“I Can’t Be in the Same Room as a Zionist!”
A good deal of the friction in personal relationships stems from our inability to respect the ways and the opinions of others. –Eknath Easwaran, Formulas for Transformation: A Mantram Handbook, 108
Category: Palestine
Calm, Cool, Collected: Coleman Hughes on the Gaza War
I’ve been getting acquainted with Coleman’s work the last few years. Listen to him for 3 minutes, and see if you are wanting to take in the next 14 minutes.
Today’s One-Liner (#223)
Perhaps the vast rise in antagonism toward Israel is a manifestation of what psychologists would call “projection.” –Douglas Murray, On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization, 116
Today’s One-Liner (#135)
The dire state of the Palestinian movement today suggests that there is an inverse relationship between the use of terror and the achievement of freedom. –Susie Linfield, The Return of the Progressive Atrocity
Recent Reading
The job of an intellectual is to listen to the history that is being made all around you and to respond in new ways by re-assessing your previous beliefs. This is what the founding generation…
Choosing Guiding Means
A few years ago I read Amos Oz’s trenchant book, How to Cure a Fanatic. His context was the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Therein, Oz noted that “the essence of fanaticism lies in…
On “Useful Idiots”
The last half of 2023 I have shared several posts based on the riveting book by Gary Saul Morson, Wisdom Confronts Certainty. Recently, I noticed he and his colleague Morton Schapiro used their knowledge on…
Problematizing My Faves: Susie Linfield on Noam Chomsky
Dear Max, The following passages are from Susie Linfield’s book, The Lions’ Den: Zionism and the Left from Hannah Arendt to Noam Chomsky. While the focus is on Middle East matters, you may see some…
I’m Assuming That Elie Wiesel and Noam Chomsky Met at Least Once
Recently, the Persian scholar and poetry translator Matt Miller sent me condolences upon the death of one of my teachers, Thich Nhat Hanh. I mentioned to him that the several of the teachers I first…
Surrealism as a Way of Life
Robert Johnson played last night at that café on Sugar Street. Walt Whitman was detained after chanting “Song of the Open Road” at the Huwarra Checkpoint. Dorothy Day was photographed again just sitting in the…