Tags: 8 Min Read; Psychology of College Students; Relief Area
Pesach is over. So...pizza.
News? The same: The IDF attacks continuously in Lebanon. 350+ members of Hezbollah and related organizations killed in these attacks. Much armament destroyed. In Gaza, Hamas continues to shoot rockets at Sderot (this is possible because for a couple of months now, Israel has rather few troops in Gaza—the vast majority of Gaza territory is IDF-free since February). The IDF continues to find and destroy tunnels. (I'll spare you the footage, it has appeared in this blog many times. A tunnel is more or less a tunnel. Drone footage of a tunnel, or of blowing up a tunnel... it all looks the same.)
If You Read Nothing Else: Professor Susie Linfield
Professor Susie Linfield was interviewed by Robert Boyers. I suggest either the interview "From the River to the Sea Getting it Right, Getting it Wrong (PDF here) or the piece that triggered the interview: "The Return of the Progressive Atrocity."
Small excerpt:
In 1979, leftists who supported the Iranian Revolution had a rude awakening when the mullahs came to power and promptly executed them, along with secularists, union organizers, intellectuals, feminists, and everyone else who fit into the enormously capacious category of a counterrevolutionary. [As Bolsheviks, Baathists and many other revolutions have. --R.Z.]
There was a lesson here: Activists have the responsibility to know who and what they support, and to separate themselves — openly and decisively — from programs and regimes that are predicated on violence and repression.
Similarly, those who imagine that Hamas’s slaughters may have promoted “liberation,” “justice,” and “freedom” for Palestinians, as the banners demand, have a big surprise in store.
(Thank you M.T.)
It's Personal
I don't know if you saw it from "over there:" The world out here is a small place. Hamas released a video of one of the captives, Hersh Goldberg-Polin. Within a couple of hours, Hersh's parents released a video in response. And a couple hours after that, the IDF Spokesperson released a video responding to both.
Everyone names names, and speaks to each other directly. (Though Hersh was almost certainly drugged.)
Drugs...
Did you know... Syria is essentially a state-operated drug cartel and Hezbollah has been collaborating with Mexican drug cartels for years?
Based on a conversation with a member of the Israeli Prime Minister's office: "How to keep prisoners drugged for long periods [what Hamas is doing] comes from Mexican Drug Cartels. Hamas also collaborated with Mexican cartels on tunneling." The cartel underworld overlaps with terrorist organizations. There seems to be ongoing knowledge transfer related to drug production, smuggling and tunnel construction. And it is huge: (This New York Times article from 2021 shows an Italian seizure of 14 tons of captagon pills, and there have been other seizures of similar scale.)
Peace Activists...
In Israel
Have been protesting the war since before Israel attacked Hamas in the wake of October 7. Israeli society was so shocked by October 7 it hardly noticed them.
In Gaza
Gazan anti-Hamas activists are shocked at the counterproductive messaging on U.S. college campuses. Hamza Howidy, resident of Gaza, writes in the past couple of weeks:
It pains me to say this as a Palestinian from Gaza. As my home is destroyed and too many killed, I never thought I would find myself criticizing those speaking up. And yet, I cannot be silent about what I am seeing. The truth is that the manner in which many gather to voice their support for Palestinians does more to hurt our cause than help it.
You know what would help the Palestinians in Gaza? Condemning Hamas' atrocities. Instead, the protesters routinely chant their desire to "Globalize the Intifada." Apparently they do not realize that the Intifadas were disastrous for both Palestinians and Israelis, just as October 7 has been devastating for the people of Gaza.
They should be speaking up for the innocent victims of Hamas—both Palestinian and Israeli. Instead, they endorse Hamas's ideology with posters announcing resistance "by any means necessary" and chants of "from the river to the sea," effectively glorifying the Al-Qassam brigades, Hamas' military wing, whose ideology is entirely based on the elimination of more than 6 million Israelis from the land.
Cancelling the American Mind
I mentioned in #106 that students at Columbia University, site of some of the most visible and vicious protests, just elected an Israeli student president of the Student Council. She defeated the incumbent. Voter participation was up and:
Maya Platek, GS ’25, won the race for student body president …over current Student Body President Nasser Odetallah, GS ’25.
The point: Yes, protests at Columbia are, for all intents and purposes, violent and they espouse violence. It is also true that the majority of students do not hold such views (as demonstrated by electing an Israeli).
As I've mentioned: Protests in the U.S. and Europe, be they on bridges or campuses, are the work of a small, extremely vocal, minority.
The milieu that allows them, where does that come from?
A number of thinkers propose that campus demonstrations flow directly from how Cancel Culture has been embodied by universities. From The Coddling of the American Mind (PDF here), 2015 (emphasis Raf’s):
A campus culture devoted to policing speech and punishing speakers is likely to engender patterns of thought that are surprisingly similar to those long identified by cognitive behavioral therapists as causes of depression and anxiety. The new protectiveness may be teaching students to think pathologically.
The Right labels these trends "Wokeism" "DEI" and "Political Correctness." Yet the evolution of self censorship and emotional fragility engendered by cancel culture (and its siblings) has been observed and discussed on the Left, including by students themselves.
Raf Sidebar: I recall one of my kids working to engage cancel culture as a college student three years ago. Another kid, five years ago, joined the Conservative Club in High School. Not because she identified as Conservative but because it was the only space on campus where you could talk without being censored or shut down.
The recent book The Cancelling of The American Mind is coauthored by 24 year old Rikki Schlott, who published about the problem in 2021 (PDF here) while a junior at NYU.
Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt’s The Coddling of the American Mind (PDF here) concludes with a list of "Common Cognitive Distortions" fostered by the hypersensitive environment on campuses. These include:
1. Mind reading. You assume that you know what people think without having sufficient evidence of their thoughts. “He thinks I’m a loser.”
2. Fortune-telling. You predict the future negatively: things will get worse, or there is danger ahead. “I’ll fail that exam,” or “I won’t get the job.”
3. Catastrophizing.You believe that what has happened or will happen will be so awful and unbearable that you won’t be able to stand it. “It would be terrible if I failed.”
4. Labeling. You assign global negative traits to yourself and others. “I’m undesirable,” or “He’s a rotten person.”
(it goes on for several more, see the end of the PDF for the full list.
Feminist Caitlin Flanagan described the extreme circumspection required (PDF here) of comedians to perform on campus. She relates that top comics like Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld won't perform on campuses because students are "too conservative." Actually the problem is that they are too protected and worried about conformance. She describes how comedians are screened prior to the annual convention of the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) by an "anonymous group of staff and volunteers."
That last phrase is all I need to hear: Secret committees practicing censorship? Might as well be the Catholic Church. Caitlin Flanagan’s last paragraph (emphasis by Raf):
Sarah Silverman has described the laugh that comes with a “mouth full of blood”—the hearty laugh from the person who understands your joke not as a critique of some vile notion but as an endorsement of it. It’s the essential peril of comedy, as performers from Dave Chappelle to, most recently, Amy Schumer understand all too well. But to enroll in college and discover that for almost every aspect of your experience—right down to the stand-up comics who tell jokes in the student union—great care has been taken to expose you to only the narrowest range of approved social and political opinions: that’s the mouth full of blood right there.
Postmark...
Tel Aviv, for World Opera Day (October 25, 2023)
Gaza
I mentioned the hundreds of millions of dollars being extracted from Gaza families to leave Gaza. The Times has an article about it:
An investigation by the Times sheds light on Ebrahim Al-Arjani's "Ya Hala" company, and on the profit it made on the backs of Gazans attempting to flee the Strip.
According to the report, Al-Arjani company generated $88 million by "coordinating" the departure of 20,000 Gazans from the Gaza Strip during the month March alone (This "service" has been available for 5+ months.)
According to estimates, around 85,000 individuals have left Gaza since the onset of the conflict, paying approximately $5,000 per person.
Ebrahim Al-Arjani holds significant influence in North Sinai. He is a member of the Tarabin tribe and owns the Ibna Sina'a company, which imports and exports goods from Gaza. Al-Arjani holds close ties with Egyptian President Al-Sisi, he played a pivotal role in organizing the Bedouins of North Sinai into a paramilitary force, aiding the Egyptian army against groups like ISIS, and is known to be a business partner of the Egyptian President's son.
Another reason to shut down UNRWA and move refugees in Gaza to the regular program of the UNHCR? (Note, %15-25 of the population of Gaza are native Gazans and not refugees.)
Lebanon (Forgotten Lebanon... Who protests for them?)
The Lebanese government's crisis management team publishes data on the war with Israel.
Since October 7, 4010 air and ground attacks have been carried out on targets in Lebanon.
The 5 villages that were attacked the most are: [These are villages that are completely dominated by Hezbollah — There are many more villages that do not tolerate Hezbollah and are untouched.]
Ayta ash Shab - 339 times
Hula - 311 times
Naqoura - 256 times
Aalma ech Chaab - 241 times
Tayr Harfa - 215 times
The team also reported that since October 7th, 438 people have been killed in Lebanese territory, of which 337 are militants (Hezbollah and other organizations), 100 civilians and one Lebanese soldier.
Relief Area
Alef
GAZA — Israel announced its complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip after learning this morning of a protest from a 19-year-old Fine Arts major at Northwestern University named Roxy Barnett.
"Oh my goodness -- we've upset Roxy," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he was briefed on the protest. "I feel so foolish! The war is over, boys. Let Hamas stay in power, forget the hostages, everybody out of Gaza, immediately!!"
Bet: Calculate your Israel Obsession Index Score!
Gimmel: Breaking News
(This extremist minister forced his driver to race through a red light. The car flipped in the resulting accident. Ben Gvir and his daughter were not wearing seat belts, but suffered only superficial injuries.)
Dalet
Ah, Pesach is over. I pray for more humor (some sources have dried up). At the moment I’m doing laundry and recovering from time at the gym. Tonight a few calls with the West Coast will probably keep me up late.
Stay well,
Raf
(Thank you A.K., M.T.)