As a Palestinian living in the US, I have lost friends, job opportunities – and my faith in humanity
As a Palestinian living in the US, I have lost friends, job opportunities – and my faith in humanity
Every year has been catastrophic for Palestinians around the world, but the past 12 months have been unimaginable, writes Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi
You're viewing a single thread.
I’m curious, to the people downvoting: why? Are you unable to see her humanity? What specifically in her deeply personal op ed made you so feel so strongly that you had to downvote this post? I’m genuinely curious. Or did you just see the word Palestinian and downvote it by force of habit, thus proving her point in the process?
This was a powerful op ed written by someone who knows what she’s talking about, exposing some uncomfortable truths about the US and what it valves.
I upvoted this post but to be fair, people downvote for different reasons.
I have downvoted articles I agree with that just had a very disingenuous headline.
Was it tho?
Don't get me wrong... It's awful racism is fucking shit and I'm subject to it as immigrant a lot. Obviously not to this level or anyone that was the wrong colour after 9/11.
But what did this article say? What opportunities/jobs/friends has she lost? Why not go into personal affairs, that's what the title lead me to believe the article was about.
Show us the daily struggles of immigrants and racism in full force! It just boggled down to yet another "generic" preaching to those already in your favour? This isn't swaying anyone, let's be real here. Those that need to read it, won't.
Its the easiest shit to get away with. Hating and masse. Its number one strategy which worked so well against "my people" and this journalist is feeding more into it! Show me your personal story, if you only show numbers, there's no personality, your people just became a statistic.
I hope my point comes across.
I think I get your point, but I'm not sure we read the same article. She did get pretty personal without naming names (we can’t expect anyone in her position to name names safely.)
Imagine feeling this every day of your life, it’s horrific:
…simply by paying my taxes, I am complicit in the slaughter and starvation of my own people.
And
…in 1967, my father had to flee again. He became a refugee, unable to ever return to live in the country where he was born. He has, however, taken me back to visit. I went back to his village when I had just turned six and had a brief taste of what a Palestinian childhood is like – by which I mean Israeli soldiers shot teargas at me and raided our village to burn the Palestinian flag.
Make sure you check out that Imgur link, it’s pictures of the journal she wrote when she was a kid visiting the West Bank. Doesn’t get much more personal than that.
But see, that's where my issue with the article title is. It's about her life. What does it have to do with US? I get her point and it's fucking horrible. I've met people from Iraq seeking asylum and I've heard their heartbreaking stories.
As a fellow immigrant... I expected a story about how her life is in US currently. It's a bait and switch title and to me, sub par journalism.
But emotions are running hot here and no matter what I say, I'm the bad guy.
Yeah I see what you mean. She does call out comments made by Lindsey Graham, John Fetterman, and Kamala Harris though, implying that she expected at least two of those people to be better. To be clear, I don’t think you’re the bad guy, I appreciate your perspective. But you’re right that tensions are very high…
I downvoted because
- a couple of those nut cases are known racists we’re all already complaining about. Can you really paint the whole country for racist things said by people whom half the population is already calling racist
- I’m generally suspicious of articles that call out democrats just before election. Yeah, they’re in power when it happens but the other political side claim they would be worse, so calling out Democrats just before election is too much like interference
You can go look up how Israelis bulldoze Palestinian homes and steal their land if you gave a shit...
I have seen it. But you clearly didn't read my comment so....
Could also look up how the Israeli north or Gaza bordering kibbutz look like. For some reason, I don't think you give a shit ..
He already mentioned the houses Israelis built on bulldozed Palestinians houses.
Oh so all of Israel is bulldozed Palestinian houses? I guess then all the jews should leave the state alltogether and "go back to europe", huh?
If you truly believe that will happen, and that we need to act towards that, then you have the same ideals as Hamas and I can hardly take you seriously.
Reread the thread and stop adding your own nonsense to support more mass murdering.
Sure, so lets count the people effected by one, and the people effected by the other.
You folks want to make it about specific people. You want to make it about ancient history. You want to make it about religion. You want to make it about systems of government. You want to make it about anything other than the hard numbers about what's happening on the ground, because that's devastating to your case.
Western identity - both religious and secular - is fundamentally Judeocentric. From believing they're the root of all evil to believing that they can do no evil, it's a complex built into Western psychology. Jewish exceptionalism has worked out great for Jews since WWII ended is the key thing. We have gotten to the point where in some parts of the West, they're granted the right to commit genocide and the right not to be even reproached for it (so-called "Holocaust inversion).
You know, as much as it doesn't feel true, I really can't think of a different reason why this is being allowed. The people in the bible are called Jews, and even though they don't much resemble the modern ethnic-religious group, that gives them special status in places traditionally Christian.
Technically being a Jew myself, I'm afraid it's going to swing back the other way because of all of this, and antisemitism will be cool again. That's a distant second concern to the people dying non-hypothetically right now, though.
It's a truth that's buried very, very deep for a number of reasons, not least of which is the horrors of the Holocaust and the role that the memory of it plays as an alibi for liberal atrocities and violence. Today, hundreds of Arabs can be exterminated in a 24 hour period and the Holocaust will still be invoked as an alibi.
The other reason is the way in which religion is still a powerful but "hidden" hand in secular nations. It's not-so-hidden in American politics, where megachurch pastors are openly proclaiming the extermination of Gazans is divine punishment. Even in Europe, major state-linked churches like the Church of England have open links to Israeli religious settlement programs and make no bones of their unconditional support for Israel.
Shame on you