Child of the Sixties

Origins

I am a child of the 1960’s.  My favorite rock group remains Crosby-Stills-Nash and Young, the super-group that called us to “Please come to Chicago” to protest the trial of seven protestors at the 1968 Democratic Convention, and mourned the dead of Kent State crying out – “Four Dead in Ohio” (OHIO – Neil Young).  I first learned politics sitting on a couch with my newly broken arm propped on a “beer box”, watching that same Democratic convention. I was heartbroken at the loss of Bobby Kennedy, but fascinated as Chicago’s Mayor Daley sent in the police to not only break up demonstrations, but beat-up demonstrators.  

My first “demonstration” was when I was thirteen.  We marched the streets of Dayton, Ohio, and chanted against the Vietnam War. And I scooted out of there at the first signs of trouble.  

That was an early “moral dilemma” for me.  I was an Eagle Scout, dedicated to “Do my best, to do my Duty to God and My Country”.  How could I stand, saluting the flag, swearing that oath; and then walk the street yelling “Stop the War”?  Was that American?   Or was it covered under some higher obligation than the discipline to “follow the Scout Law” and in broader terms, the law of the land?

Duty 

The War was over by the time I got to college in 1974.  I decided to make “my mark” on society, first through political action within the system, then individually as a public school teacher.   But I still had that first impression, of the college students rallying in the streets, trying to, “Change the world; re-arrange the world…” (Chicago – Graham Nash).   It was not only their right under the First Amendment, but their “duty”.

College students across the nation are demonstrating on their campuses.   I get it.  They, as Ted Kennedy said about his brother Bobby: “…(S)aw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.” They aren’t wrong.  The horror of the 30,000 plus killed in Gaza by the Israeli armed forces cannot be “accepted”.  And neither can the Hamas surprise attack on the Israel, where almost 1300 were brutally massacred in one day. 

Distinctions

It is a matter of making “distinctions”.  Hamas is a terrorist organization, acting as terrorists do.  They are militarily weak, so they take their battle to unarmed civilians.  Where victory is impossible, terror will have to do.

And Israel is a powerful nation.  Nations are supposed to act differently than terrorist organizations.  Nations can win battles against armed opponents, and can (must) do their best to protect civilians from “collateral damage”.  The problem Israel faces is the same one that the United States faced in Afghanistan and Vietnam.  The “enemy” is embedded in the civilian population.  They don’t wear a uniform, and it’s difficult to see through the “camouflage” of the civilians surrounding them.  It doesn’t matter.  Israel cannot act as a terrorist organization, using the excuse of “fighting fire with fire”.  And when they do, many in the world stand against them.

The Biden Administration is already making that distinction.  When Iran launched hundreds of weapons against Israel, the United States took a strong role in stopping the onslaught.  But when Israeli forces attacked a non-governmental-entity (NGO) delivering food to Palestinians, Biden condemned it.   Senate Majority Leader Schumer and House Speaker-Emeritus Pelosi have both called for the end of the Netanyahu administration.  Biden called on Netanyahu to hold off on the “final” operation to takeover Rafah, where over a million Palestinian refugees are staying (and starving).  Aid legislation passed Congress last week, gives money to both arm Israel and to feed the starving in Gaza.

College Education

Those protesting need to make distinctions too.  There is a distinction between the starving (and dying) Palestinians, and the Hamas terrorists among them.  You can support feeding one, without supporting the horrific actions of the other.  And there is a difference between the actions of the Netanyahu Administration, the people of Israel, and Jewish people in general.  To take a stand against all “Jews” (or even that all Jews are Zionists), is no different than saying everyone in Gaza is a Hamas terrorist.  

Students in the United States have a right, and even a duty, to speak their minds.  It mattered in the 1960’s, and during Black Live Matters protests in 2021, and it matters today.  But just as the protests against Vietnam didn’t justify burning university buildings, and the Black Lives Matter protests didn’t justify burning cities; protesting for Palestinians does not justify attacking Jewish students.  

Two invalid “logic” equations:

•             President Johnson wanted war in Vietnam
•             Johnson was the American President, therefore
•             All Americans wanted the Vietnam War.
•             Prime Minister Netanyahu is starving Palestinians in Gaza
•             Netanyahu is the leader of a Jewish country, therefore
•             All Jews want to starve Palestinians.

Learning to reason is the reason students go to college.  They have a “duty” to apply reason, even for those issues that they feel so strongly about, they are “called” to demonstrate.  Sure, stop Netanyahu, but don’t support Hamas, and don’t attack all Jews.  Otherwise, it’s just antisemitism, and supporting terrorists.  And that’s illogical.