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In reply to the discussion: USC says it's canceling pro-Palestinian valedictorian's speech over security concerns [View all]ShazzieB
(16,712 posts)Any time someone defends a position using words like "unequivocal" and "crystal clear," I get twitchy. What that really means is "I am convinced that this is a completely lack and white issue, about which no decent person could possibly disagree," and that shuts the possibility of any real discussion right down.
When this happens in a thread about Israel and Palestine, it tells me that the person using those words is likely to be much less well-informed on the complexities and nuances of the situation than they think they are, which in turn tells me there's no point in pursuing the matter any further.
This situation in Israel right now seems to bring out that kind of thing in a lot of people, for some reason, and it drives me nuts. It's why I haven't posted a whole lot in threads like this one. People come into these discussions and talk like the israel/Palestine situation is absolutely black and white, and that's just not the case. We're talking about issues that re extremely layered and complex and nuanced.
When this whole thing hit the fan with the Hamas attack back in October, one of the things that immediately hit me was how little I really knew about what was going on over there. I proceeded to do some reading, and while I still don't understand things as well as I wish I did, I at least have a pretty good sense of how complicated it all is. Enough so that I see lot of the holes in some of the things people post, but not well enough to feel comfortable trying to educate anyone else.
I am absolutely opposed to Hamas, but I am honestly not 100% happy with every decision the government of Israel has made, either. There's no way I would feel comfortable trying to explain this to people who are throwing around words like "unequivocal" and "crystal clear," so I usually say very little.
I really wish people would stop assuming that they know everything they need to know about how things got to where they are in Israel, and take some time to inform themselves before making pronouncements about how "unequivocal" and "crystal clear" it all is. It's NOT, and I'm really tired of people ryong to tell me otherwise.
Sorry for the long rant. This has been bugging me for a while, and once I started typing, it all just kind of started spilling out!