America has a problem. It started back when the phrase, “The Silent Majority” was used by Richard Nixon. We have become complacent. We, as a people, have become accustomed to living our lives without active participation. We watch events on TV, on the interwebs, and on social media. We comment on them, we talk about them, but we don’t do anything.
The latest example is the response to October 7. There are news clips after news clips of pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas people rallying all over the world. One in particular sticks out in my mind. A Jewish student at Harvard was surrounded and assaulted by Palestinian/Hamas supporters who put their hands on him to prevent him from leaving, and shouted, “Shame!” at him. A Cornell student was arrested after posting online threats against Jewish students.
What are we doing? Waiting for someone to do something? Why would somebody do something if we aren’t pressuring them to do something? Why not do something ourselves? Democracy is not something that is done to you. It is meant to be participatory. So is public safety. Yet we sit on our couches, watch events unfold, and shake our heads at what we see.
In England, a man was arrested for posting a video on Facebook questioning why there were so many Palestinian flags in his neighborhood. There was a large pro-Palestinian/Hamas rally in Washington, D.C., where red paint was smeared on the gates to the White House. Black Lives Matter has joined with pro-Palestinian/Hamas groups.
It’s odd to me. Approximately 5.5 million Palestinians live in Gaza City and the West Bank. None of the Arab countries in the region, including the Palestinian country of Jordan, want anything to do with Palestinian refugees, yet there are large demonstrations in all the Western countries. No where have I seen any counter protests. No where have I seen people standing up for the Jews in their community.
Take a step back and, just for poops and giggles, take the religion and ethnicity out of the equation. Who is acting like they are part of the human race? Is it the side that perpetrated a surprise attack against civilians, committing inhuman, depraved atrocities on them? Or is it the side that is working to remove the responsible entity, so that they can’t commit similar attacks in the future? Attacks they have claimed they will continue to do? “The Al Aqsa Flood (October 7) is just the first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth, because we have the determination, the resolve, and the capabilities to fight.”
So what can we do? We can call or write our elected representatives, except those that support the death of Jews and the elimination of Israel. Rashida Tlaib, an elected representative of Michigan doesn’t display an American flag outside of her Washington, D.C. office. It’s a Palestinian flag. She also posted on X, “Michigan, from the river to the sea.” That just seems right un-American to me. But maybe your local elected officials will be more open to discussion.
Build your situational awareness. What is going on in your community? If a rally is held, do you know who’s behind it? Do you know when and where it’s going to be held? Are appropriate safety measures being taken? Watching TV and surfing the web gets you information, but what will you do with that information? Think back to the 1930’s. Adolph Hitler and the Nazis did not just pop out of thin air during Kristallnacht in 1938, the “Night of the broken glass”. There were signs and portents before that. We’re seeing some of the same signs. We’ll just go ahead and put religion and ethnicity back in things.
We better figure out what we’re going to do about it. Complacency is not a solution.
Meditations of a Bald, Fat Guy 