Interesting perspective, though it required a couple of readings! But I think your insight is correct that the sheer enormity of the violence and destruction, so much of it captured in real time and amplified by interested parties, triggered an outpouring of solidarity with the Palestinians. It would be worrying if it did not.
On the other hand, given your extensive analysis, it is pretty hard to explain the ferociousness and overwhelmingly one-sidedness of this response without recourse to perhaps an at least implicit bias against something having to do with the existence of the Jewish state. We see very similar images and reports from Ukraine of such devastation and civilian casualties, but I haven’t seen any huge demonstrations on the streets or campuses against Putin and his war to destroy the very idea of Ukraine and of aspirations for self-determination, not to mention liberty and justice.
Is it possible that what we see here, as we have seen for centuries, is an ongoing at least implicit bias against the fact and the idea of “powerful” Jews?
This is an interesting thought, but I'm not sure that Ukraine is a useful comparison here, for a few reasons. First, for those of us who live in the US (like me), our government is directly supporting the Israeli military with weapons sales and aid (and I would imagine this is true of Canada also, at least to some extent). This means that not only do many (or perhaps, at this point, most) American leftists feel a sense of responsibility to speak out about this because our tax dollars are directly contributing to it, but we also somewhat within our power to affect, by demonstrating, calling representatives, etc. Unless I am mistaken (which I absolutely could be-- I try to stay informed but am not always the best at it), US and Canadian governments were not involved in supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine. So, not only did American and Canadian leftists feel less responsibility for it, it was also much more outside of our power to change. The Russian government is obviously not accountable to us in the way our own governments are.
I think the positions of Ukraine and Palestine are also relevant. Ukraine is a sovereign nation. Palestine is, as Jay points out, mostly a stateless refugee population. I just feel like the two are not necessarily comparable in this way.
There's an explanation for this that doesn't require a belief in widespread leftist anti-semitism. The point of US protests etc (sorry I don't know the Canadian context!) are to influence US decision makers to make different decisions about who the US materially supports using our tax dollars. US leadership is currently materially supporting Ukraine, and you don't see protest movements because most people agree that that's the right thing to be doing.
Interesting perspective, though it required a couple of readings! But I think your insight is correct that the sheer enormity of the violence and destruction, so much of it captured in real time and amplified by interested parties, triggered an outpouring of solidarity with the Palestinians. It would be worrying if it did not.
On the other hand, given your extensive analysis, it is pretty hard to explain the ferociousness and overwhelmingly one-sidedness of this response without recourse to perhaps an at least implicit bias against something having to do with the existence of the Jewish state. We see very similar images and reports from Ukraine of such devastation and civilian casualties, but I haven’t seen any huge demonstrations on the streets or campuses against Putin and his war to destroy the very idea of Ukraine and of aspirations for self-determination, not to mention liberty and justice.
Is it possible that what we see here, as we have seen for centuries, is an ongoing at least implicit bias against the fact and the idea of “powerful” Jews?
This is an interesting thought, but I'm not sure that Ukraine is a useful comparison here, for a few reasons. First, for those of us who live in the US (like me), our government is directly supporting the Israeli military with weapons sales and aid (and I would imagine this is true of Canada also, at least to some extent). This means that not only do many (or perhaps, at this point, most) American leftists feel a sense of responsibility to speak out about this because our tax dollars are directly contributing to it, but we also somewhat within our power to affect, by demonstrating, calling representatives, etc. Unless I am mistaken (which I absolutely could be-- I try to stay informed but am not always the best at it), US and Canadian governments were not involved in supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine. So, not only did American and Canadian leftists feel less responsibility for it, it was also much more outside of our power to change. The Russian government is obviously not accountable to us in the way our own governments are.
I think the positions of Ukraine and Palestine are also relevant. Ukraine is a sovereign nation. Palestine is, as Jay points out, mostly a stateless refugee population. I just feel like the two are not necessarily comparable in this way.
There's an explanation for this that doesn't require a belief in widespread leftist anti-semitism. The point of US protests etc (sorry I don't know the Canadian context!) are to influence US decision makers to make different decisions about who the US materially supports using our tax dollars. US leadership is currently materially supporting Ukraine, and you don't see protest movements because most people agree that that's the right thing to be doing.
See my response to you and Athnie as a reply to Athnie. Thanks, Jon.