Truth is Not Black and White, But Infinite Shades of Gray
There is only one answer to war as I’m perceiving it — a dedication to critical thinking and a courage to not fall into single-point narratives
Wherever I go, whenever the conversation touches on the war in Gaza, I feel sadness in the air. And while in the media my sense of the commentary is that people fall into one of two camps — either pro-Palestine or pro-Israel — what I hear from people in my circle is neither pro one side nor the other, but rather pro-peace, anti-war, anti-killing, anti-suffering, anti-turmoil.
People are sad about the war. And while many have fallen into the trap of polarization, many more are just sad.
War is never about the masses of people acting on the belief that their survival depends on it, but rather on small numbers of people pulling the strings on narratives that convinces the masses that their survival depends on it.
War generates huge profits for small numbers of people. War is about power — the power to control narratives to generate more war.
There is no specific end game other than to coalesce more control. Control is the end game, exercised in the form we’ve come to understand as “power.”
There is no justification for the actions of Hamas, nor justification for violent mass response of Israel. Of course Israel or any sovereign nation has the right to protect themselves, but just as Biden suggested in a recent speech that our response to 9/11 included mistakes, that it wasn’t perfect by any stretch, bombing out the civilian people of Gaza is another mistake.
If we want peace, then we wage peace, not war.
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