should add,) that America is NOT deserting Israel no matter what any of us think. And she said that she was not so sure. She said that some of the women at her synagogues had said to her that if Obama got in they were worried about America's continued support of Israel...and also said that if he was the nominee, even as vice, that they would vote republican! Republican!!
She didn't say that she felt that way, but I was sort of plunged into another reality, almost a splash of cold water, shaking my head to try to wake up...
I was tired...it was a long day...and I couldn't see any of this ending well or helping anyone come to any great conclusion. So, I ended the long night of part 2, disco party/sit down dinner, by talking to a friend's husband who I had never had a chance to really talk to...and we had alot in common and he was fun to talk to...so there...I had to flee to a sympathetic and agreeing listener...and talk tech, agreement politics, and recovery.
OK, here is my point: Do I know enough about Israel? No...not enough to know the ins and outs of the legal wrangling. But, I really don't believe in war, especially in the name of "god," whatever that means anymore.
What I really don't believe in, is American children being taught that they are in danger of another genocide and so they should always know that they are really wedded to another country that they are supporting from afar. I think that American children need to be raised American, and that they have to know that if there is another attempted genocide, we will all stand up and say NO! This would presumably be part of the superior American education system that is teaching decision making and philosophy and ethics...oh, wait a minute...never mind....
To this, I've heard " Well, they didnt stand up and say NO last time, did they?"
But you know, genocides have been going on since the beginning of time and even more recently since the Holocaust, and there is even one right now in Darfur. Why is it that the Jewish genocide was worse, and deserving of a country of its own?
At one point the dad said that (well, you're a Jew, right? ...No, my mom isn't, so I'm not, Oh...) hadn't I ever experienced antisemitism?...
Uh-Oh.... there I was with a black kid who lives part of the time in the "inner city," such-as-it-is, of my town, and please don't tell me that antisemitism is worse than the racism that people of color experience all the time. They can't even hide their difference...so don't tell me that you are saying that this piece of the barbaric human experience is any more poignant and deserving of a separate state than that; not for the antisemitism reason anyway. Its all bad and its all the very vilest of human nature to attack those who don't look like them, worship like them, live like them...fill in the blank....is Israel purely about reparations?
As I looked around the synagogue that morning, I noted that there was but one girl of color, a light skinned African-American girl. Why is that? Why is it that no black people can afford to live around here? Someone actually said to me that there are no black Jews, to which I said, ...um...NO?!
And anyway, this synagogue experience is supposed to be all about welcoming anyone in the community who wants to drop in for services and a bite. Its really quite nice and welcoming with kids running around and people whispering and shuffling. Its like a microcosm of real life minus racial diversity and plus a cantor. The rabbi is a cool guy who is a rabid Red Sox fan, and often uses baseball metaphors to make his point. It's just unfortunate that the mass transit system here is totally unreliable and on the weekends its worse...so its not like many people of color are walking down the street. No, they tend to be pretty much corralled down by I-95 where they were put in the first place.
The thing is that this sort of racism is still a huge problem here in America; and its your America where you need to direct some of your attention... because this meddling in the middle east in order to ensure the safety of Israel ,(and the oil...don't forget the oil,) and something about terraists, is only making us less and less safe here...and more and more fearful of people who look different and live differently than we do.
Call it a series of strategic military outposts, call it our need for oil, call it anything, but don't call it anti-semitism or say that its your real country. Your actual country is here under your feet, until you move over there and take citizenship or dual citizenship. Most people I know wouldn't think of moving there permanently, but they have this blind support thing going on. Its a nice place to visit and it makes them feel closer to God, so who am I to question?
I am all for that actually. Faith is a fantastic thing.... But how many people do you want to have died in a civil war in a country that will never right itself until we are out of there, and how many kids should die to protect a country that was created as a deal with a people who needed or wanted a land of their own...? Here is where I don't know enough...
My big question of the night was : And how will you all get there when the next holocaust comes? Airlift? Ship?...whats the plan?
In desperation, the dad parried with a "But If we pull out of Iraq, it will be carnage."
Thrust: "If we stay its carnage."
"God wants us to have Israel...no shit...its in the Torah."
"God wrote that?"
"Yes!"
"On paper?...they didnt have paper back then. On leaves? On rock? God told man??"
So man, in his imperfection, has translated what he heard in his head??? And a zillion years later we are still living by those rules? Oh please....I was saying something about metaphor and the study of theology and the guy wanted to know exactly-which-scrolls-and-bibles-I-have-read...so as to...you know...argue them with me, point by point...but I was finished already when we were talking about how the thing came into being in the first place...there IS no argument past that on the content...is there? Its a matter of faith..which I don't possess....sorry...Its really tragic for me, I know...
See, at this point I start to go all Marc Maron, internally. I want to assure you all out there that this was in no way loud, and it happened over a 12 hour period of time, in that certain people were seeking me out to finish, and I was ducking...here was a full grown man, and a hall full of people for that matter, who, at the root of this whole thing, believe in a theory that relates back to a story told to man by a being who is rather invisible and who flies...then the man wrote it down...miracles...more magic...and here we are!
I'm not putting down anyone's belief because I know it brings comfort, but its at moments like this that I know that I am one of those Sun God folks...In that early man worshiped the sun because it was a tangible thing that they could see and it gave them food, warmth, and light; that makes sense to me. In the same way, I am in awe of the nature that I am surrounded with, and the unplanned way that grandpa has kept this place somewhere between wild and falling down, has given me a real respect for how the forest can send its tentacles into your walls and take your house down very quickly, just as a buck (deer, not my dog, Buck,) will stand outside my back door and stomp his hoove at me rather than run away.
Is that a physical ecological cycle or is it magic made possible by god?
Whatever gives anyone comfort in this world is a good thing, just don't use it to launch wars on my dime and with the kids from my country, unless there is really, really good reason...and Im sorry, there just isn't enough reason here.
Just like anything else, we are supposedly learning in our religious practice, and it goes in cycles that could be hearkened to the political cycle. So, If you elect the cowboy who you would like to have a beer with; if you dumb down education; if you don't care enough to get up from the couch during Who Wants to be a Millionaire, (at least to turn on Olbermann or Jon Stewart so you can learn something,) then this is what you get. If you raise your children to think that they are of an embattled people who are always in danger, you might not like what you get ultimately. Its all an experiment in human psychology because this holocaust stuff is pretty new in the scheme of things. In a hundred years everything will be different and if the planet still exists they will surely look back on this little episode as nothing more than insanity that gripped a powerful nation and caused many deaths/did alot of damage before things swung back the other way. So what does it matter anyway> Am I making some big point or something by just being there and being the one who people talk to about this stuff?
I guess that it was the Joementum thing that really got me. Here it is mathematically:
If Joe=Security for Israel=Security for the Middle East=keep the Iraq War Going=Bomb Iran=Vote Republican for SECURITY..because you should be afraid, very afraid...well, something is wrong....because the whole things equals that we are LESS FUCKING SECURE!! And no one can deny that; not even Joe.
Will the American people go for it again? I don't know. Some of this stuff is knee jerk with this crowd, but there is a whole world out there, and especially in the inner city who are wondering what Joe has done for them. Because, let me tell you, the all-children-in-Connecticut-have-health-insurance line is bullshit. Most of them may have something, but no one accepts it except for some downtown clinics, and you have to be a Rhodes Scholar with alot of time on your hands to get something like an operation approved...unless you go to the emergency room...and even then, you can be billed later if its not pre approved. But at least the hospital has a deal with the Husky plan and there is someone there who has gone to school to know how to deal with this stuff. And I would like to hear Joe speak to the unregulated utilities, and the public housing...the list goes on, folks...lets get Chris Shays in here too...he rides around on this magic carpet just as much as Joe....
One more thing, and this is for Ned Lamont who is one of my heroes, and who I would gladly support again: Two families were standing and talking and laughing about how proud they were of their kids getting involved in Joe's campaign and really working hard at rallies and with the signs, yelling. And I said, (I am such a kill-joy...they must just cringe when they see me coming...)
You know, where I go in the inner city, Joe sent big vans down and he hired black kids for $60-80 per day...sometimes a 12 hour shift...to wear a Joe T-shirt and be transported to rallies (often Ned Lamont rallies,) and cause a commotion and raise hell. I saw a bunch of them running up and down Greenwich Avenue. I also saw some of them instructed to push their way to the front of a crowd when Weicker was giving a speech for Lamont, and hold signs for Joe in front of the TV cameras. In doing that they also pushed and stepped on some pretty old and feeble people, not to mention ME. Now I am pretty strong and tall, but some of these kids were huge and more than a little menacing!
The thing that I found totally outrageous is that Joe's campaign was paying these kids money to support a cause that they didn't know about at all. I asked them if they knew what Joe stood for, and the few that I spoke with didn't, nor did they care, they just needed the job.
But the rub is that these kids live in a complex where very few people can get ahead in Lieberman's Connecticut. If the utilities are unpaid they are cut off. The utility companies have a 3 strikes, non negotiable policy these days. Once they cut off the utilities, the project starts eviction proceedings because its in the lease that utilities must remain on or the tenant will be evicted. If a tenant falls behind even one payment on their utilities they lose the option to pay by the budget plan, and they start getting hit with huge bills...and let me tell you from my side of town, these utility companies need some sort of regulation because they have a monopoly, no matter how much lip service they pay to offering an alternative...its not happening...and they keep raising rates. This cluster housing is a shining star that Joe and his people hold up as Connecticut's great advancement in helping the poor, but they give people an apartment a shoddily constructed house that looks nice form the outside but is made literally of plastic and they adjust the rent according to the income of the tenants, the lack of jobs and whatever is going on...BUT, the offer little help in the way of helping people understand how to balance a budget, how to have a checking account, how to pay bills, and they have no way of helping all of the families that need help when it comes with the utilities. The one social worker who helps the 230+ families in this complex works through a community center that is funded privately by one donor who saw a need and made this a permanent fixture. But I'm not seeing the city government stepping in regarding the fact that this one social worker cant possibly help everyone in the complex, and that the utilities have adopted a zero tolerance policy. I also see things like the supermarket being moved a couple of miles away, across the street from another big new supermarket...city planning at its best...and that the free WiFi provided to all of downtown stops at the edge of this community, so few people have access to the Internet unless they go to the community center. One emergency, one Dr bill, one mistake, and its over...
It is these kids who will eventually have to join the military for a signing bonus in order to bail their family out, bail themselves out, or just survive...
This is Joe's war...and they didn't even know that they were supporting the war by earning those few bucks wearing a T-shirt and handing out fliers.
I found that more perverted than any wide stance or page scandal. $60 or $80 a day doesn't go far, and neither does and additional 25 grand signing bonus when you think that someone could maybe go to college and earn a lifetime's worth of income....and that is nothing compared to what these lives might be worth if they had hope for the future beyond throwing themselves to the military because there are no jobs, and anyway, who can make it on minimum wage?
How much is a kid from the inner city worth these days? Apparently not much to Joe Lieberman and the people who he is scamming with the fear card.
So Joe is keeping us safe using these children...and its not working, but lets throw some more bodies in there just to see if we can turn it around against all odds...using these very children. But hey, they got a free T-shirt.
So, maybe they hate me, or just roll their eyes when I come around. maybe I HAVE to talk about this stuff because I cant do that "oh it's just to stressful for little me" thing. I don't see where politics stops and life begins. At what point do we get in our SUV's and drive away from the problems? I can't, because the people who are struggling to get by in this world, whether they have learned to work the system so are scam artists, or are honestly trying to get ahead, are all part of our society and all a product of the programs that we have created and canceled, for better or worse. So, there is no way to just go on with life and say "no talking politics tonight because its just too much for me" These people are us...aren't they? Couldn't each one be our brother or sister?...thats how we have to look at this.
What else is there?
Cross Posted From RIPCoco
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