Wednesday, June 2, 2010

The Mashat - The Flotilla

When I get life shocks that set of thoughts that make me anxious, I sometimes try to write - or think - my anxiety away. Generally the anxiety fades after a while, whether because of the passage of time or because of the writing...I image more the former. I also speak to people, to try and moderate my mind -talk (self-talk)

When I see posters calling for demonstrations against Israel, and using charged inflammatory language clearly designed to fan resentment and indignation, I get scared. This is not the language of peace or of people seeking solutions - it is the language of resentment and unconscious baggage and manipulation and aggression.

I anticipate that the Israeli point of view will not be considered and, as has happened on many campuses around the world, actively supressed. When I see posters showing the entire State of Israel covered with a Palestinian flag, I get scared at the way people calling for the obliteration of a country can do so with so little condemnation. Imagine a map of Australia entirely covered by an Indonesian or Malay flag, or of India entirely covered with a Pakistani flag.

There are long term ideas and short term ideas that well up in response to the responses to the flotilla.

No comments: