Justifying rape and baby beheading is irreconcilable with a version of the "left" that presents itself as secular, humane, compassionate, and committed to social justice.
Excellent and true. I'd only reinforce that there is a massive split on the left: A fight between the liberal left that continues to remain devoted to equality, due process, and free speech and the illiberal "woke" left of current DEI struggle sessions. This is seen not only in the fight over Israel and Hamas, but in the fight between liberal visible minorities and BLM intersectional race essentialists; also in the fight of normie left LGBs and transsexuals against the illiberal TQIA+ crowd and its illiberal attacks on women's and LGB rights, not to mention its proselytization in our schools.
The US has its Democratic Socialists of America, but in Canada this stuff has been peddled by the federal Liberals through government bureaucracies and the fringe groups to which it provides grants and from which it receives the reports it cites to create policy. That's why so many of us on the lifelong left are fleeing from the Liberals and NDP toward the Conservatives, no matter our very real reservations, as the best chance to save the liberal values we value.
Our media has also helped frame the naive DEI view of oppressor "white Settler" Israelis attacking innocent civilians. It talks of civilian areas bombed as opposed to munitions depots, rocket launchers, and army enclaves bombed: These are all military targets, but placed in civilian areas by Hamas against international law. And our media never reveals that the civilian death counts in Gaza come from Hamas agencies, even after that same media raced to print the blood libel of the Israel's "hospital bombing". And it still talks about Israeli occupation even though Israel withdrew from Gaza nearly two decades ago and build its wall to make suicide bombings more dificult.
I believe a major problem is that liberal human rights organizations won the major battles for civil rights battles for women and racial, sexual and other minorities decades ago, after which normie activists went home to live our lives. That vacuum has now been filled by extremists who have no interest in the "live and let live" philosophy that won us our rights and which is necessary for a functioning pluralistic society.
The Line has said it made a (perfectly understandable) choice to avoid dealing with the culture wars. But daily events are downstream of culture and what we're seeing play out today in so many areas, has been foreshadowed since at least 2016, with a big bump in 2020. The culture wars are definitely worth following closely. And it's important to constantly distinguish between the liberal liberals (now cowed, to their discredit, as you note) and the illiberal wokerati power players, just as it's important to distinguish between normie conservatives and conservative MAGAs ascendant in no small part as part of the building bashlash to wokery.
The Hamas attack has done to the DEI anti-Israel left what Lia Thomas did to TRA extremists.
Thank you for this article. It is clear and well written. As a Jewish Canadian woman with family in Israel, these past weeks have been harrowing and one of the worst parts has been watching thugs stand a few feet away from our candlelit vigil for the hostages celebrating death and destruction. But you're right: the mask has slipped and we cannot un-see the real face.
YES! The queer pro-Hamas protests have been one of the most puzzling things to me - like - you're literally cheering for a group that will instantly kill you for existing if given the chance - have you thought this through? (For the record, I don't care what sexuality someone does or doesn't have - but I know the religious law (shariah? not sure how to spell it) is VERY clear on how even disobedient wives are treated or a woman who has been raped and lost her virginity before marriage. I know someone (a Canadian citizen local to me) whose now ex-husband attempted to carry out an honor killing of her and her son because she was too outspoken and politically opinionated. She came very close to death as a result of this attempt. Her ex-husband is of course protected and no longer in Canada. She lives in fear that someone may still try to kill her on behalf of her ex-husband, because in their religion, her ex-husband was SUPPOSED to kill her for being too vocal and opinionated.)
I hope that this cognitive dissonance that you described so very well leads to an increase in humanity. I know some Jewish friends with left-wing beliefs are feeling very confused and politically homeless right now. For my part, I've talked to my Jewish friends to tell them they have my support. I figure that's the best any of us can do right now is let our Jewish friends know that we support them.
The old adage that ‘there would be peace if the Palestinians laid down their arms, but if the Israelis laid down their arms there would be no Israel’ is based on reality. It is also closely linked to the question; ‘would you rather be a Jew in Gaza or a Palestinian in Israel?’
Brilliant column. It has been nothing less than disgusting to read about people braying this 'from the river to the sea..." bullshit, and not understanding that this means shoving any and all Jews into the Med. The Arabs have never - never - been interested in accommodating a Jewish state. Equally disgusting is the fact that, as Gerson points out, these clowns haven't bothered to read the Hamas charter.
Isn’t Toronto Metropolitan University formerly Ryerson ( a name change provoked by the interests of wokeism) a home for many of the extreme left? Perhaps a bit of selective defunding might be in order?
Great read, Jen! I seriously can't comprehend the disconnect of woke folks who think any form of censorship or violence is OK as long as it's for a cause they support. The hypocrisy is fucking depressing, to be frank and gives me pause when I consider some of these people are our next generation of leaders. Hopefully, common sense and compromise become the norm once more.
The language and motivation used by these terrorist and their supporters is the same as that being used to describe Canadians of European heritage and the ultimate goal is the same. Our elementary schools and universities are teaching our children and especially new Canadians to hate those that for the most part built this nation. It's in front of our faces and plain to see if you aren't blind. Canada will be torn apart because of it.
To quote the late great Israeli Prime Minister Golda Maier. there will be peace in the middle east when Islam loves its own children more than it hates Jews.
Whether one inclines more to the left or the right, politically, one should understand the world one lives in and know something of its history. How many non-Muslims who sympathize with Hamas realize that if they tried expressing their support by visiting Mecca, they wouldn't even be allowed in the city? There's diversity and inclusion for you, eighth-century style.
For people who think Palestine is a democratic country heres a reality check. Make no mistake Hamas controls the people of Palestine with brutality and fear. They can no more rise up than other countries ruled by dictators. Israel is surrounded by countries that want it annihilated. Should Hamas reach their goal the Palestinian people will still live under an oppressive brutal regime and will not be free. The women and gender diverse should take a good hard look at treatment of people like themselves in Islamic countries before supporting an Islamic state. Just because you have equal rights in Canada I don’t think that would apply if you were in Palestine.
P.S. Hamas, having perfectly foiled Israeli intelligence, could have taken several Israeli military bases and taken prisoners and hostages without committing any atrocities against civilians. That would have been a great moral victory and act of "resistance". Instead, they poured all of their political capital for an entire generation into this....
Just FYI. this when I asked Bing AI if there was any evidence of baby beheading during the Oct 7 attack:
Based on my web search results, there is no conclusive evidence that babies were beheaded during the Oct 7 attack by the Hamas. The claim was widely circulated by some Israeli officials, media outlets, and politicians, but it was not confirmed by the Israeli government or any independent sources. The Israeli Prime Minister's office posted some photos of babies who were allegedly killed and burned by the Hamas, but none of them showed any signs of decapitationhttps://news.yahoo.com/were-israeli-babies-beheaded-hamas-231800102.htmlhttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/we-do-not-know-if-israeli-babies-were-beheaded-by-hamas-militants-in-kfar-aza/ar-AA1iIy8ihttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israeli-official-says-government-cannot-confirm-babies-were-beheaded-in-hamas-attack/ar-AA1i5JxW. The US President also mentioned the claim in a speech, but later clarified that he had not seen any proof of ithttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/we-do-not-know-if-israeli-babies-were-beheaded-by-hamas-militants-in-kfar-aza/ar-AA1iIy8i. Some journalists and Israeli army spokespersons claimed to have seen or obtained visual evidence of the beheadings, but they did not make it public or share it with other reporters or fact-checkershttps://www.snopes.com/news/2023/10/12/40-israeli-babies-beheaded-by-hamas/https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/12/middleeast/israel-hamas-beheading-claims-intl/index.htmlhttps://www.factcheck.org/2023/10/what-we-know-about-three-widespread-israel-hamas-war-claims/. Therefore, the claim remains unverified and disputed, and should be treated with caution and skepticism. I hope this helps. blush
Well said. It's about time the pendulum swings the other way, before these vile leftist perspectives become even more outrageous, even more widespread, even more accepted.
Excellent and true. I'd only reinforce that there is a massive split on the left: A fight between the liberal left that continues to remain devoted to equality, due process, and free speech and the illiberal "woke" left of current DEI struggle sessions. This is seen not only in the fight over Israel and Hamas, but in the fight between liberal visible minorities and BLM intersectional race essentialists; also in the fight of normie left LGBs and transsexuals against the illiberal TQIA+ crowd and its illiberal attacks on women's and LGB rights, not to mention its proselytization in our schools.
The US has its Democratic Socialists of America, but in Canada this stuff has been peddled by the federal Liberals through government bureaucracies and the fringe groups to which it provides grants and from which it receives the reports it cites to create policy. That's why so many of us on the lifelong left are fleeing from the Liberals and NDP toward the Conservatives, no matter our very real reservations, as the best chance to save the liberal values we value.
Our media has also helped frame the naive DEI view of oppressor "white Settler" Israelis attacking innocent civilians. It talks of civilian areas bombed as opposed to munitions depots, rocket launchers, and army enclaves bombed: These are all military targets, but placed in civilian areas by Hamas against international law. And our media never reveals that the civilian death counts in Gaza come from Hamas agencies, even after that same media raced to print the blood libel of the Israel's "hospital bombing". And it still talks about Israeli occupation even though Israel withdrew from Gaza nearly two decades ago and build its wall to make suicide bombings more dificult.
I believe a major problem is that liberal human rights organizations won the major battles for civil rights battles for women and racial, sexual and other minorities decades ago, after which normie activists went home to live our lives. That vacuum has now been filled by extremists who have no interest in the "live and let live" philosophy that won us our rights and which is necessary for a functioning pluralistic society.
The Line has said it made a (perfectly understandable) choice to avoid dealing with the culture wars. But daily events are downstream of culture and what we're seeing play out today in so many areas, has been foreshadowed since at least 2016, with a big bump in 2020. The culture wars are definitely worth following closely. And it's important to constantly distinguish between the liberal liberals (now cowed, to their discredit, as you note) and the illiberal wokerati power players, just as it's important to distinguish between normie conservatives and conservative MAGAs ascendant in no small part as part of the building bashlash to wokery.
The Hamas attack has done to the DEI anti-Israel left what Lia Thomas did to TRA extremists.
Thank you for this article. It is clear and well written. As a Jewish Canadian woman with family in Israel, these past weeks have been harrowing and one of the worst parts has been watching thugs stand a few feet away from our candlelit vigil for the hostages celebrating death and destruction. But you're right: the mask has slipped and we cannot un-see the real face.
YES! The queer pro-Hamas protests have been one of the most puzzling things to me - like - you're literally cheering for a group that will instantly kill you for existing if given the chance - have you thought this through? (For the record, I don't care what sexuality someone does or doesn't have - but I know the religious law (shariah? not sure how to spell it) is VERY clear on how even disobedient wives are treated or a woman who has been raped and lost her virginity before marriage. I know someone (a Canadian citizen local to me) whose now ex-husband attempted to carry out an honor killing of her and her son because she was too outspoken and politically opinionated. She came very close to death as a result of this attempt. Her ex-husband is of course protected and no longer in Canada. She lives in fear that someone may still try to kill her on behalf of her ex-husband, because in their religion, her ex-husband was SUPPOSED to kill her for being too vocal and opinionated.)
I hope that this cognitive dissonance that you described so very well leads to an increase in humanity. I know some Jewish friends with left-wing beliefs are feeling very confused and politically homeless right now. For my part, I've talked to my Jewish friends to tell them they have my support. I figure that's the best any of us can do right now is let our Jewish friends know that we support them.
The old adage that ‘there would be peace if the Palestinians laid down their arms, but if the Israelis laid down their arms there would be no Israel’ is based on reality. It is also closely linked to the question; ‘would you rather be a Jew in Gaza or a Palestinian in Israel?’
Brilliant column. It has been nothing less than disgusting to read about people braying this 'from the river to the sea..." bullshit, and not understanding that this means shoving any and all Jews into the Med. The Arabs have never - never - been interested in accommodating a Jewish state. Equally disgusting is the fact that, as Gerson points out, these clowns haven't bothered to read the Hamas charter.
Isn’t Toronto Metropolitan University formerly Ryerson ( a name change provoked by the interests of wokeism) a home for many of the extreme left? Perhaps a bit of selective defunding might be in order?
Absofuckinglutely brilliant, Jen. Thank you.
Great read, Jen! I seriously can't comprehend the disconnect of woke folks who think any form of censorship or violence is OK as long as it's for a cause they support. The hypocrisy is fucking depressing, to be frank and gives me pause when I consider some of these people are our next generation of leaders. Hopefully, common sense and compromise become the norm once more.
The language and motivation used by these terrorist and their supporters is the same as that being used to describe Canadians of European heritage and the ultimate goal is the same. Our elementary schools and universities are teaching our children and especially new Canadians to hate those that for the most part built this nation. It's in front of our faces and plain to see if you aren't blind. Canada will be torn apart because of it.
So True, but so sad. Excellent post Jen.
To quote the late great Israeli Prime Minister Golda Maier. there will be peace in the middle east when Islam loves its own children more than it hates Jews.
Whether one inclines more to the left or the right, politically, one should understand the world one lives in and know something of its history. How many non-Muslims who sympathize with Hamas realize that if they tried expressing their support by visiting Mecca, they wouldn't even be allowed in the city? There's diversity and inclusion for you, eighth-century style.
For people who think Palestine is a democratic country heres a reality check. Make no mistake Hamas controls the people of Palestine with brutality and fear. They can no more rise up than other countries ruled by dictators. Israel is surrounded by countries that want it annihilated. Should Hamas reach their goal the Palestinian people will still live under an oppressive brutal regime and will not be free. The women and gender diverse should take a good hard look at treatment of people like themselves in Islamic countries before supporting an Islamic state. Just because you have equal rights in Canada I don’t think that would apply if you were in Palestine.
P.S. Hamas, having perfectly foiled Israeli intelligence, could have taken several Israeli military bases and taken prisoners and hostages without committing any atrocities against civilians. That would have been a great moral victory and act of "resistance". Instead, they poured all of their political capital for an entire generation into this....
Just FYI. this when I asked Bing AI if there was any evidence of baby beheading during the Oct 7 attack:
Based on my web search results, there is no conclusive evidence that babies were beheaded during the Oct 7 attack by the Hamas. The claim was widely circulated by some Israeli officials, media outlets, and politicians, but it was not confirmed by the Israeli government or any independent sources. The Israeli Prime Minister's office posted some photos of babies who were allegedly killed and burned by the Hamas, but none of them showed any signs of decapitationhttps://news.yahoo.com/were-israeli-babies-beheaded-hamas-231800102.htmlhttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/we-do-not-know-if-israeli-babies-were-beheaded-by-hamas-militants-in-kfar-aza/ar-AA1iIy8ihttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israeli-official-says-government-cannot-confirm-babies-were-beheaded-in-hamas-attack/ar-AA1i5JxW. The US President also mentioned the claim in a speech, but later clarified that he had not seen any proof of ithttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/we-do-not-know-if-israeli-babies-were-beheaded-by-hamas-militants-in-kfar-aza/ar-AA1iIy8i. Some journalists and Israeli army spokespersons claimed to have seen or obtained visual evidence of the beheadings, but they did not make it public or share it with other reporters or fact-checkershttps://www.snopes.com/news/2023/10/12/40-israeli-babies-beheaded-by-hamas/https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/12/middleeast/israel-hamas-beheading-claims-intl/index.htmlhttps://www.factcheck.org/2023/10/what-we-know-about-three-widespread-israel-hamas-war-claims/. Therefore, the claim remains unverified and disputed, and should be treated with caution and skepticism. I hope this helps. blush
Well said. It's about time the pendulum swings the other way, before these vile leftist perspectives become even more outrageous, even more widespread, even more accepted.