Thanks, Cat. I know most of us are really trying our best. There is a lot of devastation and destruction in the world at this time, and very little critical thinking or space for nuance. I think it's imperative that we all keep doing our best to hold space for the complexities of life, the fragility of freedom but also the hawkishness of our culture (and of too much of the world--and not just white or Western countries); for religious freedom and plurality but not for condoning any kind of fundamentalism that threatens or harms others; for tolerance and free speech, but not for hatred and disinformation that breeds dangerous reactionism and undermines democracy; for social justice and reckonings of racism and beyond, but not for absolving any marginalized person of any accountability for any of their actions, or merely inverting the pyramid of systems that are inherently broken and cruel.
There is a lot to consider. Obviously even in America we have not mastered the ability to critique governments without resorting to sweeping, dangerous assumptions about entire populaces (I'd say that's a bipartisan issue!), so I'm not surprised by the inability for many people across all ages to overlook the hundreds of thousands of people protesting in Israel, and jump straight to "this country shouldn't exist."
The history of this world is violent, and much as we wish there was a perfect society or a perfect people within it, this is the nature of the human condition. We just have to do our best to keep trying to understand, trying to do better, and trying to make peace. That process can look ugly and unfold in many ways, but I agree that dialogue is an important facet.
I know that you and I come from very different places. I genuinely respect your desire to learn from outside of your experiences, be more inclusive and compassionate, and move the world forward. I think that's a critical and inspiring thing for someone of a younger generation to do. I'm still learning too; I wrote an article recently about veterans, because I grew up in an extremely liberal community and never really knew any veterans. War was bad, and that made anyone fighting de facto "bad" too -- only now in my 30s do I understand how grotesquely ignorant and privileged that was, and I am sorry for perpetuating any rhetoric that caused harm to people who have already seen and sacrificed too much.
Anyway, thank you. You are most welcome to continue reading and commenting. I appreciate you coming back with this :)
