Facebook didn’t like my first headline and removed the post, I think the algorithm is off. Figured I’d test another headline and add a few pieces of text to see what would happen. The original post starts below, let’s see if they let the second try fly.
I walked out of the movie about the Colleyville in a rather foul mood. I was angry and disappointed in people and wondered a bit about how things got to be where they are.
It ranged from shaking my head about the Jew hate I heard and the ridiculous treatment received from others though I was mildly amused by some choices.
Found myself shaking my head, saying “really…ok” and chuckling to myself because there is no explaining taste.
But I hold myself accountable for the choices and decisions I have made and accept though we might want better no one owes anything.
Wrote about 10,000 words and deleted most of it, will probably go delete more stuff because when you are working on a new future you have to pick and choose what you bring along.
Spent a chunk of time working on some things for the coming week because today reminded me of how funny communication can be. You may think that some things are clear and be so very wrong about it.
There is a wide range of confusion that can come with it all from the terrorist in the video who thought a rabbi in New York could free a federal prisoner to the exes who are certain everyone understands exactly what is going on.
Shaw Is Right
I listen to some people try to justify why Jews ought to vote for Trump and shake my head because they are certain about what they’re hearing and I am certain they heard wrong.
Got a few business conversations coming up in which I am going to ask people to share the email in which they claim I said certain things.
Unless something crazy happens I don’t expect them to be able to show I made any of the claims or promises they think I did but understand why they’ll try.
It is posturing.
Had a few people try to posture with me recently and shook my head every time not because I am so smart or so tough but because there are moments when you know exactly what it is.
When people say they are going to call or write someone because they think they have leverage the first thing I do is evaluate if such a thing really exists.
Many times it doesn’t and they know it. Sometimes it is because they don’t want a particular exchange of information to take place or because they think that threat will work on their behalf.
I find it much easier to just ask and or tell people to just ask.
That is a common refrain from me in personal and professional world. “I can’t fix what I don’t know is broken so if you want something please tell me. You want help or some change, please tell me. Ask me and I am usually glad to assist.”
It is generally true and it especially helps because I dislike some surprises. They cause unnecessary stress and confusion.
This approach has made a world of difference for me and I intend to continue.
****
Been thinking about some of this in the context of the M.E. and people I keep encountering who share these one sided screeds in which they excoriate me for being a Zionist.
Took a guy to task today for his ridiculous commentary and pointed out two prime ministers offered land for peace.
He told me I was making it up and I said I am not here to serve as his personal search engine.
But all of this got me thinking again about how many times people think they know the full story about something and really don’t.
So much stress could be avoided with a simple conversation. Got me thinking I must be getting older because sometimes I enjoy the back-and-forth, sometimes I enjoy the zingers.
Sometimes I want to respond to the silly man “I have seen your girlfriend naked and in positions she would never consider with you” just to aggravate him because an angry person does a poor job of arguing.
But what is the point of that. What is the point of the chaos and confusion.
Maybe it is a kinder and gentler Josh or maybe I am just tired and looking for a different way.
But I know in a time filled with heartbreak there is a benefit in taking a beat before we act or react. A benefit in considering whether we know enough to take action and if there is a need to do so.
Told someone a while back if the goal is to hurt me than they ought to feel good because they had done so…so what.
****
So you have about 800 words of the 3,000 I wrote earlier. The balance are an introduction to another reel by Elica Lebon that connects to the theme of communication and taking care of people.
I try to help amplify her messages because she is quite solid and a strong communicator. We don’t see enough like her.
It’s definitely not an easy fix, but here and there peace has found some kind of way. Even Arafat and Begin had conversations here and there, even cordially, and I used to wonder if both of them were posturing for their followers, trying to get the upper hand, when they had to know that kind of thing wasn’t going to work.
As for WW2, all Japan had to do was leave the United States alone and America probably wouldn’t have gotten into the war; heck, even they knew it. Then again, it’s not like England was the Congo; too many historical connections would have pulled the U.S. into the conflict in some way, but Japan would have owned China and most of Asia other than the Russians. We also know that Hitler had a plan to attack the U.S., and it would have hurt for a while, but he didn’t have a chance unless he could have recruited troops from invaded countries, and I doubt he’d have trusted them.
War’s a terrible thing, but sometimes it’s necessary for one thing or another. Not sure if you’ve seen any of the YouTube videos, but on its own the U.S. could beat the rest of the top 10; if the orange menace wins again, who knows what could happen. Diplomacy is always the way to go, but sometimes something has to set it up to go that route; I keep hoping the mess happening now will eventually spark a conversation.
I’ve seen this video before; I’m not sure how to respond to it, so I’ll leave it alone and respond to one specific thing you wrote about above.
Last October, I did a YouTube video where I said that I understood why Israel attacked Lebanon after what Hamas did, and how they went one step further because they “knew” Hamas has built a tunnel into the hospital for protection… which is both smart and horrific. Then I said that the further things went, it becomes hard to support what Israel’s done since then against the Palestinian people, most of whom were already poor to begin with.
It becomes one of those “there’s no middle ground” topics where one is allowed to see both sides and have an opinion about it. It’s like “you’re either with me or against me”, which works in this year’s presidential election, but doesn’t fit the mores of a one sided fight. Overall I’ve kept most of it to myself, not because I don’t have thoughts about it, but because in this instance there’s nothing I could do about it and, in a weird way, think I’d probably end up with enemies on both sides because of their wish for absolute agreement, which, since this is America, won’t ever happen; did anything I said make sense?
There is a middle ground here that can be reached but it is hard because of the complexity of the situation and things that ‘outsiders’ miss or think are simple solutions.
I’ll probably end up blogging about this in more detail at some point, but I’ll keep this short for now.
I have no issue criticizing the Israeli government just as I criticize the US. Where I get irked is when facts aren’t used or we take short cuts in the full story.
In 1947 the UN offered a partition plan that would have created an Arab state and a Jewish state. Jerusalem would have been an International city.
That was rejected and five Arab armies attacked Israel. At the conclusion of the war Jordan,(a country that was created in 1946) occupied the W. Bank and E. Jerusalem. Egypt occupied Gaza.
Both countries held onto those lands from 1948-1967. Neither offered land to Palestinians because there was no Palestinian nation that had been run by Palestinian Arabs.
There had only been Palestinians who were either Arabs or Jews who had lived in what was called Palestine. A land that had been ruled by the British or Ottoman Empire for about 500 years.
Anyway, in 1967 the Six day war broke out and at the end Israel took over the aforementioned territory. In some cases that allowed Jews who had kicked out by Jordan go back to the homes they lost.
In 2005 Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza and kicked all of of the Jews that were living in it out.
So for 19 years Gaza has been under Palestinian rule (Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007) and during that time instead of building a new Dubai that could engage in trade, uplift their citizens & improve their lives they prepared for war.
They spent countless millions on tunnels & munitions but nothing on bomb shelters. It was a strategic goal to embed themselves in civilian areas to force Israel to kill civilians alongside of combatants.
It makes for a horrific choice. You cannot allow your neighbor to launch rockets at you but you cannot engage in as many surgical strikes as people want so you will kill civilians.
Can we debate about whether there would have been better ways for Israel to go in? Yes and there are terrible mistakes that have been made.
But we also know Hamas controls the Gaza Ministry of Health and the casualty reports never distinguish between civilians and combatants.
We also know that on October 7 several waves of Palestinian civilians went into Israel and joined in the rampage.
I am not saying that means all Palestinians are bad or part of Hamas, that is not true. But it is not true to say there isn’t more support there than we might like.
This past week I spent hours receiving messages from relatives in Israel who were hiding in bomb shelters while Iran launched around 200 missiles at them.
Iran, is the head of the snake. Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houtis are Iranian proxies.
In fact until 9/11 Hezbollah was responsible for murdering more Americans than any other terror group.
Israel’s decapitation of the Hezbollah leadership may have helped to reset the chessboard and provide an oppportunity for peace in a way we haven’t seen. We do know this move has been celebrated in Syria, Lebanon and Iran. That is a big deal.
Anyway, this is longer than I intended but I’ll add a couple more comments. The US dropped two atomic bombs on Japan and alongside the allies bombed the crap out of Germany.
Our grandparents probably couldn’t have imagined the US would be allied with both of those countries now, yet here we are.
Sometimes terrible violence is required to provide situations in which security comes because of the diplomacy that follows the violence.
No matter what direction we go here we know there will have been a terrible loss of life on both sides.
When Monday comes and we observe the 12 month anniversary of October 7 I’ll hold my breath for large parts of the day hoping we don’t see violence at Jewish institutions knowing family and friends will be there.
Perhaps for work, school or later in the day a memorial. All of them will have gone through metal detectors and security that day and every other day prior and for unknown days to come.
That is Jewish life in America and around the world.