Touching the third rail
What's happening in Gaza is unacceptable
I'm going to attempt to make a contentious point with a soft landing. I say this because the topic I wish to touch is quite delicate, and there's a huge possibility someone will react before reaching the end—before any conclusion is drawn. So if you wish to come along with me on this little philosophical rant about ethics, please finish the last line before typing a rebuttal.
Principles don't have Teams
This is the main point I'm trying to make. Tribal as we are, we tend to put our team above anything else, which I guess I understand. But if I'm to be completely honest, I don't think it's beneficial to anyone anymore. I think that when we were simple tribes, surrounded by danger, this was a survival skill. But last time I checked, we are not fighting mammoths or rival clans (for the most part).
Maybe up to this point, you're still with me. After all, I haven’t said anything that alienates your particular team or tribe. So let’s add some peppers to the soup.
Killing children is always wrong, right?
Can we all agree on that? It hardly seems like a controversial position. I'm revealing the card slowly—I hope that much is apparent. And if at this point you're tempted to make a mental effort to imagine a scenario where it's "okay," I encourage you to stop.
We know better. You know better. Everyone does. There is no way children are guilty of crimes. If anything, a child is the very embodiment of innocence, and as such must be protected at all costs. That hardly seems controversial either, but watch how this gets nasty with just one question:
How are we okay with the death of children in Gaza?
I can't stomach it. I truly can't. Yesterday, my wife showed me a video about a whistleblower talking about his experience in the battle. He described a young boy who had walked miles without shoes to get food. The kid was only five, and yet he was living a nightmare.
The pictures showed a shadow of a child clutching a ration of beans, maybe rice, crying, but also looking grateful. Another photo showed the same boy kissing the hand of the man who had helped him.
This brave soldier began to cry as he described what happened next. When the kid walked away from him, back to his group, commotion broke out. Bullets flew. The child was killed.
How are we okay with this? How can we sit here and call these events “casualties of war” and go about our day?
But here’s the part that truly hurts me. I've brought up this subject a few times in my "real life," and some people tell me that I just don't get it. That conflict is never easy, never black and white, and that there are always casualties.
You know what I say to that? Fuck that. I don't accept it. Call me childish, immature—whatever pleases you. I don't think we can justify what is happening right now. I say this as a man who is happily married to a Jewish woman. I only reveal this fact because there’s an instinctual reaction to attack anyone asking questions, as if we only do so because we harbor antisemitic tendencies.
How is asking why innocent children are dying antisemitic? How does a soldier's heart not shatter into a thousand pieces when they witness, first hand, the suffering of innocent people?
I’ll admit, I’m not a patriotic person. As a matter of fact, I’m the opposite. I value human life ten times more than I value a flag, and it doesn’t matter if the people are “different” from me.
This is why I ask myself, as I ask anyone who reads these blogs of mine: Are our principles that easy to break? Are we not ready to evolve past this tribal thinking?
For the sake of humanity, I hope we are. Otherwise, that “never again” phrase is simply another meme we share online.
MenO