Noah, I don't know if anyone else is confused by the term "Zionist". It is accepted by friends and foes of Israel alike, in its meaning as one who supports the idea of the Zionist ideology, an idea that now includes the fact of the State of Israel. If you believe that the dream of a national home for the Jewish people has been realized in the State of Israel, and you support that, then you are a Zionist, whether you agree with everything Israel does or not. I think I understand what you are getting at--that there are more colors in the rainbow than can be painted by the terms "Zionist" and "anti-Zionist." One refusing to be pigeonholed can simply add a clause when defining him or herself for others. For example: "I am a Zionist but I believe that the Palestinians should have a state of their own." Or: I am an anti-Zionist but I believe that the Jews should be able to live, somewhere (Alaska?), in peace." More tortured souls can add more clauses. Isn't this how the problem you are describing handled today?
There is a history of lost national causes waiting to be written, one that would both draw parallels between the bitter, fabulistic, often bigoted psychology of their adherents and explore how their trajectories differ according to historical and cultural circumstances. Anti-Zionist Palestinian nationalism would be one case study here, the Confederate Lost Cause mythology another, and Biafran nationalism another (if only to illustrate that these causes can be quite sympathetic). Maybe throw in the cult of Bonnie Prince Charlie, too. Whether the IRA or Sinn Fein should be included is an interesting question, given that these days their lost cause of a united Ireland is looking a bit less lost due to remarkable demographic and economic transformations.
This is of course also what gives Chabon's _The Yiddish Policemen's Union_ much of it's power: the exploration of what Zionism would look like as a lost cause.
Your point on shame really clicks something together for me. Alan Jacobs had previously written on Camus and Sartre in a way that resonated similarly and further comes into focus with your post ( https://blog.ayjay.org/45670-2/ ).
I think it might actually make for a healthier discourse to better separate and think about shame and guilt. A big challenge there is that for many of us, shame is most strongly associated with a means of social control of women and indeed it is still horrifyingly enacted in ways ranging from honor killing to more quotidian and widespread abuse by family members. And it's unsurprising that forms of communal violence have strong shame aspects associated with them.
Shame is a social construct, and I certainly lack the expertise to opine as to whether it can be deflected. However, I do have group identities, including my national identity as an American and my religious identity as a Lutheran than I claim with pride and also a sort of communal guilt that I do think is cogently thought of and explored as shame.
“The actual issue—the actual feeling—is shame.” - Yes: I’m an Englishman born and am forever ashamed of the UK’s military excesses in Ulster. That doesn’t diminish my revulsion at the actions of Irish paramilitaries on both sides, nor does it help to unpick the Gordian knot woven by centuries of settlement and conflict. It’s just visceral: we want to be decent, to be “good actors”. It’s understandable and unfortunately it doesn’t practically help. Just another one of life’s tragedies.
It is astonishing to me how many non-Israelis and non-Palestinians spend inordinate amount of energy on debating the Zionism issue. As Noah says, it's no longer an issue, at least a philosophical one. Israel exists. How -- and whether -- it exists in the future will be resolved as has been normal for all states in modern history. Russian ideologues disagree with the existence of Ukraine; war, unfortunately, will decide the issue. A Polish state has come and gone through the centuries; currently, no one disputes or tries to overturn it. Israel came into existence through means both fair and foul. They share that approach with every other state that has existed.
Why should we care anymore? Why do we spend so much mental effort and intellectual contestation on this dispute? It is beyond me.
Many smart people are recommending that after this round of conflict simmers down the US should put forward its vision for a two-state solution and that President Biden should make it a priority to pursue that aggressively. Oh, how I hope not. We have been diverted far too long and wasted far too much energy on this issue. Like for every other people, we should wish the opposing sides the best and offer to help in certain ways, but other than that we should just wish them luck and turn our attention to the issues that really affect us.
Noah, I don't know if anyone else is confused by the term "Zionist". It is accepted by friends and foes of Israel alike, in its meaning as one who supports the idea of the Zionist ideology, an idea that now includes the fact of the State of Israel. If you believe that the dream of a national home for the Jewish people has been realized in the State of Israel, and you support that, then you are a Zionist, whether you agree with everything Israel does or not. I think I understand what you are getting at--that there are more colors in the rainbow than can be painted by the terms "Zionist" and "anti-Zionist." One refusing to be pigeonholed can simply add a clause when defining him or herself for others. For example: "I am a Zionist but I believe that the Palestinians should have a state of their own." Or: I am an anti-Zionist but I believe that the Jews should be able to live, somewhere (Alaska?), in peace." More tortured souls can add more clauses. Isn't this how the problem you are describing handled today?
There is a history of lost national causes waiting to be written, one that would both draw parallels between the bitter, fabulistic, often bigoted psychology of their adherents and explore how their trajectories differ according to historical and cultural circumstances. Anti-Zionist Palestinian nationalism would be one case study here, the Confederate Lost Cause mythology another, and Biafran nationalism another (if only to illustrate that these causes can be quite sympathetic). Maybe throw in the cult of Bonnie Prince Charlie, too. Whether the IRA or Sinn Fein should be included is an interesting question, given that these days their lost cause of a united Ireland is looking a bit less lost due to remarkable demographic and economic transformations.
This is of course also what gives Chabon's _The Yiddish Policemen's Union_ much of it's power: the exploration of what Zionism would look like as a lost cause.
Your point on shame really clicks something together for me. Alan Jacobs had previously written on Camus and Sartre in a way that resonated similarly and further comes into focus with your post ( https://blog.ayjay.org/45670-2/ ).
I think it might actually make for a healthier discourse to better separate and think about shame and guilt. A big challenge there is that for many of us, shame is most strongly associated with a means of social control of women and indeed it is still horrifyingly enacted in ways ranging from honor killing to more quotidian and widespread abuse by family members. And it's unsurprising that forms of communal violence have strong shame aspects associated with them.
Shame is a social construct, and I certainly lack the expertise to opine as to whether it can be deflected. However, I do have group identities, including my national identity as an American and my religious identity as a Lutheran than I claim with pride and also a sort of communal guilt that I do think is cogently thought of and explored as shame.
“The actual issue—the actual feeling—is shame.” - Yes: I’m an Englishman born and am forever ashamed of the UK’s military excesses in Ulster. That doesn’t diminish my revulsion at the actions of Irish paramilitaries on both sides, nor does it help to unpick the Gordian knot woven by centuries of settlement and conflict. It’s just visceral: we want to be decent, to be “good actors”. It’s understandable and unfortunately it doesn’t practically help. Just another one of life’s tragedies.
Thank you for an interesting piece.
Since the Western powers postwar delivered Palestine to Zionists, this die of war was cast. I think Israel is doomed by its stolen nature.
It is astonishing to me how many non-Israelis and non-Palestinians spend inordinate amount of energy on debating the Zionism issue. As Noah says, it's no longer an issue, at least a philosophical one. Israel exists. How -- and whether -- it exists in the future will be resolved as has been normal for all states in modern history. Russian ideologues disagree with the existence of Ukraine; war, unfortunately, will decide the issue. A Polish state has come and gone through the centuries; currently, no one disputes or tries to overturn it. Israel came into existence through means both fair and foul. They share that approach with every other state that has existed.
Why should we care anymore? Why do we spend so much mental effort and intellectual contestation on this dispute? It is beyond me.
Many smart people are recommending that after this round of conflict simmers down the US should put forward its vision for a two-state solution and that President Biden should make it a priority to pursue that aggressively. Oh, how I hope not. We have been diverted far too long and wasted far too much energy on this issue. Like for every other people, we should wish the opposing sides the best and offer to help in certain ways, but other than that we should just wish them luck and turn our attention to the issues that really affect us.
Yep. We got it, by foul means, and we wish you downtrodden ones would realize that now that we have the power to oppress, it feels really good.
Now we understand, and we'll nuke you all if you object.