THE UGLY FACE OF DEATH ......

I guess you can attribute most of it to our advancing age, surely, as we grow older we face, see and hear around us more deaths, and people disappearing into the great unknown . Lucky them if something exist and now they know for sure ... Ahead of all of us stuck here.

Lately, and within couple weeks, I've heard of the death of three good friends, all within few days of each other, unexpectedly, no early warning, Sam , Oussama and Jean-Pierre, and the decades long wife of a dear friend, Abdullah,  you'd have to get used to thinking of him alone now . Then came the news of the departure of Hanna Meineh, a Syrian novelist, poet and thinker, whom I met more than once and had few shots of cognac together while exchanging quick philosophical ideas and concepts.

Couple days ago, it was the turn of Uri Avnery, an Israeli peace activist, and an excellent and courageous columnist, famous, appreciated and hated simultaneously in his home country and abroad . For his unbiased reporting , his clear opinions and visions, his humor daring and condemning the very quick metamorphosis of Israelis and the transformation of their State into a very oppressive and closed State and society.

His courage defying his zealot compatriots, and the new reigning settlers mentality and narrow fascist fanatic visions, were astonishing to say the least. I for one, on several occasions while reading his articles, couldn't but smile sadly predicting his possible violent death . Luckily he crossed peacefully at almost 95 years of age .

Another Israeli of the same caliber and courage, and one of not too many , is Gideon Levy, who declared openly to Haaretz, a leading publication in Israel, "Let's admit it, the settlers have won, we have lost."Again daring the entire political/religious institution of nowadays Israel.

Many Jews all over the Western world, and other parts as well, were deeply convinced for the last few decades, that Israel has been called by God to be the Messiah of the nations, that will invariably spread truth, virtue and compassion on earth, a concept that will elevate and reform Judaism. A country whose duty was to participate in the great task of modern times, to solve on the basis of justice and righteousness the problems of modern societies and their contradictions. And by proclaiming justice, set an example for a world in need of repair. 

Unfortunately the Zionist movement, the Orthodox Jewry and the ultra right Neocons in Israel, totally deviated and veered way into a different path. Stepping on every principle of fairness, goodness or compassion, all for hegemony, greed and arrogant supremacy, perpetuating a form of hateful apartheid and animal brutality, all leading to a total annihilation of all other non Jewish minorities, natives of the land .

Surely, every Israeli family has an immigration story of its own, based on flight from war, persecution, Holocaust, poverty or fear of hopelessness. What is happening in Israel nowadays reminds us of an incident that took place lately here in the US. Whereby a senior White-House staffer, Stephen Miller, was publicly shamed by his uncle, David Glosser, a retired clinical neuroscientist for his part in shaping Trump's immigration policies, against Musslems and later Latin Americans at the Mexican borders. While forgetting himself the flight of his mother, a Jewess herself, and others from his family from pogroms ravaged areas between Belarus and Russia .

Israeli Zionists today are behaving themselves in exactly the same ways of ignoring their past while reenacting it on others. Where in the US. actually more than 500 seized children, are being orphaned at the different military camps, an article in Politico, the uncle David Glosser, wrote; "I have watched with dismay and increasing horror as my nephew who is an educated man and well aware of his heritage , has become the architect of immigration policies that repudiate the very foundations of our family's life in this country." What would Mr. Glosser comment on how Israel's policies and tactics are being shaped and applied,  I wonder.

My usual thanks to all my readers all over the world .                              

BULLSHITTING OURSELVES AND OUR TIMES .....

Or maybe I should title my blog today " The culture of bullshit ".
A main feature of our times, very noticeable and striking, is the new power of bullshit in practically every aspect of our lives, but most damaging of all, is politics and governance. We all contribute our shares, no doubt about it, but when politicians in charge of destinies and entire states and populations, strive and rule by bullshit, it becomes very ugly and dangerous.

Although most people are fairly confident that they can easily recognize bullshit, facts prove the contrary, whereby many or most are continually deceived by professional bullshitter politicians and propagandists .

Bullshit surround us, says Harry Frankfurt, an American thinker/philosopher, describing the launch of the second Iraq war, by America and Britain. Frankfurt asks whether bullshit is simply the same as "Humbug" an expression defined as; Deceptive misrepresentation, short of lying, especially by pretentious words or deeds, of some body's own thoughts, feelings, and attitudes.

Bullshit like humbug or lie is an attempt to deliberately mislead, and a conscious misrepresentation of the way one really sees a situation, aiming to create a false impression for certain situations, developing a mistrust . Bullshit main aim is not only to create a different kind of reality through changing the facts, but rather for the speaker himself or herself to be seen in a certain way.

A political speech for instance, does not necessarily aim to prove some actuality, or facts of a certain situation, its purpose is to make the speaker sound like a patriot, a spiritual person, or a protector of morals and public interests . Everything is about a hoped-for short term effect, that will benefit the leader speaker, while all other stuff are irrelevant, and of no concern as to whether statements are true or not .

The problem with many new-wave politicians, is their total lack of concern with truth, it's becoming their whole way of being, of behaving, in private life and in public politics and governance. These politicians have in most cases mastered the art of running stories and statements, and lately Tweeting, that do not even relate to truth or untruth, they do not have to misrepresent or change the facts, they just spin them in devious ways that support and justify what they are up to, and how they need to manipulate their audiences, so bullshit is the way rather than blatant lies are .

Frankfurt admits that one cannot say whether there is more bullshit now than in previous times, only that the volume is now undeniably great . One reason is that many actual leaders/politicians are called on to talk about matters of which they know little about, so they use all sorts of bullshit tactics, and rhetorics instead of saying "I don't know."

T. Butler-Bowdon, comments intelligently on the subject ; " A lie can shock or startle, but we accept it as being, after all, consistent with human nature. Bullshitting however, particularly when it extends beyond individuals to organizations and governments , is perverse, a corruption of humanity.

A Rejection of the " Authority of truth," in favor of selling or telling various stories . That led to the rise of Hitlers, Stalins, Pol Pots, and Assads. And now in our times Trumps and Netanyahus ,  Erdogans,  and MBS of Saudi Arabia. Bullshit is becoming the accepted norm, even in certain well established mature democracies .

The quotes given here, are mostly from an excellent short study by T.Butler- Bowdon on Harry Frankfurt . My many thanks to them as well as all my readers .                       

PART TWO OF THE SAME OLD STORY .....

The book of numbers in the Bible, among many other similar horror stories in several books, all adopted by the Bible as the ancient testament, it says ;
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites .... And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites and avenge the Lord Midian . Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war . So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe . Twelve thousands armed for war ... And they warred against the Midianites , as the Lord commanded Moses, and they slew all males .... And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoils of all their cattle, and all of their flocks, and all their goods. And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fires . And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and beasts. And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan near Jericho. And Moses and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp. And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle. And Moses said unto them, have ye saved all the women alive ? Behold, these caused the children of Israel ... to commit trepath against the Lord, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord . Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman children, that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves ."

Is it history repeating itself almost verbatim in Palestinian territories and lands,  or part two of the same horror movie , with Mr. Netanyahu and his guards of religious turned politicians, and generals, and the whole Israeli brain washed youths going after every Palestinian .... ???  And a very flagrant and gross back-up, by a hypocritical American political/religious system and lobbies.

Some in America, true Christians they call themselves, took to criticizing Musslems, their faith and their holly books, for its brutality and calls for jihad, for the glory of their God. While passages like the previous in the Bible are totally ignored and do not shake their Judeo-Christian faith. Nor its frequent repetitions in our own times. If this is not hypocrisy pushed to its extreme, I don't know what else to call it .

The charter of the International Military Tribunal , set up by the allies to try and condemn the leading war Nazi criminals at Nuremberg, came up with different crimes titles, all still applicable today in similar situations. Crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. In enforcing those rules, the tribunal declared it a crime against peace, to initiate a war of aggression , a war crime, to murder, ill-treat, or deport either civilians or prisoners of war. And a crime against humanity, to murder, exterminate, deport any civilian population, or to persecute them on political, racial, or religious grounds. These crimes, the tribunal clearly stated, are crimes whether or not in violation of the domestic law of the country where perpetrated .

But it seems that what the allies ruled by and the world charter for condemning the fascists and Nazi regimes, and later the Serbian leaders, and eventually some rogue dictators around the world, are not in consideration nor in any use for cases like Israel, or even Syria and other African crazy spots. All acting in the same path of Israeli behaviour, arrogance and ill-wishes of total hegemony .

Official America, and its politicians, turning the blind eye, and the media following suit and ignoring the whole modern re-enactment and application of Old Bible tactics and brutality, wether in Israel or elsewhere , is nothing short of total hypocrisy , we are all too ignorant, or pretending to be of both history and present day realities .

My usual many thanks to all listening .