Common Sense for the Twenty-First Century

Blowback in the Middle East

130 Blowback in the Middle East September 5, 2003 The parallel between Israel and the United States is ever more clear. Millions of Israelis are being ignored just as hundreds of millions of U.S. citizens are being ignored. The policies of the Likud Party and the Republican Party have much in common. Advisers to George Bush seem to clearly represent the Likud Party. Likud is as antithetical to the people of Israel as our current administration is to the people of the United States. Critical thinking is required. Israel and the United States are losing the best of their citizens every day. Palestine and Iraq suffer even more as victims of occupation. Both Israel and the United States have the power to end the occupations. By ending the occupations there would no longer be a daily body count of our own citizens, Israeli citizens, Palestinians and Iraqis. Neither Iraq nor Palestine has the power of the United States and Israel. It is the duty of the powerful to end the bloodshed. The people of Israel suffer daily because of their inept leadership and similarly the members of our armed services and our citizens at home suffer unnecessarily because of criminality and corruption in our government. Think about it . . . conventional wisdom is so convoluted that it uses the word positive for uncritical acceptance of every wrong-headed act done by our government in conjunction with Israel. However, what is truly positive is to look at reality with a critical eye and demand change. Conventional wisdom is the useless babble designed to make our citizens into mental vegetables. Without critical thought, no democracy is possible. A lack of critical thinking means the continuation of unnecessary wars. The double speak of war has corrupted our language. Failure to discern is the function of an unconscious mind. The developed human person is capable of critical thought and failure to think critically is a failure to be human. Israel’s behavior toward Palestine has led to a predictable blowback. U.S. behavior in Iraq has also led to a predictable blowback. No group 131 of people is anxious to be occupied by a foreign power with zero understanding and zero respect for their culture. The very people telling you that war is peace are also trying to tell you that negative is positive. If, however, you oppose the ignorance of imperial behavior, you are truly positive. The commercial media and the lifeless victims of its propaganda represent a negativity in our culture. Let’s develop our critical thinking ability and become positive intellectual adults. ...