I don't think the kefiyeh ever came off. It will resurface periodically over the next decade.
As you say, Western education has taught a whole generation that their civilization was irredeemably evil, and any attempt to improve it or even be a good person was a dangerous deception. Imagine the kind of pressure this creates in a young, idealistic, well-intentioned white person, and imagine how panic-inducing it must feel to know that your actions cannot change how fundamentally wrong you are. Then, come October 7th, you are offered a release. Condemn Israel, and you can finally become one of the good guys.
This was where Muslims were much smarter than other minorities in the US. You never see Muslims posting those TikToks about how annoying/awful/oppressive white people are when they mispronounce this word, or eat this food, or listen to this music, or wear this clothing. You aren't allowed to LARP as a Black, Latino, Asian, or Native American, but you can LARP as a Palestinian. And, during the campus protests, there was plenty of LARP'ing - wearing the kefiyeh, bowing down in Muslim prayer, even claiming refugee status deserving of humanitarian aid when their tent cities on campus collapsed into the mud.
This is why antizionists often do not even try to hold an argument on the topic, and why they resort to insults, bullying, and threats (a death threat in my case). You may be wanting to set the record straight, but they see you as closing off their one escape from original sin.
We refuse to play victim. Refuse to pretend we’re foreigners in a country we’ve lived in for decades. Refuse to play the game, which costs us in some respects.
I would much rather play defense being Jewish (and slowly progress into offense), than claim perpetual victim status while attempting to colonize the entire planet.
I grew up in the only Jewish family in a 90 mile radius. In my high school, referring to me as “Hey, Jewboy” was considered wit (though I correctly considered those who said it to be half-wits), and I remember one day when I was in 7th grade when my Mom wouldn’t let us out the door to walk to school because she didn’t want us to see my dad outside removing the swastika daubed in red paint on the side of our house overnight. I snuck out the back door and saw it anyway, and have never forgotten it. Never again means never. Am Israel chai. And vaporize the intifada.
Yes, vaporize the intifada and the useful idiots wishing it into existence at their own detriment. I’m sorry you had to see that. I’m sure your parents were enraged.
“That happens when two cultures spend a significant amount of time next to one another.” I come from a different cultural mix. I grew up in a small city in upstate New York with significant Jewish and Italian populations. I too started wearing a Star of David after October 7. However, my intent was to covey the message, “I’m Jewish. You got a problem with that?”
Ugh I wish my idiotic coworker would stop wearing his Keffiyeh. When I see him in it all I do is picture him choking my baby grandsons to death. My daughter says I’m being dramatic, this guy has no idea what his keffiyeh represents to me. Anyway whenever I pass him in the hall I grab hold of my Magen David and imagine it can protect me with magical lasers. Well, it does mean “protection” does it not?
It’s triggering and annoying. A spit in the face, especially since they never cared prior to October 7th, so doing that afterwards is a deliberate agitation in my book.
I am a silversmith, sell in markets, & starting making Star of David pendants last summer after some vile graffiti on our synagogue here. I have sold them to Israeli tourists (nice, I get to reminisce about my kibbutz stint in 1982), other Jews, and even a woman who, like me, is not Jewish but is an ally. I sold one to a woman in her 70s who had never worn one, but she put it on then and there and wore it away. I was touched. So far it's been nothing but positive, somewhat to my surprise. Now I make sure to have several on hand, since it's become important to me to have it on my table.
It is my pleasure, believe me. Doing this has allowed me to connect with others, at least for some minutes at my table. I’ve had hugs from people, one girl from Thunder Bay, after a longish conversation, thanked me in tears (lol, I sound like you know who!). Honestly, those conversations are the best part of my day. I feel less alone, so in a way it’s as much for me as for them.
I don't think the kefiyeh ever came off. It will resurface periodically over the next decade.
As you say, Western education has taught a whole generation that their civilization was irredeemably evil, and any attempt to improve it or even be a good person was a dangerous deception. Imagine the kind of pressure this creates in a young, idealistic, well-intentioned white person, and imagine how panic-inducing it must feel to know that your actions cannot change how fundamentally wrong you are. Then, come October 7th, you are offered a release. Condemn Israel, and you can finally become one of the good guys.
This was where Muslims were much smarter than other minorities in the US. You never see Muslims posting those TikToks about how annoying/awful/oppressive white people are when they mispronounce this word, or eat this food, or listen to this music, or wear this clothing. You aren't allowed to LARP as a Black, Latino, Asian, or Native American, but you can LARP as a Palestinian. And, during the campus protests, there was plenty of LARP'ing - wearing the kefiyeh, bowing down in Muslim prayer, even claiming refugee status deserving of humanitarian aid when their tent cities on campus collapsed into the mud.
This is why antizionists often do not even try to hold an argument on the topic, and why they resort to insults, bullying, and threats (a death threat in my case). You may be wanting to set the record straight, but they see you as closing off their one escape from original sin.
We refuse to play victim. Refuse to pretend we’re foreigners in a country we’ve lived in for decades. Refuse to play the game, which costs us in some respects.
I would much rather play defense being Jewish (and slowly progress into offense), than claim perpetual victim status while attempting to colonize the entire planet.
Am yisrael chai.
I grew up in the only Jewish family in a 90 mile radius. In my high school, referring to me as “Hey, Jewboy” was considered wit (though I correctly considered those who said it to be half-wits), and I remember one day when I was in 7th grade when my Mom wouldn’t let us out the door to walk to school because she didn’t want us to see my dad outside removing the swastika daubed in red paint on the side of our house overnight. I snuck out the back door and saw it anyway, and have never forgotten it. Never again means never. Am Israel chai. And vaporize the intifada.
Yes, vaporize the intifada and the useful idiots wishing it into existence at their own detriment. I’m sorry you had to see that. I’m sure your parents were enraged.
“That happens when two cultures spend a significant amount of time next to one another.” I come from a different cultural mix. I grew up in a small city in upstate New York with significant Jewish and Italian populations. I too started wearing a Star of David after October 7. However, my intent was to covey the message, “I’m Jewish. You got a problem with that?”
Haha! I love that mix, and I can hear the Italian accent in that question. Love it.
Ugh I wish my idiotic coworker would stop wearing his Keffiyeh. When I see him in it all I do is picture him choking my baby grandsons to death. My daughter says I’m being dramatic, this guy has no idea what his keffiyeh represents to me. Anyway whenever I pass him in the hall I grab hold of my Magen David and imagine it can protect me with magical lasers. Well, it does mean “protection” does it not?
It’s triggering and annoying. A spit in the face, especially since they never cared prior to October 7th, so doing that afterwards is a deliberate agitation in my book.
YALLA!!!
I am a silversmith, sell in markets, & starting making Star of David pendants last summer after some vile graffiti on our synagogue here. I have sold them to Israeli tourists (nice, I get to reminisce about my kibbutz stint in 1982), other Jews, and even a woman who, like me, is not Jewish but is an ally. I sold one to a woman in her 70s who had never worn one, but she put it on then and there and wore it away. I was touched. So far it's been nothing but positive, somewhat to my surprise. Now I make sure to have several on hand, since it's become important to me to have it on my table.
Thank you for sharing, and for making them. It's very moving.
It is my pleasure, believe me. Doing this has allowed me to connect with others, at least for some minutes at my table. I’ve had hugs from people, one girl from Thunder Bay, after a longish conversation, thanked me in tears (lol, I sound like you know who!). Honestly, those conversations are the best part of my day. I feel less alone, so in a way it’s as much for me as for them.
Fairly