Meanwhile on the International front....

The real world ain't always pretty, and it's right there outside your door every day.

Idealism is great – why, I heartily endorse it myself when I can – but you can't ride that horse very far right now.

 

I'll pass. And I'm sure as hell not defending the honor of Hamas.

Just saying... after Iraq invaded Kuwait, we had a 15 year old Kuwaiti girl testifying to Congress that she saw Iraqi soldiers going into Kuwaiti hospitals and killing the babies in the nursery. The story turned out to be complete bullshit and the girl testifying was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador.

It's OK at times like these to take a moment and ask if things that sound like propaganda may actually be propaganda.

 

Private Lynch agrees.

 

I was raised Jewish in a mostly Jewish neighborhood, was bar mitzvahed and was married by a rabbi, but I have always been a skeptic regarding organized religion. My wife and now my kids are far more into than I am, but I used to occasionally attend services with them because I like good sermons and the overall message of the temple which we attend, which emphasizes social justice issues. But the older I get, the more I have come to dislike what people say and do in the name of religion.

I have to say that I have no particular attachment to Israel — never been there and no desire to go. I obviously understand why it was created and therefore I generally support its right to exist, but my feeling of indifference doesn’t align with most of my Jewish friends who feel a real connection to the place. It is similar to the way that I don’t really care about my ancestry in the least.

With all of that indifference and understanding that in many respects Palestinians have been screwed over on all sides, I can’t see how what they did is anything but a black and white matter of pure evil. They also know that Israel will bomb the crap out of them and will likely kill tens of thousands.

 

Guy, if you'd be willing and able, I'd be interested to hear what you studied there after high school, and any explanation you have about what it was like to live there when you and your family did so.

Israel is such an important part of history, and its place in the world is so complex and crucial -- even special. And yet, as someone else said, we really don't/can't know what's all going on over there, especially now. I always get the feeling like we in the U.S. are always going to be playing catch-up when it comes to knowing about and understanding that whole, complicated and polarizing area of the world, even with all the analysis that goes on at times like this latest conflict.

I've traveled quite a bit, but Israel is somewhere I've still yet to go. I'd love any insight you might have as someone who has been there for extended periods, and who actually lived there, and wasn't just a visitor/tourist.

 

Visited Israel years ago and went way the fukc north to Tiberias, you could hear artillery fire from there. Also met Menachem Begin, and recall armed soldiers ringing our El Al 747 at the airport.

 

See also: TFG's claims of post-birth abortions. Or am I asking today's media to do too much?

 

Journalism? In this economy?

 

"If your mother says she loves you, tweet it out. "

 

I have no dog in the fight, but fans of irony might also include allegations of celebrity sexual assault or hate crimes.

 

I was studying Jewish law etc. on a gap year+. It's pretty standard in the community.
My year there was wonderful. My wife and I both got our employer to hold our jobs for a year. I was there for the stabbing intifada and it was pretty scary. A terrorist once tried to board my kids' school bus. Day to day, it wasn't a big part of our lives, and was far from the biggest challenge I faced; that was language, even though my Hebrew is pretty good, but slow. Life was just lovely, which I kept reminding myself, was in part a function of being underemployed, but also in large part cultural. Despite my rationalist leanings, there seems to be a magic in the air. We almost stayed.

 

Could you explain that statement?